Friday Cartoon and Friday Quote

(Looks better if you click on the cartoon)

"Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder.
The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty,
for in it are born our art, our science, our religion."

Ralph Sockman

CH 1013 --> CH1023

Class, the marks have been submitted. I will see you in the new year. If you would like to get a head start on the course for the next semester you should review Organic Chemistry from your high school notes and read the lab that has been posted on the course web page.

We will spend most of January on organic chemistry and since it is the only chemistry topic directly taught at a higher level here at ABU you should be motivated to do well on this part of the course.

I hope the semester has gone well for you all. Take care.

Science Students Unite!

As I understand the timetable, this is the weekly schedule for the upper level science courses and Christianity and the Natural Sciences.



Several students have spoken with me about the mix of terror and grim fatalism that grips them when they consider this semester. Especially the students interested in Honours. Well, what do we do?

The first suggestion is that it is highly unlikely that anyone HAS to take three lab Biology courses AND RS 3853. You need to check this very carefully. The fear is that these courses may not be offered again next year. Well, BI 3203 (BioChem) and RS 3853 (Christ and NatSci) will NOT be offered again until W09. So that leaves Genetics and Botany. IF all three of these lab courses will be needed to graduate in May 2008 then the students that need them also need to make a case to us that one of the courses should also be offered again next year. Just looking at the schedule I would think that Botany is the one to defer to next year as it opens up the schedule the most.

If there is going to be a case made by the students it has to be made before you leave. Is there a problem? Do the students that face this schedule see any other solution that would bleed some of the stress out of the semester? Speak up now.

The Story of the Egg

It was my third year of my undergraduate degree. I had to take Physics, Thermodynamics and Quantum Chemistry all at the same time. I had reached the limit of my ability to think mathematically and my heart and mind were choked with fear. I sat down to the final exam in Quantum and just blanked. It was all gone. I sat and looked at the exam for half an hour and prepared to leave. The professor had seen what I was going through and at this crucial point decided to talk to me. He did not say anything to me that addressed the content of the exam but he did make it clear to me that he thought if I could just calm down and think about something else for a minute or two and then come back to the exam with "fresh eyes" that it would make a difference.

It did, and here I am writing the exams.

I have found over the years that my proximity to a student does not necessarily lower their stress level. That said, I offer the kinderegg. Students are not allowed to bring food to the exam. But I can. As I always say ... if you find yourself in a dark corner during the exam ... eat the egg ... construct and play with the toy ... then return to the exam with fresh eyes. Any way that it works out I offer the egg to you as a gift and expression of my confidence that if you can marshall your thoughts you will find that there is a lot of good stuff bumping around in your head. The egg comes literally with my blessing, my prayers and my hopes that your life will go well.

Students have different reactions to the egg. Some eat the egg and play with the toy before they write anything. I had an entire class tell me one time after the exam that they had wanted to eat their egg but did not want to be the first to "crack" and so no one ate their egg. Several students have had such an angry rage in their hearts that they took it out on the egg (one that I am thinking off crushed hers in her hands and dropped it on my desk as she left saying "give this to someone else". Then again, I have had several students tell me after an exam that they really needed two eggs to get through that exam.

Take it or leave it. I offer it to you as a gift. I hope it helps.

Merry Christmas

Chem 2113 Things to Remember

I need to add something to our discussion on the final exam. There were three majour set-piece memorization items from the text that you sort of need to have in your heads. I have decided that the first question on the final exam will be worth 10% of the exam and will be one of the following. I figured that you would all likely have these in your heads already and this will give that effort some value.

I hope all is well.

Table 2.1 Structures of Some Common Functional Groups (p. 36 - 37)
Table 7.1 Common Nucleophiles (p. 207)
Figure 10.7 Road Map for Reactions of Functional Groups

To Eat an Egg

In 1908 Jack London (follow this link to biography) wrote a soul gripping short story of a man in the freezing Alaskan dark who had to build a fire to survive. The short story was called "To Build a Fire" (follow this link to the story). It captures the heart stopping fear that knowledge of the consequences of failure can bring. It captures the hope of success that causes us to continue to move forward. It is better than Hemingway.

It may be that something as simple as an egg may be the bridge between fear and hope and I offer this analysis of a kinderegg for your consideration.

Mass of kinderegg: 34.015 g
Mass of foil wrap: 0.555 g
Mass of chocolate: 20.786 g
Mass of plastic shell: 3.460 g
Mass of paper instructions: 1.163 g
Mass of toy 8.045 g

Ability to distract when desperate for a distraction .... priceless

Saturday Science Cartoon

OK, so this isn't about Science only but it sure is an important point to make.

Friday Science Cartoon

Friday Science Quote

Especially true for this time of year ...

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not. This is the first lesson to be learned.

T. Huxley

My "Under-The-Door" Policy

Do not slide assignments, lab reports or anything you want me to mark under my office door. If you cannot find me then take it to the receptionist and she will make sure that I get it. This time of year anything that gets slid under my door usually has a big old foorprint on it by the time I realize that it is there.

By the way, I will be in a meeting today from 2:30 PM. After that time if you have something to hand it it will need to be passed to the receptionist. After 4:30 PM you will have to submit it through the Academic Committee.

CH 1013 Hey, Prof. H. What's on the Exam?

If I had limited time and could not study everything, what are the big concepts that I really should know for the final exam?

Chap. 1: nothing really, a little vocabulary a little classification

Chap. 2: Nomenclature (ionic and molecular, this subject will bite you in the butt all the time in other questions)

Chap. 3: Molecular vs Molar mass, Analysis for EF and MF

Chap. 4: Solution concentration, Solubility and precipitation prediction, Total vs Net Ionic equations, Acids and Bases, Oxidation / Reduction and the Activity Series

Chap. 5: Gas Laws applied to specific problems, Kinetic Molecular Theory

Chap. 6: Thermodynamics (E vs q vs w) Thermochemistry and the BCE, Hess's Law (direct and indirect)

Chap. 7: Story of the Bohr model, Story of the Quantum Mechanics model, Quantum numbers for orbitals and electrons in atoms and electronic configurations

Chap. 8: Effective nuclear charge and physical properties (rad., I and EA)

Chap. 9: Lewis structures, Bond Energies and Hess's Law

Chap: 10: VSEPR (Lewis Structure --> designation --> arrangement --> hybridization --> shape --> molecular polarity)

Oh, and by the way, the solution sets for the remaining chapters are up on the course webpage.

Chemistry 2113 Open Forum for Asking Questions

Same idea as for the first year course. I will keep an eye on the blog. Put your questions in the comments section and I will see what I can do for answers.

Chemistry 1013 Open Forum Questions and Answers

If you have questions between now and the exam you are welcome to post them here in the comments section and when I check in I will do what I can to answer them. You have to knwo that if you have a question that about half the class have the same question but are afraid to ask so this is your chance to be the leader. If any of the other students think that hey have an answer to a posted question just step in and take a shot.

Friday Science Cartoon

As we approach the end of semester ...











Link to cartoon strip

Friday Science Quote

"For the love of God,
I can't cry.
I'm a scientist."

Ornithologist Melanie Driscoll’s response to seeing an
ivory billed woodpecker (thought to be extinct)
as reported in National Geographic Magazine, December 2006

Link to National Geographic Article

Real World Organic Chemistry

This is a stunning link to a video showing how sample preparations, natural product solvent extractions and precipitation of insoluble organic salts by reaction with mineral acids is accomplished in the real world. Just like in our lab, huh? Makes one wonder what their Health and Safety Committee thinks of their procedures.

Really though, as an organic chemistry student you can chemically make sense of everything that they are doing in this video.

Link to video

CH 2113 Class Assignment

So, who would like to know what was on the final exam?

This assignment has a number of parts. First you need to go over the end of chapter questions from the textbook (Chap. 2 - Chap. 8) and select one question from each chapter that you think is a good question. A good question would be one where the answer is not trivial, it requires thought to answer and covers at least one important principle taught in the chapter. The question may be from the syllabus set but may be any other end of chapter question.

Then log onto the comments section of this blog and state your selection. Your comment should include a statement of the chapter and question and a short reason why you think it would be a good exam question. Then read the other students comments as they come in and re-post if you change your mind.

Ultimately the class should agree on one question from each chapter that meets the criteria. At least two questions should be on synthesis.

Your mark on the assignment will be out of 20 and 10/20 will be my assessment of how well the final set of questions meets the criteria (all students that participate will get the same mark). The remaining 10/20 will be a participation mark assessed by the nature and quality of your own contributions to the discussion.

The payoff? I will select one of the seven questions from your list for the first question on the final exam and it will have a value of 10%. I reserve the right to make minor changes to the question but you will be able to recognize it.

The deadline for the final class list of questions will be midnight, Sunday, December 3. All students must make a contribution to the discussion by Sunday, November 26.

CH 1013 Class Assignment

So, who would like to know what was on the final exam?

This assignment has a number of parts. First you need to go over the end of chapter questions from the textbook (Chap. 2 - Chap. 8) and select one question from each chapter that you think is a good question. A good question would be one where the answer is not trivial, it requires thought to answer and covers at least one important principle taught in the chapter. The question may be from the syllabus set but may be any other end of chapter question.

Then log onto the comments section of this blog and state your selection. Your comment should include a statement of the chapter and question and a short reason why you think it would be a good exam question. Then read the other students comments as they come in and re-post if you change your mind.

Ultimately the class should agree on one question from each chapter that meets the criteria.

Your mark on the assignment will be out of 20 and 10/20 will be my assessment of how well the final set of questions meets the criteria (all students that participate will get the same mark). The remaining 10/20 will be a participation mark assessed by the nature and quality of your own contributions to the discussion.

The payoff? I will select one of the eight questions from your list for the first question on the final exam and it will have a value of 10%. I reserve the right to make minor changes to the question but you will be able to recognize it.

The deadline for the final class list of questions will be midnight, Sunday, December 3. All students must make a contribution to the discussion by Sunday, November 26.

Sad Days for Honeydew

It would appear that the usefulness of a blog in teaching has its limits and they are low. I have been looking around to see what other faculty are doing with their blogs and the time - effort - benefit equation does not seem favourable.

That said, there have been some recent news articles written about professor Honeydew and I might note that they are rather sad and disturbing.

LINK TO HONEYDEW ARTICLE 1

LINK TO HONEYDEW ARTICLE 2

Sort of makes you wonder if the internet is a reliable source of information afterall.

Slightly Cracked Honeydew

So ... when I was in my late teens I lifted a snowmobile out of a ditch and felt something "give" in my back. I was young and fit and just shook off the pain. Recently however there are occasional trigger events where I lift something heavy or awkward and when my back "gives" I am in pain for a week and for at least half of that time I simply cannot walk or straighten my back. That is what happened this past week and I thank you all for your cooperation with Sebastien as he carried the load by himself.

Fill in the blank time: The Wisdom of Wally

This is from a recent Dilbert cartoon and the original had the word "sadness" although from my contact with people addicted to caffeine I would also consider "stupid" and "indifference" as appropriate substitutes.
Anybody got some other words for the blank?

OK... So this made me laugh

Link to Cartoon

And not that girlish giggle that I am known for but my rather uncharacteristic harsh, barking, mean-spirited laugh. The more I look at what is on the internet the more I realize how this cartoon is true.

So what CAN I do with my BSc when I graduate?

Here's some ideas for jobs for BSc grads that probably have positions available all the time.

Link to Science Jobs

So ... who has been talking about me ?

I guess to be fair the professor would have to be much larger and wearing a sweater - vest but really people this stereotype of the Science professor is just a stereotype. Some of us don't have labs in the basement or assistants with humped backs (got too expensive and wouldn't drink the juglone solution).









Link to actual strip

Chemistry Week

It has been an exciting time in the chemistry world ...

This week past we celebrated the discovery of element 118 (for real this time).

In honour of Chemistry Week (October 22 - 28) and Mole Day (Monday, October 23) I offer for your pleasure the following link to The Element Song.

Link to the Element Song

But that alone, of course, does not make you smile with the workload that you face. For that reason I am going to declare that for the first year students the lab report for the gas lab (#5) will be a voluntary submission. You will not lose marks if you do not submit a report for the lab. For the second year organic chemistry students I will declare the juglone lab (#5A) to be a voluntary submission with the same comment. If you do submit a report by the deadline then the marks you earn will be added as bonus marks directly to your lab mark. No late submissions accepted.

Now ... go listen to the element song again and see if it doesn't somehow sound "happier".

Have a good weekend.

CHEM 1013 Class Assignment #2

In the fall of 1989 I taught Intro Chemistry at Dalhousie University. The November 15 mid-term test had six questions of equal value and the following was one of them. The students in 1989 had 12 minutes to answer this question. As before, the class is expected to agree to a final answer for the question and all students that participate will get the same mark. The deadline for participation is midnight, October 22. Show all calculations and follow the rules of significant figures.

A 5.810g sample of an iron ore was dissolved in 20.00 mL of concentrated HCl (12.3M) then diluted with water and titrated with permanganate solution (51.42 mL, 0.11678M). If the mineral in the ore was Iron(IV)sulphide what was its % mass in the ore?

5 Fe(2+) + MnO4(-) + 8 H(+) --> Mn(2+) + 4 H2O + 5 Fe(3+)


BONUS: If the total volume of solution after the reaction was 523 mL what was the HCl concentration after the reaction?

CHEM 2113 Class Assignment #2

As before the class will work together to answer a question and the entire class will get the same mark as long as each student participates.

Answer end of chapter questions 4.57 and 4.58. Final answers will be assessed at midnight October 22.


You will need to be able to insert ISISDraw structures into your answers. The simplist route that I have found is to draw the structure and paste it into a regular drawing program such as Paint and then save as a bitmap. You can then treat the image as a regular picture. That is how I created this image. By the way, for a bonus find the number of bonding errors in the image. For superbonus marks draw the same image without any bonding errors and determine its formula. For ultrabonus marks [maximum mark on assignment (20/10)] find a better way to insert ISISDraw structures into these comments.

Check out the end of an internet era

Two popular chemistry blogs are closing down and you will need to drop in in the very near future if you want to check them out. It seems that the bloggers have discovered that the internet never sleeps and with the modern search engines the internet never forgets either. In both cases it would appear that the contents of the blog may impact the future of the blogger. The question for the future employer would be "why would I hire someone who may reveal secrets, embarrass or ridicule me on the internet?". It is odd that people would combine the catharsis of a private diary with the adrenaline rush of public performance (let's face it that's what a blog is) and yet never think that they might someday be accountable for what was written. In both cases it appears that the blogs became too popular and the identities of the bloggers became public.

Link to chemistry blog I

Link to chemistry blog II

Problems with this blog

I have had a couple of students come by and they noted that they had problems getting to the assignment on this blog. Has anyone else had similar problems?

Chemistry Weirdness

This is a link to a wonderful site where some German chemists have figured out how to use clown balloons to make large scale chemical structures. It is simply amazing but what is absolutely astounding is what appears to be the authentic endorsement of the site by Francis Crick (one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA)!

LINK TO BALLOON MOLECULES

The next link is just one of those crazy but true chemistry sites where some people decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the creation of Play-Doh by recreating that blast of volatile organic molecules that we all remember when we opened a fresh can of the stuff.

LINK TO EAU DE PLAY-DOH

And then there are these people who have devoted their lives to making a periodic table coffee table with encased examples of the elements. So little time, so many elements.

LINK TO PERIODIC TABLE TABLE

The Brooker Limit

I have been asked about the “Brooker Limit”.

In the early 1990's I was blessed to work in a relatively large chemistry department as a tenure-track assistant professor. I had been hired (and it was made abundantly clear in my job interview) to do research. It was made clear in my tenure review assessments as well that I was expected to focus on research and publication. Therefore, my natural inclinations towards discussions about teaching were mostly limited to content issues. There was this one conversation that I had though ...

Murray Brooker was a blocky, gruff senior faculty member who taught and did research in physical chemistry (vibrational spectroscopy). He had a heart for helping the high school chemistry teachers in the province and did some good work in the area. He had taught introductory chemistry for a few years and we happened to have a conversation about teaching first year chemistry.

After a few comments Murray reflectively noted "You know, when you start out teaching first year chemistry you tend to make mistakes and repeat yourself. But, if you don't change anything, each year you get more and more efficient at delivering the content. You get to the point where you are not making any mistakes and you are covering the maximum content possible. It makes you wonder if that is such a good thing. Perhaps we should be changing the content and textbooks regularly so that the faculty will be better at teaching and worse at delivering chemistry." (paraphrase)

I have since used the expression "Brooker Limit" to describe my courses where I have delivered the same course year after year so that I can simply “pull the string” and the content will come out. The negative power of the Brooker Limit is that it resists change because any change will reduce the efficiency of content delivery. I have come to the realization that most textbooks are written by professors at the Brooker Limit for other professors at the Brooker Limit. This has resulted in the trend of identical first year chemistry textbooks of near encyclopedic content and size. I can believe that there are professors out there that can deliver the content of these texts but I defy them to teach the content of these texts.

Stuff that makes me laugh (Part I)

Recent stuff I came across that made me smirk, smile or laugh.











My recent attempts at blogging make this one rather pointed.








The definitions of academic dishonesty just keep changing ...







As does the opinion if something is good or bad

Windows Journal for the Tablet PC

This semester I will be using a tablet PC to write my lecture notes in class instead of chalk as I have for the past 15 years. There are a number of reasons for this. I had reached the Brooker Limit for lecturing chemistry using a chalkboard and it was time for a change. Over the years a number of students noted that physically taking notes in my classes was so limiting that they did not really think about the material. This semester will be a test of that assertion because the lecture notes will be saved on the course webpage for student reference. Students that want to pay attention and not take notes will have access to a complete set as the course proceeds. So taking notes will be the students choice. That is partially dependent on my frustration level with the technology especially since the tablet PC will be useless if the projector does not work and I will be interested to note how much of my class will be taken up dealing with the technology. I have made a personal commitment on this but I can also see myself going back to chalk after I have lost a lecture or two. We will see.

Students that want to be able to read the lecture notes will need to install the free Windows Journal Viewer (follow link below).

LINK

If you were a muppet?

I am not a big fan of these internet memes but they are pretty pervasive and I seem to get a constant rain of them from people I hardly know. This one however might help you pick a blogger identity if you want to avoid giving out your personal information on the web. I did it and I turn out to be a Dr. Honeydew.

LINK

You Are Dr. Bunsen Honeydew

You take the title "mad scientist" to the extreme -with very scary things coming out of your lab.And you've invented some pretty cool things, from a banana sharpener to a robot politician.But while you're busy turning gold into cottage cheese, you need to watch out for poor little Beaker! "Oh, that's very naughty, Beaker! Now you eat these paper clips this minute."

The Muppet Personality Test

Honeydew on the Internet

Prof. H. is discussed in detail in this wiki devoted to the muppets. If you follow the links back you can find out about Muppet Labs and Beaker as well.



LINK

Chem 2113 Class Assignment #1

In this class assignment you are expected to work together as a class to create an answer to the end of chapter questions 1.67 and 1.68 (all parts)IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS BLOG. Only students that actually enter a comment (even if it is only to agree with another students answer) will be given credit for the assignment. This assignment will be marked Saturday, Sept. 9 so you must have made your contribution by then.

CHEMISTRY LABORATORY VIDEO

Students that are concerned that they may not understand what they are reading when they prepare for a laboratory may find the following web sites useful. I would note that we may have slightly different equipment or procedures in our laboratories but the reality is that we all put our lab coats on one sleeve at a time. Warning! Some of these videos are VERY low tech but they get the point across. If you have ever been in a church service where the "special music" has wailed "please don't listen to me but listen to the words" then you know what I mean when I tell you that there is useful information in these videos if you can see past the nerd factor.

LINK TO GATEWAY FOR USEFUL LABORATORY INFORMATION

LINK TO GENERAL CHEMISTRY LAB PROCEDURES

LINK TO ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LAB PROCEDURES I

LINK TO ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LAB PROCEDURES II

If you can find others let me know or post a comment.

CHEM 1013 Class Assignment #1

In this class assignment you are expected to work together as a class to create an answer to the end of chapter question 1.72 (all parts)IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS BLOG. Only students that actually enter a comment (even if it is only to agree with another students answer) will be given credit for the assignment. This assignment will be marked Saturday, Sept. 16 so you must have made your contribution by then.

Taking Notes in My Courses

I tend to give alot of notes and some students have expressed frustration that the act of note taking prevents them from actually learning. That is pretty much why I am going to the Tablet PC this year and will drop the course notes on the website. I would note however that the issue of learning and note taking has been the subject of academic research.

Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research,and Theory for College and University Teachers
by Wilbert J. McKeachie; D.C.Heath and Company, 1994
ISBN # 0-669-19434-4; pages 59 and 60.

"Several studies show that students who take notes remember material better than a control group not taking notes even though the note takers turned in their notes immediately after the lecture. Note taking involves elaboration and transformation of ideas, which increases meaningfulness and retention (Peper and Mayer, 1978; Weiland and Kingbbury, 1979). But note taking has costs as well as benefits. Student strategies of note taking differ. Some students take copious notes; others take none. We know that student information processing capacity is limited; that is, people can take in, understand, and store only so much information in any brief period of time.

Information will be processed more effectively if the student is actively engaged in analyzing and processing the information rather than passively soaking it up.

Students' ability to process information depends upon the degree to which the information can be integrated or "chunked." No one has great ability at handling large numbers of unrelated items in active memory. Thus when students are in an area of new concepts or when the instructor is using language that is not entirely familiar to the students, students may be processing the lecture word by word or phrase by phrase and lose the sense of a sentence or of a paragraph before the end of the thought is reached.

This means that lecturers need to be aware of instances in which new words or concepts are being introduced and to build in greater redundancy as well as pauses during which students can catch up and get appropriate notes.

Snow and Peterson (1980) point out that brighter students benefit more from taking notes than less able students. We believe that this is because the less able students cannot, while they write their notes, keep what they hear in their memories, so that their note taking essentially blocks them from processing parts of the lecture. But this is not simply a matter of intelligence; rather a student's ability to maintain materials in memory while taking notes and even to process and think about relationships between one idea and other ideas depends upon the knowledge or cognitive structures the student has available for organizing and relating the material. Thus the background of the student in the area is probably more important than the student's level of intelligence.

Some faculty members hand out prepared notes or encourage the preparation of notes for students to purchase. Hartley's research, as well as that of Annis (1981) and Kiewra (1989), suggests that a skeletal outline is helpful to students but with detailed notes students relax into passivity. It is better simply to provide an overall framework which they can fill in by selecting important points and interpreting them in their own words, Because student capacity for information processing is limited and because students cannot stop and go over again a confusing part of a lecture, you need to build more redundancy into your lectures than into writing, and you need to build in pauses when students can catch up and think rather than simply struggle to keep up."

Liberal Arts and Science: Dow Ad "Human Element"

This ad from Dow Chemical Company is really quite good and it escapes the reductionist / positivist tone of most chemical company ads. The recognition that Science is a uniquely human exercise of the will is really a more liberal arts concept than "Big Science". I like it. Now, on the other hand this does not let Dow off the hook for being a multi-national chemical company that has mortgaged the future of our children and grandchildren for short-term financial gain just like the rest of the chemical industry BUT (and it is an important but) they did it because we asked them to. The story of the rise of modernity in the 20th century is in fact the story of the rise of the middle class and their financial, social and environmental impact. All generations before had the crushed poor in service to the exalted rich ("the poor you will have with you alway"). The Industrial Revolution would never have occured without the disposible income of the middle class. For that reason the mellow almost regretful tone of the ad is just right.

LINK

I must admit one thing that bugs me about this ad though. It seems like ages ago I watched the PBS series "The Civil War" when it first came out. The series was one of those shining examples of the power of television to educate on multiple levels at the same time and I was transfixed. The theme music for the series was a haunting melody played on fiddles and guitar called "The Ashokan Farewell". This ad by Dow has a shameless grab at our emotions by creating a similar tune. The link below will give you an idea of what the real tune is like. It is the tune played behind the reading of the letter at the end of the clip. The second link is to a live performance of the actual tune

LINK

LINK

Student Chemistry Safety Video

The students that put this video together did a pretty good job but the violence, while amusing, would not be acceptable in any way, even if it is to teach the opposite point.

LINK

Dr. Honeydew on the Internet

Youtube video of the banana sharpener skit. Classic.

LINK

CH1013 and CH2113 Science in the News

Things that make you go ... Ick!

This link tells us about the recent proposal that urine should be collected separate from other wastewater (no more standing up guys). What is cool about this is the proposal is that materials be recovered from the collected urine and sold as a cost recovery. This links nicely to our discussion on the chlorination of municiple waters.

LINK

This second link is very cool since it is a very good study on what can be detected in our waterways as a result of our wastewaters. As the authors say ...

The most frequently detected compounds were coprostanol (fecal steroid), cholesterol (plant and animal steroid), N,N-diethyltoluamide (insect repellant), caffeine (stimulant), triclosan (antimicrobial disinfectant), tri(2-chloroethyl)phosphate (fire retardant), and 4-nonylphenol (nonionic detergent metabolite).

LINK

This makes for an interesting insight into the persistence of our chemical wastes relating to organc chemistry.

CH1013 Science in the News

This link is to a report that the pre-1992 British coins now are more valuable for the content of the coin than its face value. As a replacement assignment, re-write the article for Canadian pennies and recalculate the values. The first correct submission will get a value of 10/10 and a get-out-of-quiz card for use anytime in the semester.

LINK

Science in the News - CH1013

This links to a report about the response to a spill of liquid mercury at a school. It gives some context to both the inappropriate behaviour of the student and the excessive response of the HazMat squad. This is related to CH1013 because it discusses the physical and chemical properties of a common element.

LINK

Dr. Honeydew in the News

The good news is that Dr. H. is getting some recognition. The bad news is that he hasn't been seen lately.


Link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5932369/

Blog Introduction

The intention of this blog is to allow information to flow between the members of the class in my courses.