Anouncements

The key to exam 3 will be on dropbox by this evening.

Remember, both Friday and Monday are Peralta holidays, so we will not have class. Please use at least some portion of your long weekend to study for the first midterm exam, which will be on Monday, 2/28.

HW for chapter 4 is due next Wednesday.

Both lab reports (formal for exp't 7, and short form for exp't 5) are due Friday, 2/25. Please remember that all of the questions (those formally labeled "Questions") from the lab manual must be attached to the report.

Office Hours and Dropbox

Please note that from now on office hours are from noon to 1pm on Wednesdays. Since we'll already be in the classroom, we can simply do it there.

Also, please make sure you have access to dropbox. all documents will now be distributed through dropbox instead of email. If you do not have access to dropbox, please send me an email.

Significant Figures and Units

I'm grading the quiz from Monday and it's remarkable how many of you thought I was kidding about significant figures and units. Remember, I will subtract 1 point for each significant figure error, and for omission of units.

Preparation for Lab and Dropping the Class, and Lecture Notes

Preparation for Lab:

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in lecture on Friday, but I need you to read the instructions for Exp't's 5 and 7 before you come to lab. There will normally be a pre-lab exercise to complete, but for this first day of experiments, we will be doing a brief exercise at the beginning of lab (after the quiz) to illustrate how to do the pre-lab.To do this exercise, you must have read through the instructions first. If you're short on time, skimming the lab manual should suffice.

Dropping the Class
If you are not in the class, and are still receiving this email, let me know and I will remove you from the list.

If you have dropped the class, please let me know ASAP. This is especially important since Monday is census day and is important for Laney receiving funding from the state.

If you are contemplating dropping the class, please talk to me about it.

Lecture Notes

My lecture notes are now in dropbox. These notes were written by Prof. Fossum. I use them as a rough guideline for my own lecture. More lecture notes will be posted to dropbox throughout the semester.

Announcements for Monday, 2/7

Quiz:
The quiz on Monday (will be given at the start of lab) will cover all of the material I have lectured on since the start of the semester. Most likely there will be a question or two concerning simple dimensional analysis, such as a finding the mass of a substance given its volume and density, which will require you to use units and pay attention to significant figures. Also, at least half the quiz will cover nomenclature and formulas for salts.

For every quiz from now on, the subject material will be anything that has been covered since the previous quiz. I will avoid asking questions on the quiz about material I have not lectured on. What that means for Monday's quiz is that I will not ask about binary non-metallic compounds, which I did not get to on Friday's lecture. Questions about that material, will be on the next quiz. Also, remember there will be a quiz every Monday unless there is an exam that week.

Common Ions Handout

A list of common ions, charges, formulas, and names that you must memorize (important for Monday's quiz) can be found here and here.

Extra-Credit
Bromine has two naturally occurring isotopes, 79-Br with a mass of 78.9183361 g/mol and 81-Br with a mass of 80.916289 g/mol. Given that the average mass of bromine is 79.9041 g/mol, find the relative natural abundances of the two isotopes. You can simply look up the percentages, but that is not what I am looking for. I want to see your calculation, including a careful observance of units and significant figures. This is worth 4 points, and is due Monday at the start of lecture.

Lecture Attendance:

On Friday, roughly a quarter of the class left at the break. This was probably not a good idea for those of you who left. I know it was a beautiful day, and a Friday at that, but after the break, I covered a large amount of material on nomenclature which will be on the quiz. While lecture attendance is not required, it is definitely recommended if you want to pass the class with a decent grade. My fear is that those of you left half way through lecture will be the same students who drop in a few weeks because they keep getting low scores.

File-Sharing Website

The file sharing website I have been using to distribute documents to the class seems like it is not reliable, in that the links only work some of the time, and there are low limits to numbers of downloads per day. I am looking for a better one, and am open to suggestions. In the meantime, I will be emailing out all important documents as well as putting them on the file sharing sites.

Quiz 1 Blank and Key

Blank quizzes (great as study aids) and quiz keys can be found here or here.

Lab Manual

There is no reason to purchase the lab manual at the Laney book store. You can find it in pdf format here or here.