Chemblog!

I can't post the June 2003 answers from my iBook because I got the old one back and it is not formatted correctly yet so I can only link you to them from this blog for now...
here goes:
http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/scire/sciarch/pschemscorju03.pdf
This is the Regents key; not my correctly worded key but it will suffice for now.
Cheers.

UPDATE:
finally got home (late). I corrected the final lab list (wish I noticed the redundancy earlier, sorry) and I posted a more accurate list of answers for the June 2003 Regents on the class webpage.

Thanks to an astute student for pointing out that Question #2 on the Regents assignment (due Tuesday) has two correct answer choices. Either one is acceptable.
I updated the file so, if you haven't downloaded it yet, Question #2 now has only one correct answer choice.

Here are some tips that you can apply as you take your practice (and real) Regents exams:

1. When you don't know the answer to a given multiple choice question, analyze the DIFFERENCES among the four answer choices. Try to classify them (you may have to use your reference tables as an aid) in terms of metal/nonmetal, electrolyte/nonelectrolyte, soluble/insoluble, gas/liquid/solid at STP etc.
Usually (almost always) the (Sesame Street) choice that is not like the others is the correct answer. Just re-read the question to see whether your classification makes any sense.

2. Few people realize that an answer in one part of a test may help to answer a question in another part of the test. Use your answers/diagrams/questions from part A mult. choice to help you answer questions in parts B-2 and C and vice-versa. I have seen these opportunities in our past practice Regents already.

3. As usual, read each question at LEAST two times (once slowly, once at a normal pace) and circle/underline key terms BEFORE you predict your answer to the question (yes, always try to predict your answer, if possible). THEN, consider the answer choices.
I think that you have proven to yourself this year that this method can prevent you from losing points on questions that you know the answer to but, by not being methodical, you missed.

I am preparing a file based on the NY State Regents standards that contains questions/answers regarding applications of chemistry. Many of the B-2 and C questions are application questions and, though you can logically figure out an answer, it is easier if you have seen the application before. I also am going to post a practice test of multiple choice questions that are particularly tricky or difficult along with an answer key. I should have that done by the end of next week. You can do that sometime between the end of school and the Regents.

B-bye for now...

...okay, I just threw my keyboard out the window....
:)
You guys must have invented nuclear physics because I have never seen so many 100s and high 90s all year. Excellent job ( E, D, and B ) all!!! Those half-life questions are not easy for most students but you knocked them out! Plus, all of that memorization of radioisotope minutia; that bodes well for the Regents...very happy, very pppproud.
Keep up the good work through the Regents and there will be much to celebrate and brag about all summer.
THANK YOU!

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050521/D8A7MPFG0.html


This is the biochemical pathway of Vitamin D (from its precursors which you ingest) in the body. The first step requires UV light to break a covalent bond in the steroid molecule (note curved arrows showing rearrangement of electrons (that's ALL that you do in organic chem in college!) . The scientific process... such beauty... the ultimate in keeping an open mind...

Laser Could Rival Energy From Sun's Center!
180 million degrees Farenheit !
Fusion yooooo?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/super_laser

The server is accessible again so we don't have to communicate via shortwave (alpha foxftrot delta...) this weekend. Advice for the first two Regents exams (starting with the one this weekend): use these tests as a diagnostic of your strengths and weaknesses that will focus your study for the next month. They won't be graded so there's no pressure other than the fact that you must do them earnestly.
The third Regents that you will take will count towards your fourth quarter average but by then you will have corrected the first two Regents and asked me about any material that you didn't know for sure. So, that's the plan yooo.
Have a good weekend!

I'm still at school and I can't reach the server from here (yet I can from my humble abode). I'll post the nuclear files on the Edline.com site...later (much later) tonight, I will put the files on our good old website.
Thanks.

Murphy's Law has struck again. Not that you really need the Orange Review Book answers, but I tried to upload them tonight and I was denied access to our server. Methinks that the server password was changed and I was not informed of said change.
I did remember that I can post to Edline where you can find the answers.

Researchers think new, flexible, lightweight organic solar cells may soon power everything from laptops to iPods.

The abundance of solar energy is a tantalizing alternative to the dwindling reserves of fossil fuels.

Until recently, the preferred material to harness that power has been solar panels made of silicon crystals.

Some success has come in powering homes and even cars. The widespread use of solar panels has been limited, however, by their cost to produce. Researchers believe they can overcome this barrier by cheaply producing an efficient organic solar cell.

The new organic cells are made from pentacene: sheets made of naturally occurring rings of carbon and hydrogen . Since engineers do not have to chemically manufacture them in the complicated process required for silicon panels, the organic cells are less expensive.

I posted the remaining Organic Chem unit notes which include the remainder of the important organic compounds (organized by functional group). Then, the rest of the unit involves the important organic reaction types (sort of like the ones that we classified before, you know, single replacement, synthesis, etc.)
The accompanying worksheets may be done whenever but I advise you to do some this weekend so that you don't try to cram them all into the night before the test next week. Each worksheet comes with solutions.
If you are good at memorizing, that is especially helpful in organic (due to the naming rules) but your responses in class showed that you can see the logic of why some of the functional groups are polar, nonpolar, etc. ; so that is great, too.
We will begin Nuclear Physics (nothing chemical going on in that unit) on Tuesday, rain or shine. Our course then shifts into professional Regents Prep overdrive. Our first Regents Exam will be assigned for next weekend's (05/20/2005) hw. The first two won't count for or against your average so make sure that you keep track of what you are not absolutely bulletproof on.
Have a good weekend. Enjoy the Spring Concert or just the Spring!

Kudos to the Octet for braving the AP Exam today and coming out (almost) smiling. I get the impression that there were few or no surprises on the exam today. That is one of the purposes of my extensive preparation for this standardized test. We'll see the fruits of our labor (mostly 5s, I hope!) in about two months time (when we are much more carefree and tan).
May you take your Chemical knowledge and make lots of money and friends with it.
Thanks!
Mr.C.
I will have your final exam ready by Day 4 @ 7:30 AM. I will let you know in school or via the website if there is a postponement.

Gearing up for the exam on Tuesday, I thought that it would be expedient to just post the solutions to last week's part II exams. I still want you to hand in YOUR work on those tests from last week but I wanted you to check your work so that you may have more questions addressed on Monday. I will grade those homeworks based on completeness and LACK of copying from the answer keys ( our class answers/methods are generally more lucid than those in the succinct answer keys ).
Naturally, I will stay after school on Monday for our penultimate review session AND I will be in on Tuesday morning at 6:30 AM for our final brainstorm (going over colors, rules, laws, psych) and pre-test warmup (which was amazingly helpful to last year's class!).
Put on your war paint.
Mr.C.

Just want to post a reply to one of the questions about the worksheets (speaking of which, the Table "L" referred to on the worksheets is really Table "N" in our reference Tables):
How do you determine whether or not a reaction will occur in water? I think that the worksheets are using different reference tables because all of my calculations for voltage have been off, but only because they are using different numbers. ?
Answer:

KI (aq) + Cl₂ (g) --> I₂ (s) + KCl (aq)

is really
K⁺ (aq) + I^- (aq) + Cl₂ (g) --> K⁺ (aq) + Cl^- (aq) + I₂ (s)

Another pretty successful day for The Octet (or half of them, anyway). We are in the final furlong of our brief, intense course and, as you keep progressing full speed ahead, almost all of you are on target for achieving a 5 (and the rest are in the zone of at least a 4, I think). As a result, I am just going to post the answers to the Organic Practice Test; I trust that you will review them and ask for any clarification in class on Monday. I have no more modern AP exams to give you and that is great news. Don't forget that you have just about seen it ALL. The key to insuring a confident success on Tuesday is to leave no question unasked/unanswered before then. Review all of the exams that you have done for the past three weeks and ask me about anything that you are not bulletproof on. I still have to scan a bunch of my answers to the exams of the past two weeks; I will do that tomorrow because I am totally exhausted right now.
Thanks for coming in on your vacation day or for stopping by after your AP U.S. today.
On the website, please check out the file of AP writing suggestions from the CHIEF READER OF THE AP CHEMISTRY EXAM; he's the guy who sets the scoring guide for each exam. He decides which responses are worthy or worthless.
All's well that ends well my people and nothing shines as brightly as a 5 on the AP Chemistry Exam.

The Electrochemistry worksheets and their answers are posted. Work through them and email me if you have any questions. The notes should suffice but you can also get support from the text Chapters 20 and 21. In the review book, electro and redox are covered in Topic 9.
Tomorrow, I will post a self-test file that must be completed and handed in by Tuesday. We will have a test on all of that material late next week. We will cover Organic Chemistry next week; I will post the notes for orgo this weekend.
Other than that, enjoy the break!
p.s.
After the orgo unit, anybody who wants to begin Regents practice after school should just let me know in class (or before) that s/he is going to take a Regents after school; this will give me time to print an exam for you.

Some of the veteran AP teachers have begun to make predictions about this year's AP Chem exam (Form A and/or Form B). They are now posted on the website near the top of the Assignments.
Though you may want to focus on those questions, they are NOT guaranteed. They are just the logical predictions based on PAST trends.
I will update the list as I get more information.

I just thought of a good test prep tip: take your reference tables and REALLY REALLY analyze them so that you know EXACTLY where to find the formula for a given question. STUDY THE UNITS given for each constant; you may have to convert (especially for delta S, delta G from K, and for quantum). Basically, write ALL over the table so that you waste NO time during the exam looking for formulas.

Your concerned mother HEN.