Posted by alexandra_k on June 23, 2014, at 22:59:54
In reply to little bit burned out, posted by alexandra_k on June 23, 2014, at 22:41:52
actually... a huge part of it has been that there is a terminology cluster f*ck about oxidation. there is 'oxidation number' and so you can talk about how a metal is oxidized (it's oxidation number goes up e.g., Na1+) as it loses an electron and how oxygen is reduced (it's oxidation number goes down O2-) as it gains a couple electrons... and on and on the book does go...
but the way our lecturer talked about it (and the way the website goes) it says that metals are reductants (because they lose electrons - the number of electrons they have is reduced) and oxygen is oxidized insofar as it gains electrons.
and then there are 'oxidizing agents' which (best i can figure) are reduced.. and 'reducing agents' which are oxidized.
and everyone agrees about where the electrons are going... but the terminology is all f*ck*d up. and i spent ages sorting that out (going through a process of emailing the lecturer with 'all your lecture notes are backwards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!') and... the website people being all like DON"T USE ALL THOSE TERMS IN THE SAME SENTENCE BECAUSE YOU MAKE IT SOUND CONFUSING!!
and nobody wants me to write an essay on this :( i just have to pick the 'reductant' or the 'oxidant' out of a given equation. write half reactions.
so batteries are a problem. because i still have to figure out what's up... argh. which is the reductant and where the electrons are going and which way the current is flowing.... argh.. round and f*ck*ng round. that's the problem. round and f*ck*ng round. where do they start from? where were the electrons in the first place? is there even agreement on that? giving and taking and giving and accepting and donating and... there needs to be a single f*ck*ng convention about a fixed point. surely? like, uh, y is up. if, uh, anything is.
?
i'm cranky... because reading textbooks is fun for me. work that doesn't feel like work... that just gives me conceptual understanding... that usually makes all those conceptual questions really easy for me. only now i glare at the textbook warily.
because, uh, the lecturer wrote the exam... and the website... will be the website for next year, too...
sigh.
animal biology won't be like this. i swears. i... sounds like i have a good shot of getting some accommodations for the labs. we do heaps of stuff with rat tissue... hrm... ick? not sure yet... i... i want to feel wonder about labs... chemistry should have been like that :(
i still don't know whether water cools at a constant rate or whether it gets slower as it approaches room temperature. anyone??
?
i was going with the later... but maybe... maybe... cooling... isn't like a chemical reaction... i mean.. it isn't like there is build up of product... though maybe in an odd way it is like the reactant becomes less (less moving with high kinetic energy). perhaps...
?
oh... reading government documents about the health system in this country... will come as sweet relief. sigh. they did tell me so...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1067289
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20140621/msgs/1067290.html