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November 01, 2025, 11:10:01 am

Author Topic: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread  (Read 7073 times)  Share 

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scribble

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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #15 on: July 03, 2013, 08:08:23 pm »
+2
in my course, we've been told that you can make that assumption as long as you the percentage ionisation is <5%
so you do your calculation and assume that 0.50-2x = 0.5 (with squiggly equals if you want to be pedantic)
and then if x/[acid] * 100 is less than 5, then all is fine and well.
as far as VCE is concerned though, you'll ALWAYS be allowed to make the assumption. because chem students aren't expected to be able to do math and giving quadratics with decimals on a scientific calc exam isn't very nice.

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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #16 on: July 03, 2013, 11:38:03 pm »
+2
Ah the good old days of assumptions in analytical chemistry.

This is what I do. Let's say you're trying to work out the % dissocation of 1M ethanoic acid, pKa 4.76.

Then if x M ethanoic acid dissociates, you form x M Ch3COO-
You have 1-x M ethanoic acid left
and you have formed x M H+ (forget the auto dissociation of water in these; water's a shoddy acid)
So 10^-4.76 = x^2/(1-x)
x = sqrt(10^-4.76*(1-x))
Now this is where it gets trippy. In every single question I've ever met at the summer school, this next step has been valid. It's fast on scientific calculators and it's very accurate.
First, type in 0 and press enter to clear your answer.
Then, type in the right hand side of the equation while letting x = Ans
Finally, keep jamming the enter button until your answer converges. It WILL converge.
The first time, you sub in x = 0 on the right hand side. You get some small value of x, and sub this into the right hand side again. If your approximation the first time is valid, the second time won't change much. Try it.
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #17 on: July 04, 2013, 03:32:13 am »
+2
Also, under what circumstances exactly do resonance structures occur? I'm curious.

Will they always occur if there's a negative one formal charge and a double bond nearby?

Resonance structures are a lie. These are the results of using simple Lewis structures to explain "intermediate" bonds.

The fact is, bonds are never strictly pairs of electrons. The electron density is instead smeared over the molecule, though most of its density is localised between two atoms, like a bond. In the case of "resonance structures", these are ways to represent groups of electron that don't "belong" to a particular bond, but rather is smeared over a larger group of molecules (e.g. in benzene, 6 electrons in the ring are smeared over the ring, rather than belonging to any C-C bond). A much better representation would be to show these delocalised electrons as they are.

These delocalised electrons are often represented in Lewis structures as alternating double/single bonds, usually called "conjugation". Sometimes (especially in hydrocarbons), delocalised orbitals do not necessarily mean there are multiple resonant Lewis structures (e.g. hexan-1,3,5-triene has a certain degree of delocalisation, but no resonant structures).

tl;dr, resonant structures are a lie.
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2013, 03:48:00 am »
0
i feel like the last six months of my life has been a lie. </3

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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #19 on: July 04, 2013, 02:13:23 pm »
+1
LOL unfortunately a bit of first-year uni chem is still slightly simplified.
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #20 on: July 04, 2013, 02:17:58 pm »
+4
LOL unfortunately a bit of first-year uni chem is still slightly simplified.

haha such a nick thing to say. :p
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #21 on: July 04, 2013, 03:58:08 pm »
0
i'm pree sure more than just "a bit" of it is simplified. but hey! we'll get there one day.

until then, i'll survive with my life being a lie. :'D

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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #22 on: July 04, 2013, 08:10:24 pm »
0
who's this "nick" guy you speak of?
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #23 on: July 12, 2013, 11:50:47 am »
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who's this "nick" guy you speak of?

Clearly NOT you since it would be against forum rules to use ppl's real names ;)
(unless of course they are dumb and unimaginative enough to use their real name as their forum name.....)
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #24 on: July 12, 2013, 03:22:47 pm »
0
Well...we don't have a choice but to call you Alwin.
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #25 on: July 24, 2013, 10:35:04 pm »
+1
https://www.asi.edu.au/userfiles/file/2010_Chemistry_NQE_Papers.pdf

q12, can someone explain to me how to work this out?
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #26 on: July 24, 2013, 10:43:41 pm »
+1
So...substantially different pKa values? OK. That would generally imply that we would have many different equivalence points. Note how after the first equivalence point, there is still some acid left over so the first equivalence point can be below pH = 7. However, the last equivalence point is the point of where there's no acid left, only base. Something to think about.
Now if the acids have similar pKa values, then the neutralization of the acids will occur at a similar pH. Imagine the titration curves of the individual acids are superimposed together. The vertical bit just keep going. However, the vertical bit should start at pH<7 (as there still is excess acid left at that time) and end at pH>7, as we're left with only conjugate bases of the acids. Putting these together, B is the only possible answer.


I flicked through some of the questions. Wow. Even as a summer school student, some of those questions would be fun to do.
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #27 on: August 11, 2013, 01:54:33 pm »
0
https://www.asi.edu.au/userfiles/file/2012_Chemistry_ASOE_solutions.pdf

q18, f. Could someone explain why the symmetric stretch yields an IR active stretch?

EDIT: so I guess my question is more so why it yields an IR active structure here, but with say CO2, symmetrical stretching wouldn't?
EDIT2: Is it just because the vectors don't cancel out in this case (whereas for a linear/ planar molecule they would), and therefore increasing their magnitude affects the net dipole moment?

https://www.asi.edu.au/userfiles/file/2011Chemistry%20Exam%20Answers.pdf

q18, b. Answers here for O2 and C2H4 just don't make any sense to me...
« Last Edit: August 11, 2013, 04:21:52 pm by psyxwar »
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psyxwar

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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #28 on: August 31, 2013, 09:04:09 pm »
0
Does anyone have the textbook names for the HL IB texts for chemistry? (which one do you reckon has the best questions too?)
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Re: Psyxwar's Chemistry Thread
« Reply #29 on: September 13, 2013, 10:51:35 am »
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Does anyone have the textbook names for the HL IB texts for chemistry? (which one do you reckon has the best questions too?)

Ask mr kemp nicely, he probably has it, and don't be late to class