Archive for May, 2003

shawn and i posed some questions to schweitzer concerning the chemistry…

us: Regarding the molecule write-up, what does it mean when it wants 5 physical properties of chemicals in the reaction??
can i just list its physical properties? like this: mp, bp, solubility..etc?

him: I want you to try and tie the properties into your reactions. Listing the properties is BORING.
Explaining how the properties effect the use of your molecule is better.

what if we can’t find enough enough chemical poroperties in reaction or enough physical properties?
and HOW are we supposed to explain things with limited understanding?

The answer is research to understand as much as you can, and avoid the stuff you don’t understand at all.

the entire project overall is simple enough
the tricky part is this chemistry thing

that would be the point.

we can see these reactions, but what are we supposed to extract from them?

As much as you can, and then do your best to explain it to the rest of us.

The point of this is for you to take a look at a specific molecule, and using the knowledge gained through the course and via your reseatch to do some in depth analysis. Analysis of what? well that will depend on the direction your research led you. No two people will be exactly the same.
That’s why the marking scheme is fairly generic. I’m inventing an updated version, but it will also be fairly generic – it has to be.

I know that’s not much help, but that’s what you are more or less stuck with.
BTW, these are questions you guys should have asked months ago.

touché, and he’s right
chem dept. gave us ENOUGH time on this project

good luck frig shizzles

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chemistry project, what to say about your molecule (my suggestions):
– what is it?
– what does it do?
(explain it in general)
– physical properties
– chemical properties
(try to explain these in terms of what we’ve learned this year, e.g., how molecular packing is related to melting point, etc.)
– common reactions (e.g., in metabolic pathways, etc.)
– experimental reactions (e.g., from journals)
(try to explain these in terms of the chem/physical properties and what we’ve learned this year)
– applications of your chemical (if possible/necessary)

good luck frig shizzles

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