CH301 Random Musings, October 13, 2011 1. The results from quiz 3 were excellent with a percentage of 85%, this score is 25% above Quest averages. This is what I was hoping to see from you. What does this mean? I think it means you all are getting the hang of how to study and are pretty talented as a group. Of course, we are about to start doing calculator-free math again, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. 2. Reluctantly I am killing the hybrid orbit theory question because many of you correctly pointed out that the statement about the number of hybrid orbits formed (one) is logically true, and since the question is built on logical constructs rather than asking for a best answer, it is simply a poorly written question with more than one defensible answer. Sigh. 3. I am humiliated by my performance on periodic table-off. Mostly because if I was going to actually learn all 115 elements this weekend, like I did, you would think I wouldn’t stop in the middle of the contest and start babbling about selenium when I needed to be thinking about what row I was in. Arrogance, pure arrogance—this is no different than those of you who don’t focus on the easy questions on tests. Anyway, I will make it up to you at some point on the extra credit front. I’ll let you know. 4. A couple of recent e-mails to brighten my day (I love e-mails that start with, “Okay, you were right”. From a current student: Hi Dr. Laude, I know you get a lot of these every day from kids like me asking for help, but here is another one. I feel like I have been trying and studying a lot for this class lately by doing the worksheets, going to TA sessions to answer questions I do not understand, and doing the practice quizzes and tests in order to prepare but I am still having problems. For example, in preparing for Quiz #3 tomorrow, I feel as though I know the information (I memorized the question types and I suppose I thought I knew the recipes for answering them) but when it came time to take the practice quizzes it became apparent that I didn't understand it. I went to the Learning Center today for help, which did help a little and I have a study group I am going to tonight, so I hope that will help me clear things up. Anyway, I guess I just wanted to let you know, I really do care about how I do in this class and I want to do well, so if there is any further advice you can offer me, please, please do. Thank you xxxxxxxxx Dear xxxxxx Trust in the process. You are beating yourself up and you haven't even done badly yet. Sometimes the practice quizzes are a lot harder than the regular quiz, for one thing. So after you take the quiz, e-mail me with the score you received and we can talk about what to do next, and if we need to meet, we can. Hi Dr. Laude, Thank you! Okay, so you were right. (Surprise!) Thank you so much for responding and for the encouragement. I did do well on my quiz, thank goodness; I got a 100--WHOOOOOO!!! So I suppose now I have a better idea of how to study for the future. If I haveany more questions or concerns I will be sure to either ask you at a discussion session or via email. Best wishes, xxxxxxxx From a former student Dr. Laude, I don't know if you remember me or not, but I took your chemistry class my freshman year, both semesters. I'm currently taking Organic and we recently took our first test. I just wanted to write to you and tell you how much I appreciate your class and how you taught it even though it was really tough for me at first. On my first organic test I got a 92. I am so happy and I attribute a lot of my success to you. If you hadn't taken the time out to meet with us about how to get an A and go over my study skills, I don't think I would have gotten the grade I got. I also appreciate you incorporating organic at the end of CH302. If almost killed my grade in your class, but I got through it and am now doing well in organic because of it. Thanks you so much again. Moral of the story? Persevere. You can change your performance in this class, but you have to want it. Taking the final for everything doesn’t mean you can coast till then, it means starting right now to change, and by the time the exam comes, you are ready to shine. I want to see tons of you with bad first test grades getting an A in this course. 5. So this Sunday at 9 pm I will hold a how to get an A session as we prepare for quiz 4. I will take you through the steps of how an organized active learner studies for my class. I hope to videotape it but offer no guarantees. 6 There is a quiz coming next Thursday and like clockwork, one week early, here are the 8 question types on the next quiz 4: • Determining bond order for a homonuclear diatomic molecule or ion (worksheet 8) • Determining paramagnetism for a homonuclear diatomic molecule or ion (worksheet 8) • Ranking bond energy or length based on bond order (worksheet 8) • Identifying delocalization in a molecule (worksheet 8) • Ideal gas law calculation for a chemical reaction involving gases (worksheet 9) • Ideal gas law calculation involving a state change in a gas system (worksheet 9) • Kinetic Molecular Theory explains gas speed, diffusion or effusion (worksheet 9) • Ranking non-ideality in gases (worksheet 9) 7. I am getting various support materials up and going—I will e-mail with an update this weekend but expect to see a practice quiz 4, worksheets 8 and 9 and their keys and videos, and the three new learning modules. This is quite a grind for the TAs, I hope you appreciate it and thank them. 8. I will hold office hours in my office Monday and Tuesday and then the classrooms Wednesday and Thursday before the quiz. 9. Definition corner: Here is some vocabulary to reinforce what you know as you put all the concepts about bonding together:• Electronic geometry refers to the shapes of the electron rich regions. So erase the atoms and just look at the electron pairs and the five possible answers. • Molecular geometry refers to the13 possible shapes of the atoms in the molecule and ignores the electrons. So erase the electrons and just look at the shape the atoms take on. If you see a question that states: what is the shape of H2O, for example, they want to know the shape of the molecule and the answer is “angular” • Dipole moment: a vector describing the orientation of
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