Well, this week marked the halfway point in my summer chemistry class, and it was another hectic one. We left Northern California on Tuesday so I had to get all the assignments due that day in on Monday. Then Wednesday I was playing catchup with ALEKS (thank goodness I was able to turn my DB assignments the next day), and Thursday was the 4th of July so other than the DB assignments I didn't do any further work. That meant Friday I was playing catchup with ALEKS again and rushing to get the lab sheet in. Maybe... just maybe... next week will be better?
Miss Daisy Celebrating Independence Day
This week I read from chapters 5 ("Molecules and Compounds"), 18 ("Organic Chemistry"), 7 ("Chemical Reactions"), and 6 ("Chemical Composition"). For the most part chapter 5 didn't cause any problems, though naming acids could prove to be a bit tricky. Chapter 6 was a lot of math but not too bad. I understood all the concepts in chapter 7, but it's a lot to keep track of, so that's probably going to be my main obstacle there.
Chapter 18... oh my goodness, chapter 18. Again, I think I understood the concepts, but so much to remember! I feel like a lot of the material this week is stuff I would do great with if I could have a chart in front of me for reference... but unfortunately that's not quite how it works. Plus it's such detailed material. When I was doing the homework in ALEKS I would follow the more basic examples without much trouble, but then they'd throw a tricky problem at me. Even though I remembered the rules the particular structure or formula would throw me for a loop, so I'd apply them as best I could. Usually I was off somewhere so I'd be marked wrong and have to start all over again. Overall the nomenclature has been very challenging, not so much in theory, but definitely in practice.
I realize that most or all of the concepts I study in the readings have some relation to me and my daily life, but at times that's hard to see. The "Everyday Chemistry" sections in the chapters have been very helpful in that regard. For example, in chapter 5 I learned about how polyatomic ions are in everything from bleach to baked goods to Tums (p. 140). I only read one math-related section in chapter 6, so nothing jumped out at me there. Chapter 7, on the other hand, talked about evidence of chemical reactions. I see examples of that every day (color change, formation of a solid, formation fo a gas, emission of light, and the emission or absorption of heat), so that was easier to relate to me personally. Chapter 18 talked about scents and smells, which are obviously a huge part of everyday life. In fact, as I was studying earlier I noticed one of my favorite smells coming through the window, the smell of woodsmoke.
One of the discussion board assignments this week was on carbon. We had to read a work entitled (surprisingly) "Carbon" by Primo Levi and, using Google Draw, sketch the travels of the carbon atom. The reading itself was challenging but interesting. I'm not going to be super excited about a block on the periodic table with a "C" on it, but this reading made carbon come to life. It showed that atoms would have amazing stories to tell if they were able to communicate. Parts of the reading were fascinating... other parts were just confusing. Levi had a tendency to use "high-falutin'," flowery language, which was fun when it was understandable but some places were next to incomprehensible. The drawing was... well, it was an adventure. I'd never used Google Draw in my life but I have used online drawing programs once or twice. Let's just say I'd never been thrilled with my results. I'm no artist, but I can produce a reasonably good pencil sketch when I need to. Oh boy, did Google Draw take my pride down a few notches. It took me forever to figure out how to use the different features, and I never did successfully create an arc. Not where I wanted it to go, anyway; I was able to produce arcs everywhere but where they were supposed to be. Eventually I started relying on the "Scribble" feature and used it to draw most of what I ended up using. My falcon was either obese or had just eaten a huge dinner, but at least it was recognizable as a bird.
The other discussion board assignment, where we posted photos of examples of chemical change, ties into the question of how this course is relating to my daily life. Again, when I'm doing the homework problems I'm usually wondering what on earth this has to do with anything practical in my everyday life. But when I saw all the examples that everyone posted it drove home to me again just how much chemistry is a part of our everyday experiences. Everything from BBQ to the weather, from our pets to our kitchens, from our travels to our celebrations... chemistry pops up in all of them. I was honestly surprised at how many examples I was able to come up with, even though I jumped in later in the discussion and I was trying not to repeat what anyone else had done.
Lab this week was challenging. Between the trip home, unpacking, and the holiday (we have an ice cream social every 4th to watch the fireworks from our back porch... 70 people showed up this year) I hadn't been able to study as much as I would've liked. I felt like the material wasn't that hard, but I didn't fully understand it yet so I got quite a few answers wrong. I had to laugh at myself the next day. I popped awake in the morning and thought "Oh shoot. I just wrote NR. I bet you anything I was supposed to write out the full formula and then write NR afterwards." And sure enough, I was right. Why couldn't that insight have come to me while I was doing the assignment? I think I understand the material better now, but I may print the sheet up again and try to solve everything again before I take the exam.
There were a lot of videos this week. A lot. But since I usually find they make things easier for me to understand I didn't mind. The first few videos were pretty much review; for example, "Law of Constant Composition," "Chemical Formula Terminology," and "Binary Compounds - Fixed Charge Metals." The videos on naming acids ("Naming binary acids" and "Naming oxy acids") were very helpful. I like that the videos break everything down to individual topics so I'm not worrying about keeping which acid is what straight when I'm first learning about them. Nope, I learn just about the binary acids in the first video. Then it's clear to me that naming oxy acids will have a different set of rules. It also helps me keep the endings straight (I swear all those different variations on the endings will be the death of me). Given how much trouble I had with the organic chemistry section the videos on naming and the structures of alkenes, alkynes and alkanes were very welcome. I was especially grateful for the video on complex structured alkanes.
All in all, I feel like I understand nomenclature better. However I'm not at all confident that I'll be able to remember all the names and rules and "meths," "eths," "enes," "anes," "ynes," "ics," "ates," etc. Like I said earlier, I feel like I'd get along just fine if I was able to reference charts or lists, or if I had more time before the exam to really memorize it all. I think I'll be spending most of my time before this next exam trying to cram it all in. It's not necessarily that hard once you understand it, there's just a lot of it and it all sounds very similar so it's easy to get tripped up. I'm not sure I'll feel ready for the exam, but I'll certainly do what I can! That's what worries me most about the rest of the course as the concepts get harder, trying to get all the homework and assignments done and having the time to really understand what's going on. When I started out this class I think I predicted I'd do somewhere in the range of 4 hours a day of homework. What I had in my head was 4 hours a day of chemistry, period. I'm discovering that this is almost full-time work, between the different requirements, and if I miss one day then heaven help me the next day! And of course, I start thinking "Holy cow, I've been just managing to keep up so far and it's been the easy stuff! What's going to happen once we get to the tough stuff?" I have to keep reminding myself that this is an accelerated class, so we're already halfway through and we're already into the tough stuff. Hopefully now that I'm home I'll be able to organize my time better. I really do feel like, with enough time and studying, I'll be able to fully understand all the different concepts that will come up.
On to the over-halfway-mark this week! Until next time!
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