Chemblog!

... should I watch something that will actually enlighten and educate me, namely: World of Chemistry videos! Here is the link to a bank of interesting programs that you (okay, just I, then) catch on late-night public broadcasting:
http://www.learner.org/resources/series61.htm

You just have to register an email and password (totally free) and then enjoy the vids (most of them are rated G: everyoneunder17admittedwithoutparentorguardianchecklocallistingsfortheatersandtimes;allsceneswillnotrequirediscretion.

...and check out the freak (I'm thinking native Californian) who presents these modules:
http://www.materialsworldmodules.org/modules/m_description.htm

(starts to pop corn).
:)

This is indirectly related to chem (because EVERYTHING in life is in some way related to chem!).
I like the Trader Joe store. Everyone in there seems to be from some laid-back granola commune in California. I haven't been there in like 8 months but I was out of vitamins which I need ( see? Chemistry!) because McNuggets, Pizza, Coldstone, and Costco Food Court do not a balanced diet make. So I visited ol' Joe.
Imagine the horror, the HORROR when I'm in the frozen food aisle seeking out frozen soy fake mcnuggets (for the wussy vegan part of me) and real faux chicken mcnuggets (for the manly hunter part of me; as I explained, I am not man enough to kill the chicken by myself so I hire a hitman from Perdue to do the job). I find the little soy treats (which taste like NOTHING so you have to drown them in bbq sauce so that they taste like.....bbq sauce!) no problem. Then, I walk across the aisle to where the frozen carnage is and (ack!) all of the chicken mcnugget boxes have been torn open and the li'l mcnuggets were strewn about Joe's freezer! Oh, the poultry!
Obviously, some misguided, self-righteous, disgruntled, hemp-wearin', hackey-sack playin', no-deodorant applyin', anti-capitalist, vegan mini-terrorist got loose in the store and got to my beloved mcnuggets before one of the normally calm Joe-ployees was like "duuuuuude, noooooo mee-aannn, I mean , like, I toooooootally support yer cause but, meee-ann, you are totally harshin' my mellow with that vandalism mee-aannn." Then, they probably bashed the vegan's head against the Trader Joe Help-me Bell (patent pending).
My point is that these vegans are noble in their pursuit to avoid harm to innocent animals but they should just keep their correctness to themselves. No matter what their rationalization is, homo sapiens sapiens are omnivores (except for the ones in Texas, rural PA and the midwest who are strict carnivores). Just look at your flesh and soy- tearing bicuspids! Some of you are practically vampires. So let's send these activists ( do NOT get me started on activists and zealots!) off with a packet of soy seeds and dirt to an island where they can live miserably ever after without harshing my mellow.
(steps down from high-horse and gives a haughty harumph).

AP, Are you Prepared? I expected a standing room only extra help crowd on Thursday AND Friday for this upcoming Equilibria exam because this is the toughest unit in the course whether you realize it or not. Whatever your other responsibilities, you should study more for this exam than for any previous exam. I advise you to complete every hw question, every worksheet, and every study guide practice test question until you can do every permutation of every type of titration, solubility, Ksp, and precipitation problem. There is just too much VARIETY among the ways that these questions can be asked. Furthermore, we have a mere 52 days until our AP Exam and a fat vacation in a few days. Most of you (there are exceptions, clearly) are not REGULARLY demonstrating the necessary level of commitment and priority for this class. When will you get serious? If not today, then it will be waaaaay too late and it will be mentally and physically IMPOSSIBLE for you to compensate for your neglect. This course is practically over. It is too late for either of us to ponder why you took this course knowing full well about the work and level of difficulty. We MUST be successful; mediocrity is not an option. There is NO reason for any of you to regret this challenging course. I hope that my realism is replaced by optimism after Monday.

The class average on the Acid Base Buffer test was 119 out of 150 (about 80%). This is because the students who get 100s are being countered by those who get 60s. This disparity is primarily due to effort versus lack thereof. By now, you should know that one day of extra help the afternoon before day 4 (or NO extra help when it is clearly warranted!) is grossly inadequate preparation for a college level exam. Try that when you are in college (and the difficulty level will be about the same...harder as you go on unless you major in something that requires NO academic ability: sociology or education) and you will waste tens of thousands of dollars in tuition and, more importantly, an opportunity to become educated.
Furthermore, when I take the time to review a test in class, have the courtesy and sense to LISTEN AND MAKE CORRECTIONS ON YOUR TEST. You're going to have to make them anyway when you correct all of your tests sometime before the end of Easter break.
Speaking of corrections: be scrupulously clear and explicit with every correction; have the question written and then your answer with all units, sig figs, and complete sentences; leave NOTHING to chance or ambiguity. If you do not write these corrections in such a way that you are learning from and understanding your prior errors, you will receive no credit for your response and you will likely fail. Previous sig fig deductions do not have to be addressed but all corrected answers that are turned in must have the appropriate sig figs. If you lost a minor point on a long answer, address that point directly as your correction - state why it is wrong and also what is the correct answer.
As for the Buffer Test:
Acid Strength- BOND POLARITY is the PREDOMINANT factor for every trend except down a group of haloacids or chalco-acids (group 16 binary acids) in which case BOND STRENGTH (lack thereof, really) predominates.
Oxoacids: the acidic H is NOT bonded to a halogen or anything else in the oxoacid except an oxygen! The other stuff withdraws electron density from the H in the O-H bond. WHY AM I WRITING THIS?! ALL OF THIS IS DIRECTLY IN THE NOTES!
On buffer problems, you ALWAYS have some conjugate acid and base in solution otherwise it wouldn't be a buffer. Therefore, in the S line of the SRFC table, you will have a certain number mmol of BOTH substances. That usually leads to a ratio of concentrations of conjugate acid and base in the buffer range of .1 is less than [A-]/[HA] is less than 10.
--end of rant-- (passes out.)

Here are the results of our last Math of Chem Exam: B and D period each averaged 89. E Period had an 80 average. Even if I exclude the E period grades of the students who do not study or take this course seriously (it is obvious so don't bother to comment. Own your mistakes; just try to change), the average was 86.
So, the vast majority of you are doing very well. That means, whether you want to admit it or not, you know a lot more about chemistry and test-taking than most people thanks to your hard work.

Let's continue to learn from our errors that were made on this test, though. DO NOT do the following on any future test:
1. When you check your final answers, make sure that they do NOT have MORE significant figures than the "cheapest" numerical value in the question.
2. NEVER EVER use Celsius temperatures in any gas law equation.
3. If you EVER balance an equation as part of a stoichiometry question, USE IT !!!! You will need to use the mole ratios among the reactants and/or products later in the problem.
4. Table E, plain and simple: insoluble salts (i) form DILUTE saturated solutions; soluble salts (s) form CONCENTRATED saturated solutions.
5. EXACTLY the mistake I warned about REPEATEDLY!: when you do a solubility curve problem that is NOT in 100 g of water, YOU MUST SCALE IT UP OR DOWN APPROPRIATELY!
6. Mole fractions and ppm: FOUR WORDS: part divided by WHOLE!
7. Some people forgot the gas law formulas. They did not use the practical advice of 1. looking at the formulas two seconds before the test begins and 2. IMMEDIATELY WRITING THEM DOWN!!! Do that on every test from now on. It isn't cheating if you are not looking at a formula sheet during the test.

Buffer-er! Don't buffers look delicious?!! Hmmm, a new marketing idea!
Here is a good VISUAL tutorial to help you "get" the buffer solution and titration processes: Titration Tutorial
Also, the powerpoint.pdf files that I posted on March 4 are excellent; I may rely on them heavily when we do the imminent salt solubility equilibrium topic.
Buh-bye!

Good luck on the AP exam tomorrow to the mighty octet . The next TWO exams are the big kahunas of the year so you WILL have that material mastered either before or after you take these two exams. Naturally, I hope that you can master the material before each test.
Either way, I have PROJECT KARMA in the works which is going to guarantee a FIVE for everyone in the octet...I can't say anything more about that now...there, I've said too much already (sounds of Jason from Friday the 13th are heard).
Posted late ( I had to tutor ) but there is a nice buffer question with solution in the website files list.
Nighty-nite!
p.s. so far, Honors is ROCKING the last MathofChem Exam...high 90s for almost everyone! Thanks for studying and SHOWING YOUR WORK!

soooo cold!
If we do have school tomorrow, I want to make a cauldron of hot chocolate!
AP Octet: back to work on those worksheet problems that you downloaded for the last test. There are plenty of common-ion and buffer problems on those worksheets.
Later tonight, after much scanning and photoshopping, I will post a file of solutions which details each key problem type.
Honors- I'll start to grade your tests tonight (so far 89,94,95,95) but I have a lot of makeups to give tomorrow, so I won't give the tests back until Friday or Monday. Check out Topic 4 Gas Laws in the Orange Review Book.
shivering....(warms you up, remember E period?)

one more objective for the Honors Exam on Tuesday: as you can tell from the practice test, there will be a question regarding the concentration of solute in solution in either ppm, ppb, % by mass or volume, molality, and/or molarity. DON'T forget that MOLarity and MOLality have to do with MOLES of solute. 

I really liked our classes this week: we got a lot done and we all had some funny moments; good times.
The people who need to read this post probably won't see it but, here goes: I sense your apprehension about having to (gasp!) explain why something happens. Here is how you can help yourself ( you have always had this option but very few have taken advantage): go over the notes and then write out an explanation of some chemical/physical phenomenon i.e. something from the test objectives (I'll post the latest ones this weekend). Then, give your explanation to me before the test. I will correct it in front of you and show you what is missing or erroneous so that you can write the correct answer on the test. Deal?

Everyone in B Period, even Stephen!, agrees that Tori is the greatest just the way she is. We often think, "What would Tor do?", when we need to make important decisions in our lives. Let us follow her lead and make the world a better, more Tor-like place.

I did it again (what was Britney THINKING?); the AP exam hw problem for Wednesday night contained an error. That is, the data table for part b lacked a certain variable- TIME.
I corrected the table and re-posted the file. Try to get it done before class (last period on Thurs.).
Thanks,
Mr.C.

Hope that you celebrated our extra vacation day in style! I heard that it might be cold tomorrow so I'm counting on another day off.
:)
Honors: I posted the Magnesium Oxide lab (remember combusting the metal, no?); finish that and hand it in by Friday.
AP: sadderthefact that snow days engender more work than do school days. Hey, you're in a college class so what else is new. Finish those AP exam questions tonight and hand them in first thing in class tomorrow (along with all of that winter break work that you didn't hand in on Monday, 'cept Joe -kudos). So far, the Acid Base exam is looking great/excellent (for most); I'm very impressed and encouraged! (as opposed to how I feel about the recent AP exam HW answers from most of you). Isn't it funny that "most" means "5 or more" in our class...haha-(Crusty the Clown sigh).
EMAIL ME if you have questions/ need guidance on the HW; that's why I am here- to help YOU.