Written Final CHM130 for Fall 2010

A motto I came up in one tutorial was: "Things are not as complex as they look nor as simple as they look."

We can blame our senses (mostly eyes) for these two misperceptions. As mentioned before, our vision is quite limited, making some items look more complex than they really are and others look simpler than they really are.

Learning chemistry is like getting a boost to all senses, which can help us simplify what we see but also see things at a deeper level.

The movie, Matrix, had a part that really made me think of one goal of chemistry, which is to see the underlying simplicity of our world.

Even though the Matrix was just a computer simulation, humans could not help but perceive the Matrix as reality.

At one point in the movie, Neo started to reject his normal senses and started to take a hard look at what was around him.

What once seemed impossible was possible. What once seemed complex was now simple.

The world of the Matrix was not millions of different items acting in a life-like chaotic manner. No, he could see its underlying secret. All was made from the same thing, digital signals of a computer program. With this knowledge, his perceptions became accurate and he gained control of that world.

I see the task of learning chemistry very similar to Neo's challenge. We can't look at the world the same as we did before. We have to see the simplicity and complexity beyond what the eyes normally see. Only then can we see the world in a way that lets us understand and control it. Chemistry has already done a good job in letting us understand the world around us and manipulate it in ways that would have been called magic not long ago.

One tool for understanding our world is to approach it in terms of building blocks, force & energy, and math.

Regarding building blocks, we know they build compounds that are often categorized as either inorganic or organic. Oxygen is the primary building block for most inorganic compounds. For organic compounds, carbon rules that domain.

For inorganic, let's concentrate on the 3 most abundance elements in the Earth's crust (the soil). Those are oxygen, silicon, and aluminum. For organic, let's concentrate on the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

As mentioned, a goal I have for students in this class is to look at the world differently and to find simple connections. For example, where do you see oxygen? The sky you see and the air you breath has oxygen. Your body is 60% oxygen*. The soil underneath you is 60% oxygen*, and the grass you feel is about 60% oxygen*. Air, body, plants, and soil are all connected through this one element.

(* % is by weight)

Building Blocks: Quartz

Problem 1: Quartz is a common mineral because it contains two of the most common elements in the Earth's crust, silicon and oxygen. What percent (by weight) of the Earth's crust are each of those two elements? (See Building Block Inorganic Compound tutorial or other sources)

Problem 2: If quartz is exposed to hydrogen fluoride gas, the quartz is dissolved and only SiF₄ gas and water remains. What is the name of SiF₄?
SiO₂(s) + 4HF(g) -> SiF₄(g) + 2H₂O(l)

Building Blocks: Glass
The main ingredients of glass are SiO₂ (74% w/w), Na₂CO₃, and CaO with some MgO and Al₂O₃ added for chemical resistance.

Problem 3: What element is in common with all of these compounds?

Building Blocks: Oxygen (most abundant element in Earth's crust)

Problem 4: Every year there are mine cave-ins that kill many miners due to suffocation. It always seems ironic to me because the rocks around them is about half oxygen. A 10 pound rock has about 5 lbs of oxygen in it, but it's tied up in quartz, and it's almost impossible to free the oxygen from quartz. Fortunately, mines usually have water in them, and with a 9 volt battery (or higher) it's easy to split the water to get oxygen. It's called electrolysis. What is the other gas that would be produced when oxygen is being produced?

Extra Credit: If you took one liter of water and did electrolysis on it, how many grams of oxygen would you get?

Building Blocks:
Problem 5: Name 5 things in the image that have oxygen as one of its ingredients?

Extra Credit: When you walk on water, what is the predominant element (by weight)? What is the predominant element (by number)?

Building Blocks: Aluminum (third most abundant element)
These gems are made from the same thing that sandpaper is usually made from, which is corundum.

Problem 6a: What is the formula for corundum?

Problem 6b: What quality of corundum makes it good for use in sandpaper and also good as a gemstone?

Building Blocks: Silicone, Silicon, Silica

These three words are often confused. One is an element used to make computer chips, one is a compound used to make glass, and the other is used as a glue, breast implants, and bigger than life sculptures like in this picture.

Problem 7a: Which is which?

For more interesting pictures of objects from this sculptor (Ron Mueck), go to www.flickr.com and do a search for "mueck".

Problem 7b: You've probably heard of Silicon Valley in California. Its location is in the Santa Clara Valley, but why do they have "silicon" in its name?

Building Blocks: Hydrogen

Problem 8: Which element is in all of these inorganic acids?

Problem 9: Gas bubbles are usually seen when a strong acid is placed on metal. What is that gas?

Extra Credit: One of the strongest acids known is called "magic acid" because it can dissolve things like wax, that other acids have no effect. What two compounds are mixed to create "magic acid"?

Building Blocks: Carbon
In the organic world, carbon rules. The simplest organic compounds have just carbon and hydrogen. Carbon atom chain together nicely to make whatever length you want from two to two million.

Problem 10: Which one of these hydrocarbons is the main ingredient of natural gas?

Problem 11: Which one is normally put into cigarette lighters?

Problem 12: If three propane molecules were attached end to end, you would end up with a hydrocarbon with nine carbons. The formula would be C₉H₂₀. What is its name?

Building Blocks: Hydrocarbons

As the chains get longer, the hydrocarbons go from a gas to a liquid to a more viscous liquid, and finally a solid. The longest chains are polyethylene plastic.

Problem 13: If the length of a polyethylene molecule (a common plastic) is thousands of carbon atoms long. Take your atomic number and multiply by 1000. How many gasoline molecules could you make from one polyethylene molecule that has that many carbon atoms? (assume gasoline averages 8 carbons long)

Building Blocks: C,H,O (fatty acids)

Here are three fatty acids.

Problem 14a: What part of the fatty acid molecule is the "fatty" part and which part is the "acid" part?

Problem 14b:  Eicosapentaenoic acid is healthy "Omega 3" fatty acid. Omega 3 means it has a double bond (unsaturated bond) at the third carbon from the end (like the middle fatty acid in the image). This fatty acid comes from eating fish, but fish can't produce its own eicosapentaenoic acid. So where does fish get this fatty acid?

Building Blocks: (C,O,H) Carbohydrates

Problem 15a:
One of these is the building block for the other three. Which one is the building block?

Problem 15b: What is glycogen?

Problem 15c: What is amylase?

Force & Energy: Electronegativity Electronegativity is a measurement of how much an element pulls on electrons. Elements in groups (column) 16 & 17 have the highest electronegativity (pull the hardest on electrons). Elements in groups 1 & 2 have lowest electronegativity. So that's why they give their electrons to those non-metals in groups 14 through 17. Salts are generally a combination of a metal in column 1 or 2 with a non-metal in column 17. The elements in column 17 are called halogens.
Problem 16: What does the "Halo" and "gen" mean in the word "halogen"?

Problem 17: The air is about 80% nitrogen with about 20% oxygen. When hydrogen burns in air, why does it combine with mostly oxygen to make H₂O rather than nitrogen to make NH₃? (Hint: Electronegativity of oxygen is 3.44 and nitrogen is 3.04.

Force & Energy: Problem 18: When people are in intensive care, they are often given oxygen and sugar (dextrose). Together they provide energy because the oxygen "burns" the dextrose to get calories.
18a) Balance the equation:
C₆H₁₂O₆ + O₂ -> CO₂ + H₂O

18b) The IV solution is 5% dextrose (5g/100mL). Use your element code name's atomic number as the number of liters. How many grams of dextrose would be in that number of liters?

18c) In one liter of 5% dextrose (5g/100mL), how many calories in that IV? (Note: Sugars have 5 food calories per gram.)

Force & Energy: Charges (methanol)
On the left is the ball-and-stick model for methanol. On the right is a map of the same molecule but showing the charges on the methanol molecule. Blue means that region is positive and red means the region is negative.
Problem 19: Is methanol a polar or non-polar molecule?
Problem 20: Which atom in methanol is in the most negative?

Force & Energy: Charges (triglyceride > biodiesel)
In the background is a ball-and-stick model for a triglyceride (fat or vegetable oil). In the front is a map of the charges on the same triglyceride molecule. Notice the arrows point to two of the three carbon atoms that sit between two oxygen atoms.

In the front model showing charges, the arrows point to two blue regions which are those same two carbon atoms. In the bottom right is the methoxide ion (a negatively charged methanol). The methoxide is going to attack those carbon atoms and break up the triglyceride and make 3 biodiesel molecules.
Problem 21: What end of methoxide is going to be attracted to the blue carbon atoms; the oxygen end (red) or the methyl end (carbon and 3 hydrogen atoms)?

Force & Energy: Charges
Hard water usually has calcium dissolved in it. The source is usually calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) or calcium chloride (CaCl₂). To the left is a molecule of soap. In water the long chain of soap has a negative one charge (-) and the sodium that was attached has a plus 1 (+) charge. Because of its charge, calcium in hard water grabs onto two soap molecules and causes them to come out of solution to form soap scum.

Problem 22a: What is the charge of calcium ions?

Problem 22b: What is the charge of carbonate ions?

Problem 22c: What is the charge on chloride ions?

Problem 23: Which would have a greater pull on the negative soap ion, a sodium ion or a calcium ion?

Force & Energy: Pressure (force)
Gunpowder is made from potassium nitrate, charcoal (carbon), and sulfur. Here's the balanced chemical equation.
10KNO_3(s) + 3S_(s) + 8C_(s) --> 2K₂CO_3(s) + 3K₂SO_4(s) + 6CO_2(g) + 5N_2(g).

Problem 24: When gunpowder is used to fire a cannonball, which of the products in the equation causes pressure which pushes the cannonball out of the barrel?(hint: gases are responsible for making pressure)
Problem 25a: What is the color of potassium nitrate and where do you find it in nature?

Problem 25b: What is the color of sulfur and where do you find it in nature?

Problem 25c: What is the color of charcoal and how can you make it?

Problem 26: Centuries ago potassium nitrate and sulfur were used in China as medicine. It was discovered that a test that helped identify potassium nitrate was to place it in a flame. If it was potassium nitrate, it produced a purple color. Which element in potassium nitrate (KNO₃) creates a purple flame? (Hint: A similar problem was in quiz from chapter 10)
Problem 27: Sodium nitrate produces a different color in a flame. What is that color?

Force & Energy: Energy
Problem 28: From the salad, you are acquainted with the building blocks for the elements at a personal level. Match these sub-atomic particles to the correct sense: Neutrons, Protons, Electrons. (see Building Block Series #3)
28a) We can taste which sub-atomic particle?
28b) We can see which sub-atomic particle?
28c) We can feel the extra weight of which sub-atomic particle?

Force & Energy: Light

This is the spectrum for sunlight.

Problem 30a: What part of this spectrum is responsible for sunburns?

Problem 30b: What does "nm" mean in this illustration?

Extra credit: For UV, the graph uses the words "near" and "far". Why is it called "near" and "far"? Also, answer why "Far UV" is also called "Vacuum UV"

Math: (Density, a useful property)
Earth's gravity pulls everything towards it. A helium balloon floating in space coming under the influence of Earth's gravity would fall towards Earth just as fast as a meteor (until it hit the atmosphere).

The only reason some items float or move upwards is because it is surrounded by a gas or liquid that is more dense than it is. In other words, a helium balloon only floats because if it is surrounded by air or liquid more dense than itself. Even a big brick made of lead will float in a bowl of mercury because mercury is more dense.

Problem 31: What is the density of the element in your code name?

Math (Density): The Titanic floated on water because of gravity (water being pulled down pushed the ship up) but also sank because of gravity (Titanic became more dense than water). In other words, its average density started off less than water (1 gram per mL) to something more than 1 gram per mL.  Remember g per ml, g per cc, g/cc, g/cm³, and g•cm^-3 are all the same.

Problem 32: Look up and report the density of solid iron in grams per cubic centimeter (or grams per mL)

Math: Calories
When you are on a diet, you are told to count fat calories, so you look for food that is low in fat. Unfortunately, a lot of food that is low on fat doesn't say how much fat it contains, but how "fat free" it is. This container says that it is 98% fat free. At the bottom right you see it is 6 oz. This is ambiguous. We don't know if that means fluid ounces (volume) or weight ounces (mass). Let's say it is 6 oz. of weight.
Problem 34a: How many ounces of fat are in this container of yogurt if the 6 oz are 98% fat free?
Problem 34b: Lets say the yogurt contains 20 grams of sugar. How many food calories come from sugar if sugar is 5 food calories per gram? (Note: a food calorie is actually 1,000 calories)

Math: Percent body fat
One way to determine percent body fat is to weigh the person first above the water and then submerged under water (They exhale before going under the water). What that does is find the volume of the body. With volume and mass, one can calculate the body's density then % body fat. To find volume of a chair, the chair weighs 10.0kg above water but 8.0 kg under water. So its volume is 2.0 liters because 2.0 liters of water weigh 2.0 kg and makes the chair 2.0 kg lighter. This woman and chair weighs 60.0 kg (10.0kg for chair and 50.0kg from her) . Underwater she and chair weighed only 10.25 kg, which is 49.75 kg less than 60.0kg. The chair reduced the weight by 2.0 kg (it has 2 liter volume), so she must have reduced it by 47.75 kg. For that to happen she must have displaced 47.75 liters (47.75 kg) of water. So her body's volume is 47.75 liters. Problem 35a: What is her body's density in grams per mL (g/mL) knowing she weighs 50.0 kg and has a volume of 47.75 liters?
Problem 35b: Without the chair, would she sink or float in water?
Problem 35c: The density of fat is 0.900 g/mL. Will fat float or sink in water?

Extra Credit: The formula to calculate percent body fat is:
% body fat = (4.95/ρ - 4.50) x 100
ρ (rho) is the symbol for density. Replace that symbol with the density you found for the girl (problem 35a). What is her % body fat? (Note: 14-20% is considered an athlete. 21-24% is considered fit. 25-31% is considered acceptable. 32% or over is considered obese.)

Problem 36: The picture on the left is Eric Chopin when he weighed 410 lbs. The right image has him at 196 lbs. If the weight loss was all fat, how many food calories from fat did he burn up? (Note: there are 3,500 food calories per lb of fat)
Problem 37: A typical fat molecule has this formula C₄₈H₁₀₀O₆. Balance the equation for the burning of fat.
C₄₈H₁₀₀O₆+ O₂ --> CO₂ + H₂O

Problem 38:  My mother takes albuterol treatments everyday. She had pneumonia while back and the albuterol opens the bronchial passageways to help breathing. She is supposed to take 15 milligrams of albuterol sulfate for each breathing treatment.
38a) How many mL is that?

38b) The ad says the bottle contains 20 mL. How many mg of Albuterol sulfate does the bottle contain?

Math: Concentration
Problem 39: A patient is in cardiac arrest and you were sent to get a the injection vial for 8.4% w/v sodium bicarbonate. You found this vial. Is it the right one? (Hint: 8.4% w/v means 8.4 g/100mL)

Problem 40: The doctor injects 10cc (10mL) of this solution. How many milligrams of sodium bicarbonate were injected?

Extra credit: The label says, "For IV Use only" and "Rx only". What do they mean? At the top is "NDC 63323-600-50". What product is that referring to?

Math:
Here's a bottle of Bacardi 151. Notice the flammable warning. The top of the bottle as a metal flame arrestor (probably a wire mesh). This prevents a flame from going down into the bottle. (Roll cursor over image to see its flammability)

Problem 41a: What percent of alcohol (v/v) is 151 proof?
Problem 41b: Using your element code name's atomic number as mL of Baccardi, how many mL of ethanol are in those milliliters?

Extra credit: Your friends are smokers and you don't want them to catch their drink on fire, so how much water do you need to add to 250 mL(about 1 cup) of Bacardi 151 so that it is 99 proof? (Alcohol does not burn under 100 proof) Give answer in liters or milliliters.

Math:
While we are on the subject of alcohol, here's something even stronger than Bacardi 151. Notice all the flammable warnings and the proof and percent alcohol.

Here's the unbalanced combustion equation for ethanol:

CH₃CH₂OH + O₂ -> CO₂ + H₂O

Ethanol could also be written as C₂H₆O.

Problem 42: Write the balanced equation

Problem 43: Liquor bottles come in sizes of quarts, liters, and fifths.
43a) Which one has the largest volume?
43b) Which one has the smallest volume?

Math: pH
Problem 44: Teeth begins to dissolve at pH 5. What is the moles per liter of H⁺ ions at pH5?

Problem 45: Orange juice has a pH of about 4. Sipping on it would dissolve your teeth. You want to dilute one liter of orange juice with water so that it would have a pH of 6. That way you could sip on it without dissolving your teeth. How much water would you have to add to the 1 liter of orange juice to make it pH of 6.

Extra credit: The rainbow-like colors shown are those of red cabbage extract at the different pH levels shown at the top. What pigment in red cabbage is causing that color change?

Scientific Skepticism
Here is an ice cream that is pushing its Carb Smart ingredients. With 5 grams of sugar, it's about 1/4 of the normal ice cream bar and only has 3% of the recommended Daily Value. So a person could eat 33 of these ice cream bars and still be under 100% of the Daily Value for carbohydrates.
Problem 48: How many of the ice cream bars will put you over the 100% Daily Value of Saturated Fat?
(Carb smart but not fat smart)

Problem 49: Visit the Magna Clean site (link on left) and look over its different Web pages and report 3 examples of "technobabble", 3 examples of "fantastic claims" and 3 examples of "scare tactics."

ASU researchers Qiang Hu and Milton Sommerfeld are shedding a whole new light on the algae in the Laboratory for Algae Research & Biotechnology (LARB) at the Polytechnic campus.

I got a tour of the lab last year and have been keeping tabs on this very promising resource for biodiesel, bio-jet fuel, bio-gasoline, alcohol, and food.

Math:
Here is an aerial view (Google Maps) of where I live. The green areas are places on the roof and in the backyard where I could grow algae. I estimate about 1/20 of an acre is available.

Problem 50a:  Each gallon of algae based oil produces 1 gallon of biodiesel. How many gallons of algae oil could I produce in a year if my yield is 8,000 gallons per acre?
Problem 50b:  If diesel is $3.25 a gallon, how much money could I save on using those gallons of biodiesel rather than buying diesel?

Extra Credit: Let’s say you are kidnapped by terrorists.  To prove your goodness you say you will consume three poisons: pool acid, anthrax, and lye.  First you pour 250 mL of concentrated 10 molar hydrochloric acid (pool acid) into a bottle of anthrax.  Then you dissolve 100 grams of lye (NaOH) in 250 mL of water.   This is poured into the acid and anthrax mixture.  The mixture gets hot but after it cools you take a drink and nothing bad happens.  Why? (be specific)

More Extra Credit: On the Survivorman TV show, the host will sometimes use glycerin and potassium permanganate to start a fire. In the image on the left there's a little glycerin placed on top of the dark purple potassium permanganate granules. Roll cursor over image to see the fire it creates. In less than a minute the mixture will self-ignite. Here's the formula of the reaction:

KMnO₄ + C₃H₅(OH)₃ -->K₂CO₃ + Mn₂O₃ + CO₂ +H₂O

Part 1) Where can you buy potassium permanganate and glycerin? (Give me specific websites).
Part 2) In a survival situation, potassium permanganate has some other uses. What are they? (Name at least two)
Part 3) Write the balanced equation for the above reaction.