Welcome to the laboratory everyone. Today, we are in a science laboratory where we are
going to find out which of these solutions that you can see is acidic or basic but how
are we going to find that? So, here is a strip of paper which is reddish in colour and this
strip is called a litmus strip and the solution which is acidic when we put it in the acidic
solution, this trip is going to turn blue. Let's find out together. Okay, so it does
not turn blue. So, this means that the solution is not acidic okay. Let's check it for the
next solution. Wow! So this time the strip has turned blue and this means that this solution
is acidic in nature because this is a soap solution. Welcome to the class, my friends.
The way you've seen I used the litmus strip to talk about a scientific experiment. I can
use the same word litmus to talk about something in my everyday life. So you know what, toilets
are the litmus test for a school's quality. So if it's a good school the toilets will
be good but if it's a bad school and they do not do not provide good quality then the
toilets will be bad and the litmus test means that it tells us about the quality. In this
lesson, you're learning some fun words, scientific words which you can use in your everyday conversations.
So stay tuned with me I'm Michelle and let's start.
All of you few people who are experts of science please forgive me if I go wrong anywhere but
I'm going to quickly touch upon the scientific meaning of all these words and also I'm going
to tell you how can you use these words in your everyday conversation when you're speaking
in English. So the first word that you must have heard before in your science classroom,
maybe in grade 6 or 7 and this word is called metamorphosis. So metamorphosis means that
when an immature or an infant insect, let's say a butterfly grows from an infant to an
adult form from an immature form to an adult form. So for the butterfly, it starts from
the egg goes on to being the larva which is also called caterpillar and then finally the
butterfly. So there are stages of growth from an immature to a mature adult and that means
metamorphosis. But how can we use it in English? In English metamorphosis means the same thing
which means the change of form for a person in this case. Maybe in a person's nature or
in their physical appearance. So my friend Chet when he started exercising regularly
his body underwent a huge physical metamorphosis, which means a change of form. Did you ever
think you could use this word like that? Now you must.
The next word that we have is camouflage. So this is also a scientific term. This is
a trait and a character of a chameleon. So whenever you see a chameleon on a tree it
looks green but if you see the chameleon on the trunk of the tree, the chameleon looks
brown. How does that happen? Because the chameleon changes its colour so that it can hide itself
from the enemy. The same way we can also camouflage. I mean you can, you'll often hear this term
in the military, where you'd see that a caravan possibly you know it was covered with branches
and it was camouflaged from the enemy. So this means that the enemy could not see the
caravan because the caravan was covered with the branches. It was hidden under the branches.
So something that is disguised or hidden. It’s usually used for changing colours.
Thanks to Mister Chameleon for the idea of camouflage. It’s magic for sure.
The third one that we have is to expand something. Expand means to increase the size of something.
So we know that the universe is continuously expanding which means that it's continuously
growing in size in scientific terms but you can use this word in English as well. You
can use this word to talk about something that is; you want to elaborate on something.
So let's say that the minister in his speech expanded on the government’s proposal which
means he explained the government's proposal. So to elaborate on or to explain.
Coagulate so to coagulate means when something which is liquid turns solid or semi-solid.
so when you get a cut on your hand and there's blood oozing out if you don't wipe the blood
off or if there are certain stains of blood still on your hand even after you've wiped
off, what happens? The blood starts drying or the blood starts coagulating. It's better
to say coagulating rather than saying that it starts drying because it goes on from being
liquid to solid. Have you seen coagulation in everyday life? I have, in the kitchen.
So when you poach the eggs in the boiling water, it coagulates, which means it forms
small, small solid and semi-solid parts that you love eating and you call it a poached
egg. So that's coagulated egg or poached egg. The next word that we have with us is a variable.
Okay, I need to write an equation for that. Okay don't get into solving it because I don't
know what the answer is but what I'm trying to tell you is, that the word X and the letter
X and the letter Y both of these are variables here means they can have a different figure.
They can have a number of figures which we don't know what they are. So it's a mathematical
term or a scientific term which is often used but we can also use the word variable in English.
How? So variable means possibilities or factors involved. So if you ask me that is Donald
Trump going to win the US elections this year? I could say that there are many variables.
It's hard to give a clear answer to that question. So this means there are many factors, I cannot
predict the answer. In English it means factors. So variable comes from the word vary which
means something that is constantly changing. You could also use this word to talk about
the quality of something. So the quality of the hospital food is variable which means
it keeps changing. Sometimes the quality is very good sometimes the quality is very bad.
So let's not limit variable to math or science. Let’s bring it into English.
The next set of words that we have is something that is, the first word; sorry the first word
is volatile. What is volatile? So volatile is a sort of a negative word. It talks about
a rapid change, usually towards something negative. So a volatile reaction is a very
active reaction that can be very harmful. It could be an explosion, a volatile explosion
which means something very dangerous. So a dangerous change. And if you want to use it
in your everyday English, you could say that the political situation of the country was
getting volatile which means that it was getting more dangerous and we could expect maybe a
war or a riot.
The next word that we have is also from chemistry. It’s borrowed from chemistry. This word
is called a catalyst. So like I was doing a chemical reaction. A catalyst is when a
particular substance increases the chemical reaction scientifically but it does not undergo
any changes by itself. For example chlorine for the breakdown of ozone. Don't get into
the details if it's too hard for you. So in English, when we use the word catalyst we
use it for something that is promoting another thing. So you could say that the comment of
the Prime Minister acted as a catalyst for the national debate. So it promoted the national
debate on a particular issue. So catalyst in English means to promote something, wonderful.
So here we have the next word which is pronounced as Mirage, not myrige or migraine. No, it's
mirage, the stress is on the word rage. It’s not rage, mirage, it’s mirage. So mirage
in scientific terms is actually when there's refraction. When there's a very hot area.
Let's say there's a hot area. Maybe you're in a desert a desert and you're standing very
far and from far off you can see a sheet of water on the sand but it's not there. In reality,
it's not there you can only see it it's an optical illusion, which means an illusion
that you can see but it's not actually there. So that is what mirage is. It always happens
in hot areas sometimes when you're driving on the road and from far off you think that
there's water on the road but actually there's no water when you reach there that's what
Mirage is but we can also use this in English. You can use this to talk about your hopes
which you thought would never come true. So you could say that my plans of establishing
my own company were initially a mirage but now they are a reality, which means that initially
I thought but now it has happened. So mirage is something illusionary, something which
appears to be there but it's not there in reality.
The next word that we have with us is a hazard. So a hazard is a danger or a risk. For example
the hazard of childbirth. Right, so you can have natural hazards also related to vaccination.
So that's also where you can use this word hazard.
The next word that we have with us is surrogate. You must have heard this word before. It’s
a word borrowed from medicine. Surrogate means something that is used in replacement or that
is used as a replacement. So ideally in medicine, it means when a woman gives birth to a child
on behalf of a couple That cannot reproduce. So that's where you
use the word surrogate in medicine but in English, it's used as used in place of the
word replacement. So you could see that the painting was a surrogate for the original
piece which means the painting was a replacement for the original piece.
The last word that we have is extinguish. You must have heard this word before when
we talk about a fire extinguisher which means to cease the fire or to put the fire down,
to put down the fire or to stop the fire in other words. That's where we can use the word
extinguish but we can also use the word extinguish for something that is slowly dying, that is
slowly ending or destroying. So you could say my hope was extinguished step by step.
So slowly your hope was extinguished means it came to an end, slowly ending.
So here are the words for you, scientific words that you can use in your everyday English
vocabulary, in your everyday conversations. Thank you so much for staying with me. I'm
surely going to come back with more lessons where new words will be borrowed from different
subjects and different disciplines and you'll be able to use them in your everyday conversation.
I hope this was fun for you take care bye, bye.