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“Be diligent in chemistry or suffer Murphy’s revenge.”

- One of Mrs. Rathbun’s exhortations to us intrepid chemists.

 

"How is everyone?" Mrs. Rathbun’s cheery voice asks. Suddenly, "Good"’s and "Fine"’s fill the chat box as we exchange what’s been going on in our lives during the past week. The din in the classroom quiets dramatically as 3:00 PM Eastern Time finally arrives. Summoning Mr. Echo Star into the classroom, Mrs. Rathbun then begins the incantation for the class recording: “This recording is the exclusive property of The Potter's School and Mrs. Becky Rathbun . . .” And so our weekly class begins.

 

We’ve been busy with tons of stuff in our chemistry class. This month, we learned the difference between homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures as well as the difference between physical and chemical change. Homogeneous mixtures consist of only one substance, which can either be an element or a compound. Elemental homogeneous mixtures include such things as the helium gas found in everyday, plastic balloons or the iron in an iron nail. Homogeneous mixtures existing as a compound include such substances as the carbon dioxide produced from cars and the water found around us in countless reservoirs and in the atmosphere. Heterogeneous mixtures, on the other hand, are simply mixtures of elements or compounds. Air-–a mixture of primarily nitrogen and oxygen gasses-–is a primary example of a heterogeneous mixture as is spaghetti--a mixture of sauce and noodles.

 

Learning the difference between physical and chemical change presented a slightly more formidable obstacle since this difference is often blurred. Stated simply, a physical change is a change that occurs to a substance that only affects its physical appearance but not its chemical composition. Cutting paper into little bits would be one example of a physical change. A chemical change, however, actually involves changing the chemical makeup of a particular substance. Thus burning these little bits of paper, and thereby changing the composition from paper into carbon dioxide and water, would be an example of a chemical change.

 

In addition, we also learned about the Kinetic Theory of Matter, which states that matter is constantly in motion--even though our unaided eyes may not be able to detect such motion. We also discovered the hidden beauty in a balanced chemical equation. Revealing the beauty and orderly organization of elements and compounds in these equations has undeniably consumed a very large portion of this class.

 

Next, we learned what will probably be the single most important concept in the study of chemistry: the mole concept. Just as the words “dozen,” “couple,” and “triplet” are all shorthand expressions for actual, numerical values – twelve, two, and, three, respectively – the word "mole" also acts as a shorthand expression. Like all these other words, the mole is a convenient word used by chemists to show a predefined number of objects, often atoms or molecules. This number is 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 6.02 x 10^23, in an abbreviated form for convenience sake. Wow. That’s a large number. Though large this number works the same way as any other word like “dozen” or “couple.” Just as you would have twelve molecules if you were to say “a dozen molecules,” you would also have 6.02 x 10^23 molecules if you were to say “one mole of molecules.” This concept isn't really that hard to understand yet it can become quite tricky in its application.

The mole concept has an integral part to play in our upcoming material. This part will be played out in the study of stoichiometry. That’s a big word, but its meaning is quite simple. Stoichiometry is what chemists do when they relate quantities of different substances produced or reacted in a chemical reaction to each other. This new concept is responsible for the entire sixth module of our textbook titled, appropriately enough, “Stoichiometry.” Because stoichiometry deals entirely with chemical equations, we will also delve into the intricacies of chemical equations that were skipped over by previous modules. Other upcoming material of interest includes the study of atomic structure, the particle/wave duality theory of light, the electromagnetic spectrum, the Bohr model of atoms, the quantum mechanical model of atoms and, finally, electron orbitals and their configuration in atoms.

 

But for now it’s Thanksgiving Break, and all of us here in chemistry class are feeling the affects of way too many late nights spent at the computer frantically writing lab reports: carpal tunnel syndrome. Well, maybe this slightly exaggerates our strenuous studying habits, but we’re all happy to be off for a week and just relax--forgetting all those memories of narrow escapes we’ve had in the lab, blowing things up and concocting dangerous yet often exhilarating chemical reactions. Maybe blowing things up is a small stretch of the imagination, but anyway, that’s what we’ve been up to.

 

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