I took this class before, two quarters ago. I was taking another lab science class (animal biology) at the time and working full time. I missed class after class and finally, after failing a quiz and an exam (for the first time ever) decided I should drop. The instructor was very nice about it - I’d gotten a 4.0 in his Intro class and he knew I could do the work, but was just overwhelmed.
So I’ve taken it again. The class was annoying sometimes - it seemed like there were a lot of people asking questions just to hear themselves talk. The material was introduced more slowly because of this, so we’ve had buffers, free energy and electrochemistry in a relatively small time (ie, after the last exam). We even had to skip a week of lab because the lab material had gotten so far ahead of the class.
The lecture meets at 10:00 am. The final starts at 07:45 tomorrow. I’ve worked swing shift for the last several years and my body is not used to getting up that early. So I’m very stressed about waking up on time on top of worrying about the exam itself. I know that if I want to go to med school I need to get used to waking up early, and I’m fine with that - just not now, when I’m still working that schedule.
And since I’ve got a degree in Chemical Engineering, specialty Organic Chemistry, thesis in Statistics, followed by a Master’s in Theoretical Chemistry, I mean “good chemistry” literally!
Gracias, Nava. Now could you just make oxidation and reduction jumble in my brain correctly? And the Nernst equation?
Oddly enough, I’m very at home with the idea of entropy…
I know the concepts, like some sort of tool - a K is a K is a K, no matter what the subscript is. They behave the same. It’s the little other bits I’m worried about.
(This quarter was kinetics, equilibrium, buffers, Gibbs energy and electrochem.)
I know very little about Chemistry. We had to take it in HS, and after that I wasn’t allowed to take Physics my senior year because it was the same teacher and she hated me (as well as a few select friends). In college I only had to take 2 sciences and I took Bioterrorism (DNA tests on bacteria, blood analysis, we pretty much played CSI) and Physics, but good luck! I know how finals can be, I just finished a few of my hardest so far last month.
Chemistry is just electricity. In redox, one electron leaves the item that’s being “oxidized” (i.e., the “reductor”… it reduces the other guy…) and hops over to the item being “reduced” (the “oxydizer”).
When I can’t remember which is which, I think or iron. Solid, metal iron, has more electrons than iron atoms in rust. So when something “is oxidized”, it loses electrons.
Here’s the little mnemonic I used to learn oxidation and reduction:
OILRIG–Oxidation is loss; reduction is gain. If something is oxidized, it loses electrons. If something is reduced, it gains electrons.
The thing that gets electrons (i.e., is reduced) has to get them from something else. Therefore, a reactant that’s reduced is an oxidizer. Something that loses electrons must give them to something else. Therefore, a reactant that’s oxidized is a reducer.
If that still seems confusing, think of it this way. Suppose there are two people, both of whom are in debt. One of them gets money from the other. The one who gets money has his or her debt reduced, but in doing so makes the other person poorer. The person who’s made poorer reduces the other one’s debt. This is a lot like oxidation and reduction. Both reactants have a need for electrons. One of the reactants gets electrons from the other. The reactant that gets electrons has its need for electrons reduced, but in doing so, it makes the other reactant poorer in electrons. The reactant that’s made poorer in electrons (i.e., the reactant that’s oxidized) reduces the other reactant by giving up electrons to (i.e., reducing) that other reactant.
Thank you all for your kind thoughts. I managed to wake up on time and arrive at school at 0745. I answered almost all the questions without having to resort to, “Because Jesus said so!” or “Pixies did it!” I am now going back to bed for a while.
