I need to visit the Wizard of Oz. And get potions that will make me scholarly and inclined to study.
However, the closest I'm going to get is calling the advisory office tomorrow and making an appointment and throwing a hissy fit because I got bad information last time I went there. Thanks a lot adviser, you're really helping my cause.
Icky day. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
chem-is-TRY, chem-is-TRY
I can't study anymore...my brain is about to implode...
Took my 5A/5B unknowns in chem lab today. It was so stressful, not only because of how difficult it was, but the TA's stand is right behind me so people are constantly lining up, brushing past me, bumping into me when I'm measuring out 6M HCl...
5A took me five minutes too long and I was really unhappy with it, but I got a sensible answer and the pH and the ions correlated, so I feel fairly...secure...about that one.
5B though...oh such a nightmare. First, my flame refused to change color, and when I dipped my wire in water to get more of the unknown on it, the unknown expanded alarmingly and glowed and turned into the shape of a fat round white sheep (Abby saw it so I have proof) and I was going to keep it, only it wasn't as solid as I fancied and shattered when I put the wire down.
Then there was no smell for the ammonia test, but one hairs-width sliver of the litmus turned blue so I redid the whole thing and it was scentless and pink this time so I gave up....and then freaked out when heating off the step 6 soluble solution gave off white smoke and smelled like ammonia! I decided there was none though. You can smell it for miles when you add NaOH and I couldn't smell a damn thing.
It didn't bubble and the pH was much too low to be consistent with a carbonate, so that did make me feel better.
The rest went fairly smoothly - especially the magnesium precipitate, it was this pretty moonstone colored goo - until I realized that I had 15 minutes left and some skank had stolen BOTH bottles of silver nitrate! Which I needed desperately to tell me if some ion was there or not, and I freaked out and did the second two anions then started scouring the lab until the TA asked what on earth I was doing and I replied that I needed the silver nitrate or I would strangle somebody. He immediately swept off and found some and respectfully request of Karma that he gets like, 5000 bonus karma points for that.
And after all that that ion wasn't present. But I knew for sure and it made me very happy.
I turned it in with 3 minutes to go, feeling very proud of myself that I recognized a pH equation from my labwork earlier and could explain why a mixture with Mg(OH)2 had a pH of 3.5 (you have to look at the aluminum ion) and I was reasonably assured that I'd done well.
I really have to start studying again.
...why am I a chemistry major when all I want to do is look Chemistry in the eye and say, "Yippie-kai-yay, motherfucker!"?
Took my 5A/5B unknowns in chem lab today. It was so stressful, not only because of how difficult it was, but the TA's stand is right behind me so people are constantly lining up, brushing past me, bumping into me when I'm measuring out 6M HCl...
5A took me five minutes too long and I was really unhappy with it, but I got a sensible answer and the pH and the ions correlated, so I feel fairly...secure...about that one.
5B though...oh such a nightmare. First, my flame refused to change color, and when I dipped my wire in water to get more of the unknown on it, the unknown expanded alarmingly and glowed and turned into the shape of a fat round white sheep (Abby saw it so I have proof) and I was going to keep it, only it wasn't as solid as I fancied and shattered when I put the wire down.
Then there was no smell for the ammonia test, but one hairs-width sliver of the litmus turned blue so I redid the whole thing and it was scentless and pink this time so I gave up....and then freaked out when heating off the step 6 soluble solution gave off white smoke and smelled like ammonia! I decided there was none though. You can smell it for miles when you add NaOH and I couldn't smell a damn thing.
It didn't bubble and the pH was much too low to be consistent with a carbonate, so that did make me feel better.
The rest went fairly smoothly - especially the magnesium precipitate, it was this pretty moonstone colored goo - until I realized that I had 15 minutes left and some skank had stolen BOTH bottles of silver nitrate! Which I needed desperately to tell me if some ion was there or not, and I freaked out and did the second two anions then started scouring the lab until the TA asked what on earth I was doing and I replied that I needed the silver nitrate or I would strangle somebody. He immediately swept off and found some and respectfully request of Karma that he gets like, 5000 bonus karma points for that.
And after all that that ion wasn't present. But I knew for sure and it made me very happy.
I turned it in with 3 minutes to go, feeling very proud of myself that I recognized a pH equation from my labwork earlier and could explain why a mixture with Mg(OH)2 had a pH of 3.5 (you have to look at the aluminum ion) and I was reasonably assured that I'd done well.
I really have to start studying again.
...why am I a chemistry major when all I want to do is look Chemistry in the eye and say, "Yippie-kai-yay, motherfucker!"?
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