As a reminder, we will be doing a workshop on reading scientific papers on Thursday during our normal chemistry slot (9-11 am).

Choose one of the peer-reviewed sources you found for your project and bring a printed copy to the workshop. If possible, make sure the paper you choose is an original research article rather than a review article.

It is a good idea to bring writing implements that will help you annotate in different colors (highlighters, gel pens in different colors, colored pencils). 

I have had some questions on the format for the “mini-poster” reports for Rocket Lab. Perhaps the best way to explain your task is this:

Imagine that you are presenting your results from the Rocket Lab at Science Carnival (or  similar event). Your “poster” will be presented on a tri-fold board of the sort you might have used for your elementary school science fair. However, you are not allowed to access the tri-fold board until two minutes before the event starts. Therefore, you must have all of the information for your poster printed out on regular 8.5″ x 11″ paper before you show up at the event, so you can just tape it on the tri-fold board when you arrive.

Create the four pages described in your lab manual. These are the *only* pages you get to attach to your tri-fold board so they must be self-contained.

I realize that the poster tour assignment isn’t due until next week, and you haven’t had formal instruction in how to create a poster yet. Draw on what you have seen in posters around the Lab buildings as well as the principles we covered when we talked about Powerpoint presentations last quarter. The point of this assignment is to get you thinking (and discussing with others) the best way to present all pertinent information! (Note to perfectionists: you will have another chance to do a mini-poster for experiment 11 so this is not your only chance to get things right.)

A few items that we forgot to announce during our weekly wrap:

1. There will be NO quizzes in any subjects next week.
2. Please bring your energy bill to class on Monday as we will be discussing them during the normal Math quiz time.
3. There is no Chemistry homework due on Monday.
4. A reminder that your Energy Project Proposals are due 9am Monday January 22.

The videos I mentioned on Monday are on Youtube as of last night. (Sorry for the delay; I had technical difficulties with the computer I use to make and edit recordings.)

Here are the videos that are related to this week’s content:

Oxidation Numbers and Redox Reactions

Balancing Redox Equations

Concentration Calculations

Lab groups for chemistry experiments will be assigned this quarter. See groups below.

Download (PDF, 36KB)

The pre-lab for part 2 of the Analysis of Colas lab (1/16) asks you to create a detailed scheme for creating a very precise calibration curve. In order to create the best calibration curve you can, please:

1. Graph your calibration curve from week 1, do a linear fit and get an R squared value. Remember that a perfect line has R squared = 1. If your value is below 0.9 (or even if it’s above), consider how to improve it…
2. Talk to people from at least two other groups about how they created their calibration curves and what their R squared value was. Think about whether incorporating some of their methods might improve the precision of your own.

I am still working on edits to the Winter Quarter Lab Manual. Until I get it posted later this week, you can use this Experiment 7 protocol to plan for Tuesday morning’s chemistry lab. 

Download (PDF, 145KB)

As mentioned in a previous post, the Chemistry quiz will be on Tuesday in Week 9. However, chemistry quiz revisions are not due until the usual time on Thursday. Please also remember that you have the following chemistry assignments due in Week 9:

(1) Lab write-up for the ionic compound lab following the guidelines in your lab manual. This should be written individually and is due at the start of lab on Tuesday morning.

(2) Powerpoint presentation on the ionic compound lab. You and your group will put together the slides and present before the class during your normal lab time. The Powerpoint presentation on putting together a good Powerpoint presentation is in the file share under the Chemistry Handouts, Lab folder. A copy of the rubric we will be using to evaluate the presentations will be uploaded to the file share later (I am having server problems right now) and is also attached below.

Please email Robin a copy of your group’s Powerpoint before you arrive in class so all of the presentations can be loaded on the computer and ready to go in a timely fashion.

(3) Mastering Chemistry Homework. Since I would like you to spend extra time preparing for your presentation, I have given you an extra day to finish the last homework assignment. It is now due on Wednesday, November 30.

Download (DOC, 239KB)

Our wonderful SIT, Sina, has adjusted the procedure for Experiment #3 to better align with the software we’ll be using in lab. Please review the Revised Spectroscopy Lab Procedure before your lab session on Tuesday.

• Chemistry Quiz Revisions are due 9 am on Thursday, October 9
• Who should submit a Chemistry Quiz Revision? All students are invited to submit a Chemistry Quiz revision for as many problems as they care to revise. It is strongly suggested that anyone who got a straight-face or frowning emoji on a problem revise and resubmit their work.

• Chemistry Quiz Revision Detailed Guidelines
  • You may utilize any resource available to you, but submitted work must reflect your own personal understanding of the material.
  • The care you take in presenting your work will be considered when evaluating it, so pay attention to organization, neatness, etc.
  • Revisions must be neat, complete, and presented in a logical, clear-to-understand fashion.
  • Since these are revisions, a higher standard will be used to evaluate your responses. Essentially, your revised solutions should be of the highest quality you can produce.
  • You may revise any problems you choose, and must present a complete solution to any problem you choose to revise (not just a part of a problem).
  • For multiple choice/fill-in-the-blank type questions, your revised solution should completely and clearly explain your reasoning (even though no explanation was required on the original quiz).