The Oregonian ran an article today titled, “Markets Threaten Oregon University Endowments” (Nov 30, 2008, Metro NW section, B-1). The article profiles Reed College’s finances (which are gloomy, but probably no worse than anyone else’s) and it features a nice picture of students walking away from Eliot Hall.
What am I saying? These are not just any “students” in the photo, but rather our very own Laurel Oldach pondering a just-completed Chem 201 lecture as she heads across the Blue Bridge.
Several years ago I came across a Chem 201 exam with the following written in the margin: “Albert is sick and in pain, so I brought clean forks”. Afterward I asked the student what that was all about and she re-wrote it for me:
AlBert is SiCk and in PaiN, SO I Brought Clean Forks
This little ditty helped her remember which elements were found in the same column of the periodic table. Pretty clever. Do you have a chemistry mnemonic or tip to share? You can submit your tip as a comment.
An idiosyncratic assortment of suggestions and observations based on 23+ years of teaching.
Once you get used to them, you may find that the problems
in your textbook have a game-like quality. If you make the right mental
“moves”, you will nearly always solve the problem. It’s a nice way to
get started thinking about organic chemistry, but not terribly realistic.
Modern organic chemists spend most of their time working on problems that can’t
be solved just by making the right moves. These problems are both scientific
and technological and if we ever solve them, we will change how the entire world thinks and lives.
My first genuine taste of organic chemistry came in my sophomore year of college (73-74). I studied from a large (1000 page) textbook not too different from yours. There was a lot to remember, but I was doing alright until the second quarter when a subtle and unannounced change in the book quite threw me. (more…)