Sunday, October 08, 2006
AP exam on Tuesday
Now that I'm on-line (see rant below), I can give some general guidelines for the AP exam on Day 6, Tuesday. Of course, the most general guideline is that the test will cover class material- notes, text readings/problems, and practice tests- since our last exam as well as some accumulated skills from previous exams.
The exam is based on, but not limited to, the following items:
- redox balancing via the half-reaction method
- mixture problems (whichever method you prefer)
- percent composition or combustion analysis to empirical formula to molecular formula via scaling factor (show scaling factor calculation explicitly)
- gas stoichiometry with limiting reactants and percent yield
- each gas law as explained via kinetic molecular theory: know the four postulates of K-M theory and also explain each gas law EXPLICITLY and in MINUTE detail. Show cause and effect between each variable P,V,n, and T and the effect of each on the 1. particle collision frequency (number of collisions PER SECOND) with the container walls and 2. the average FORCE or energy of the particle collisions with the container walls . Some explanations require a two-part sequence. Drawings are permissible and strongly encouraged as part of a thorough explanation.
- Dalton's Law problems including gas calculations when gas is collected via water displacement.
- Graham's Law calculations for BOTH relative effusion rates and relative effusion TIMES
- Average (RMS) speed of gas molecules: don't forget the 1000g/kg conversion factor when you write your units in the equation from the tables! I warned you, do not mess up that calculation. If you get a molecules going a million meters per second, you did something horribly wrong. Most average molecular speeds at normal temperatures are in the hundreds of m/s range.
That's what I have for now. I am happy to say that the class was generally very strong on the last exam. If you correct your relatively minor errors (test-taking or other types) by seriously reviewing/analyzing your past exams, you will continue to get even stronger (in which case, awards may have to be invented and doled out)!
The exam is based on, but not limited to, the following items:
- redox balancing via the half-reaction method
- mixture problems (whichever method you prefer)
- percent composition or combustion analysis to empirical formula to molecular formula via scaling factor (show scaling factor calculation explicitly)
- gas stoichiometry with limiting reactants and percent yield
- each gas law as explained via kinetic molecular theory: know the four postulates of K-M theory and also explain each gas law EXPLICITLY and in MINUTE detail. Show cause and effect between each variable P,V,n, and T and the effect of each on the 1. particle collision frequency (number of collisions PER SECOND) with the container walls and 2. the average FORCE or energy of the particle collisions with the container walls . Some explanations require a two-part sequence. Drawings are permissible and strongly encouraged as part of a thorough explanation.
- Dalton's Law problems including gas calculations when gas is collected via water displacement.
- Graham's Law calculations for BOTH relative effusion rates and relative effusion TIMES
- Average (RMS) speed of gas molecules: don't forget the 1000g/kg conversion factor when you write your units in the equation from the tables! I warned you, do not mess up that calculation. If you get a molecules going a million meters per second, you did something horribly wrong. Most average molecular speeds at normal temperatures are in the hundreds of m/s range.
That's what I have for now. I am happy to say that the class was generally very strong on the last exam. If you correct your relatively minor errors (test-taking or other types) by seriously reviewing/analyzing your past exams, you will continue to get even stronger (in which case, awards may have to be invented and doled out)!
# posted by C @ 8:41 PM 
