BBAB is up and running!

http://www.bothbrainsandbeauty.com

My blog has moved to its new domain, and with the move has come new functionality, including shopping! (Who doesn’t love shopping?) So please be sure to stop by often as the new site begins to take shape and new products/services are added. Currently I can only take payments via PayPal, or by check/money order sent via snail mail.

Also, keep in mind that by shopping on BBAB, you are supporting a college student trying to make her way in the world! I will be adding sections on ways you can help support the site (and me), which will include ways to get discounts on products and services! So if you like the mission, look and feel of BBAB check back to find out how you can get involved!

In addition, if there are any products you are looking to purchase, but they aren’t on the site, please let me know- I may be able to get it from one of my suppliers.

Stay tuned for really cool stuff coming up!

Filed under: Academic Discussions, Chemistry Help, History, Just for Fun, Mac vs. PC, Mental Health/Psychology, My Personal Life, Professional Networking, Selected Essays, Uncategorized

Meet Riley

So my newest family member has been around for two weeks now. At long last, he finally has a name- Riley. He is getting along with Luci the cat, which was the biggest concern. Riley still has both his eyes and all bones are in place, so I think it is safe to say that Luci has accepted him. They chase each other around, so hopefully Luci will lose at least some of her excess weight. As for Rocky the dog, he immediately accepted the new member of the pack and tried to befriend him. To say the least, Riley was skeptical of the strange creature, but I am pleased to report that they have become best buds and have taken to napping together on the recliner. As for interspecies playtime together, though, Riley hasn’t figured out a way to play with the squeaky toys other than attacking them from across the room, and Rocky thinks pouncing games are dull. So they usually resort to chase or Rocky just lets Riley crawl all over him and chew on his ears and legs. What a patient mutt!!! Riley is quite good at entertaining himself with feather toys and the Drinkwell fountain, so playtime doesn’t seem to be a major issue. Anyway, Riley has a thing for trying to climb up my leg to reach the countertop when I am preparing meals, and he bites pretty hard during playtime, so we are working on breaking those habits. Otherwise, he always goes in the literbox and is really good about using his scratching post, plus he is fun to have around!

Filed under: My Personal Life

Deaf Parents With Hearing Children

My childhood was often very different from what I expected. In fact, my childhood was likely very different from what most people expect anyone’s childhood to be like. Growing up as the oldest child of deaf parents immersed me in a world of responsibility uncharacteristic of most young children. I was often found interpreting for my parents at parent-teacher conferences, ordering food for my parents in restaurants, making any necessary phone calls, and paying attention to all the grown-up conversations so I could fill in the gaps in my parents’ understanding later. Starting at a very young age, I also performed tasks such as proofreading letters, explaining written technical documentation, and interpreting written policies in a way that made it easier for my parents to understand.

The deviation from the norm observed in families consisting of deaf parents and hearing children affects several aspects of the social construction of the family unit. In these instances, the role of the children will change and the children will experience high degrees of anticipatory socialization as their responsibility increases above that of the average child. For these children, a sense of social identity, tactical impression management, empathy, embarrassment and spoiled identity, and high levels of willingness to help for altruistic reasons are extremely pervasive and important in their lives.

It was not always easy for me to be the “little grown-up”, but in the social landscape of deaf culture, many of the tasks I performed were normal and expected of the eldest child in any family in which the patriarch and matriarch were deaf. As time goes on and technology to assist my deaf parents becomes increasingly available, their independence as members of society has begun to grow exponentially. The social landscape and family dynamic of deaf culture has slowly begun to change.

The unique needs brought about by being raised in a family with deaf parents causes a shift in what would be the normal role of a child in the typical United States family. Whereas for most children their role would entail that of a typical child- they are to go play in the corner while the grownups talk and typically will not have a hand in many, if any, of the affairs of the adults in their lives (DeLameter & Myers 2007). For me, however, I could not follow the norm of staying uninvolved as a child. It was critically important for me to make sure that I paid close attention to the conversation so as to be able to mitigate any misunderstandings, if needed.

One benefit I received from my family arrangement is a generous dose of anticipatory socialization. Anticipatory socialization occurs when a person observes or practices a role in which he or she is not currently in a situation to adapt (DeLameter & Myers 2007). While many of the tasks that I performed for my parents were not tasks that I currently needed to perform for myself, I had already encountered many situations and problems by age 10 that I would not otherwise have experienced until 10 years later or longer. Because of my various interactions with my parents in their affairs, there were very few encounters as I entered my adult life that truly felt like my first time accomplishing a particular event.

Although anticipatory socialization may have prepared me for events that would occur later in my own life, sometimes I would have a hard time discovering and creating my own identities. Social identities are important in order for people to understand their roles and expectations as individuals in groups (DeLameter & Myers 2007). I did not choose the identity of “little grown-up” for myself, but nevertheless it was an identity that was very pervasive in my childhood life. Because I spent so much time fulfilling the identity of “little grown-up”, I did not have as much time to focus on creating my own social identities. As a result, when my parents’ need for my assistance on a daily basis became reduced, the lack of my own social identity was fairly overwhelming. I had to do a lot of soul searching and solitary activities before I started feeling I had regained a social identity of my own choosing.

One thing that was very important to me as a child, because it was extremely important to my parents, was practicing a high degree of tactical impression management. Managing the identity that one wishes other people to see influences how other people understand and interpret that individual (DeLameter & Myers 2007). My parents were, and still are, extremely concerned with other people’s perception of them and our family unit. Whether I was with my parents or not, there was a huge emphasis on always looking nice and clean, always speaking in a manner that would cause other people to feel good about themselves, and never talking about anything derogatory or unpleasant that might have happened at home, regardless of how minor the situation might have been.

Because of all the negative stereotypes many people hold about deaf people, my parents took it upon themselves to be the shining example for the entire deaf community. Any infraction against the identity my parents wanted to portray for our family would be met with extreme embarrassment on the part of my parents. If myself or one of my sisters was responsible for spoiling the perfectly crafted identity, all three of us received a long lecture on the importance of maintaining our particular identities and why we had to be certain to act in specific ways.

However, there was one aspect of tactical identity management that was important to me and was not directly influenced by my parents. My mom did not realize how much impression management I had to do on my own until a few years ago when I related to her some stories of things that happened when I was helping them. In order to be taken seriously whether over the phone or in person, I had to be very adult in my manner of speech, in my vocabulary, and in every aspect of my own presentation of myself. I eventually learned to slightly lower my voice and slow down my speech when ordering a pizza over the telephone because many people had hung up on me for being unable to put my parents on the phone line. Frequently, any time I would try to order something over the phone for my mom or my dad, I was accused of playing a terrible prank and was often told off by adults for playing with the telephone. Even as a child, I was frustrated that other people seemed incapable of understanding our predicament and why we had to change our norm from that accepted by the rest of society. Situations such as these caused me to realize the importance of making myself seem as much like an adult as possible, and I began expressing a more adult personality in order to make myself accepted in the adult world.

For all the aforementioned reasons, it was and continues to be important that I be highly empathetic to my parents’ emotions. Empathy is an important social motion because it enables us to put ourselves in another person’s shoes and to attempt to see the world as another person sees the world (DeLameter & Myers 2007). Because communication with society at large was primarily my responsibility as a child, it was important and morally right for me to be sure that any emotions, thoughts, or ideas I expressed to other people on behalf of my parents was an accurate representation of how my parents actually felt about a particular topic or situation.

Throughout my childhood I spent an incredible amount of time helping my parents. Helping and altruism are complex topics in the field of social psychology, and understanding the motivations for helping other people gives great insight into social behavior. My motivation for giving help to my parents is multifaceted and difficult to pinpoint on any particular factor or group of factors. Egoistic considerations in my case are born less of a desire for rewards, because any gain I received was because I was the child of my parents and not as a true reward for any help I might have given them day-to-day. My egoistic considerations would be more related to a cost ratio, because my parents would be extremely disappointed in me any time I refused or was reluctant to help them for any reason. Although, as I got older and my capacity for empathy increased, I was able to more understand the situation my parents were experiencing. Knowing how difficult it was for my parents to live in a world designed for people who can hear made it easier for me to accept dedicating so much of myself to helping them. On the occasions when empathetic concern was not enough to convince me to provide help of some form, my mom would take it upon herself to “guilt-trip” me into compliance with her needs and desires. Of course, they are my parents and the evolutionary perspective would posit that I am more likely to help somebody who is closely related to me (DeLameter & Myers 2007).

More recently, technology has become available that mitigates my role in many of the events in my parents’ lives into something that more closely resembles the norm of the parent-child relationship in the United States. Videophones, web-cams, instant messaging, e-mail, online shopping, cell phones with QWERTY keyboards, and numerous other technological advancements have reduced my parents’ need to rely on me to perform various tasks. I have experienced some role discontinuity from the change in my historical role in the family. Most days, I half expect that at least one of my parents will ask me to make a phone call, but the frequency of being asked to do so has been greatly reduced since many people and companies who previously operated only in person or over the phone now allow or encourage live online chat, e-mail, or setting your own appointment using an online form.

As my parents dependence on me is slowly reduced, more and more technology becomes available to assist them in their daily activities. All aspects of the lives of deaf people are being affected by these amazing advances. Currently, studies are being completed on the way to best convert the typically complicated written English versions of health education materials. The typical deaf person in the United States reads written English at a fourth-grade level and speaks American Sign Language as the primary language (Pollard Jr. et al. 2009). In order to ensure understanding of important risk factors affecting their health, people should have access to information written in their native language. Health education materials are available in numerous languages including English, Spanish, Arabic, French, and almost any language any person could conceive. However, education materials have generally not been made available in American Sign Language, either in a visual medium or in a translated written medium. In the past, it has been one of my responsibilities to help my parents interpret information given to them by doctors and other healthcare professionals. The research proposed by Pollard Jr. et al. to make these resources available to speakers of American Sign Language is a giant leap in increasing the independence of deaf people.

As advances in the independence of deaf people continue to increase, the social dynamic of the typical family consisting of deaf parents and hearing children in the United States will continue to change. Deaf people will gain increased independence in communicating with the outside world and will rely less and less on the hearing people in their lives. The lives of the children of deaf people will continue to more closely resemble the norm of the typical American family. In short, the lives of those children will become more of what we expect.

Filed under: Mental Health/Psychology, Selected Essays, CODA, deaf

Would the Real John Nash Please Stand Up?

Media presentations are a powerful influence on the public’s perception of facts and reality. Often, the media must “twist” or alter true events in order to captivate a mass audience. The case of John Nash is no exception. John Nash is a brilliant and influential mathematician whose contributions to the field of economics were officially recognized when Nash was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994. However, for 35 years prior to winning the Nobel Prize, John Nash struggled with paranoid schizophrenia. The disorder significantly affected his personal, social, and professional life.

In 2001, Universal Pictures released the film A Beautiful Mind as a biography of John Nash’s struggle with schizophrenia. A Beautiful Mind was subsequently nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won four Academy Awards. The success of the film is a testament to the public’s fascination with schizophrenia; unfortunately, the film also serves as the only exposure most people have to the life and times of a schizophrenic individual. Hence, the public is being educated largely by a single case study influenced by the pressures of Hollywood’s need to appeal to a mass audience. The public perception of the facts and myths regarding schizophrenia may require some adjustment in order to more closely resemble the plight of schizophrenic individuals in society at large. Debunking myths that may stem from inaccurate or altered facts portrayed in A Beautiful Mind requires contrasting the film to the real-life story of John Nash and to the general picture of schizophrenia as it manifests in the general population.

The film A Beautiful Mind follows a different sequence of events than the actual occurrence of John Nash’s symptoms. According to the film, the progression of Nash’s schizophrenic symptoms start from his arrival at Princeton University in 1947 and follow a steady sequence up to the Nobel Prize ceremony in 1994. The increase in the severity of symptoms is marked by significant events occurring in Nash’s life. These “stages” of Nash’s schizophrenia is separated into 9 distinct segments of the film.

First, Nash’s arrival at Princeton in 1947 is almost immediately followed by the appearance of a mysterious roommate who becomes Nash’s best friend for several years. The roommate is later discovered to be a hallucination. In addition to the roommate, Nash also seems to display certain other symptoms. His manner of speech is eccentric and often inappropriate, and his emotional expressions seem reduced or muted at times. Nash’s stress seems to stem from his indecision in choosing a topic for his thesis paper, which implies the disorder had begun to interfere with his academic work. While at Princeton, he completed the theory which set the stage for his later fame and Nobel Prize. In Nash’s autobiography written for the Nobel Foundation, he does not mention any symptoms occurring during his time at Princeton {Nash 2005}. Rather, he indicates that his time at Princeton was filled with interesting topics and research, some of which he planned to refine for later publications. In fact, Nash’s schizophrenic symptoms did not begin until his time as an instructor and researcher at MIT {Comer 2007:415}. The average age of onset of schizophrenia in a male is age 21; Nash’s symptoms began at age 30 {Comer 2007:412, 415}. The earlier onset of symptom portrayed in the film may have been an attempt to align Nash’s symptoms with those observed in the general population. Even when Nash’s symptoms became apparent, he never experienced the visual hallucinations that fill the span of the film. In reality, Nash experienced only auditory hallucinations {Comer 2007:415}. Auditory hallucinations are a more common symptom seen in psychotic patients, including those with schizophrenia {Comer 2007:418}.

The second stage portrayed in the film occurs in the Pentagon where Nash consults with the Department of Defense on a matter of national security. Nash quickly completes the complex task the Pentagon asked of him. While in the Pentagon, Nash catches a glimpse of a character that would later be identified as another hallucination. The film portrays the great stress of the Cold War and a fear of the Russians, leading to Nash’s next symptom: the delusion that only he can save the world and that Pentagon will stop at nothing to ensure that Nash is the one to accomplish the task. While such delusions of grandeur are prevalent in schizophrenic individuals, delusions of persecution are far more common {Comer 2007:419}. Some instances of delusions of persecution are evident in the film, but these symptoms seem secondary to delusions of grandeur. Other symptoms evident in schizophrenic individuals are absent from Universal Picture’s portrayal of John Nash; symptoms such as inappropriate affect, alogia, psychomotor symptoms, and flat affect are not portrayed, though it is unclear whether these were symptoms Nash actually experienced. Other symptoms are present in the film, though they receive less attention, such as social withdrawal and avolition.

Entering the third stage of the film, Nash is back at Princeton. His preoccupation with saving the world has taken over his life, and he has recurring hallucinations of the same figure he saw in the Pentagon. He meets his future wife, Alicia, and the stress of being found socially acceptable by a real woman sends his hallucinations and delusions into overdrive. He becomes cut off from the world and locks himself in his office for hours, and disappears at night to run mysterious errands. Nash marries Alicia, who begins to express some concern regarding her husband’s erratic behavior.

At Cambridge in 1954, Alicia becomes pregnant and again Nash’s symptoms and erratic behavior increase. The symptoms have now eliminated Nash’s ability to function both in his personal and professional lives, and he is forced into a mental institution against his will. A psychiatrist is able to convince Alicia Nash that many of her husband’s friends and jobs are not real, but convincing John Nash of the same information proves difficult. In the film, Nash is institutionalized only once, but he was actually in and out of mental institutions many times {Comer 2007:415}.  Additionally, Nash states his mental disturbances begin in 1959 {Nash 2005}. However, the majority of action in the film takes place prior to 1959 and the film does not spend any time describing the events of this particular year. The film is correct in the portrayal that institutionalization was done against Nash’s will; Nash later reveals that, “I later spent times of the order of five to eight months in hospitals in New Jersey, always on an involuntary basis and always attempting a legal argument for release. {Nash 2005}”

One year later, in the fifth stage of the movie, Nash is released from the mental institution and is still on medications. His son has been born and Alicia takes care of both her husband and son. John Nash experiences several difficulties related to his medications, and chooses to stop taking them. His hallucinations return to the same nature and severity as they had been prior to his institutionalization. In the film, Alicia gives birth to only one child, but John and Alicia Nash had two children. The other child is an older son, and the younger son portrayed in the movie also developed schizophrenia {Comer 2007:415}. Though Alicia remains married to John Nash throughout the film, she had divorced him in 1963 while still remaining devoted to his recovery {Comer 2007:415}. Interestingly, none of the unwanted effects often seen in conventional antipsychotics are mentioned in the film. Extrapyramidal effects such as Parkinsonian symptoms and tardive dyskinesia are not mentioned, though many patients on conventional antipsychotics develop these symptoms {Comer 2007:444}.

Another year later, in 1956, John Nash is portrayed in a full-blown relapse. His paranoia and dependence on hallucinations has increased to the point where he is aggressive to his wife. After a major confrontation with Alicia, he realizes that the people in his hallucinations never increase in age. It is at this point that Nash begins to come to grips with his disorder. However, he refuses any further treatment and hospitalization, claiming he can overcome his symptoms on his own. It is unclear whether any therapy approaches helped Nash develop skills to control his symptoms. The film implied that Nash was unable to complete his work while struggling with schizophrenia, though Nash’s description of his career indicates that he never stopped publishing papers even when he was unable to complete research to his own standards {Nash 1995}.

The seventh stage of the film, set in 1956, two months after the sixth stage, illustrates Nash’s struggle to overcome schizophrenia using only his mind. He chooses to use his intellect to reason with himself what is real and what is not. He begins ignoring the people he is hallucinating. However, the hallucinations continue to follow him and never go away.

The eighth and ninth stages wrap up the film; by 1978, Nash has regained a grip on reality and is back on medications. However, instead of taking the conventional antipsychotics that caused him problems several years prior, he has started taking the new atypical antipsychotics and claim they help. The film ends in 1994 at the Nobel Prize ceremony. John Nash claims he never took any medications after the year 1970, the year his mother died and he reunited with his ex-wife Alicia {Comer 2007:415}.

The story of John Nash is interesting because it describes someone who prevailed against all odds. Nash had a challenge particularly difficult to overcome, but he rose above it and continued to make incredible contributions to the world of academia. For someone to be able to overcome a debilitating illness with only their own brain to assist them is admirable. For someone who is pursuing intellectual feats, Nash is a person who can be a source of hope and motivation when academics and “coming up with an original idea” becomes difficult.

References

A beautiful mind. (2001) (B. Grazer, A. Goldsman, & R. Howard & S. Nasar). Universal City, CA: Universal Studios.

Comer, R. J. (2007). Abnormal psychology: Sixth edition. New York: Worth Publishers.

Nash, J. (1995). The Nobel prizes 1994. In Les prix Nobel (Edited by Tore Frangsmyr). Retrieved July 16, 2009, from Nobel Foundation: http://nobelprize.org.

Filed under: Academic Discussions, History, Mental Health/Psychology, A Beautiful Mind, John Nash, media, psychology, schizophrenia

Professional Networking- It’s not all about YOU

Let’s face it- professional networking, especially in today’s economy, is a necessary evil. We all want and need the 501+ LinkedIn connections that will help us find a job if we need it, word-of-mouth recommendations when business is slow and new clients are tough to find, and generally a list of go-to people that help us whenever and wherever we find a need. Allow me to point out, however: all these reasons why we need a professional network have to do with me me me. What can the people in my network do for me? Inevitably, after every networking event, inboxes are flooded with friend requests, connection requests, and every possible iteration people use to keep track of their professional contacts. More often than not, no further correspondence is ever conducted between any of the contacts on the ever-growing connection lists. Ultimately, it makes for a stale list that is rendered almost useless and looks more like a popularity scale of who knows more people but never serves any other function.

I’m going to tell you a little story to illustrate my conclusion. I am a victim of the ever-growing list of people I know but never talk to. I am active on every conceivable social and professional networking site, both general and industry-specific. I have contacts in the hundreds, maybe thousands- I lost track- that span the globe. Rarely do I have any communication with the people on my contacts list- I would say that I have sent or received messages to/from perhaps 10% of those people in the past 5 years, unless they have become a friend and not simply a network contact. Yet there I was, networking, networking, networking, making sure I have a way to contact people I might need later. Until one day several months ago, I received a message from one of my connections on LinkedIn (I will call this person Mugsy.) I opened a message from Mugsy, the only correspondence I have had with this person via professional networking sites. Here is the gist of the message I received: “What are your needs and goals, and what can I do to help you meet your goals? If there is anything you need from me, please let me know as I would be glad to help in any way I can.”

I can’t even describe the feeling I got when I read this message. Even though Mugsy sent the same message to every person in his connections list, I’m sure, it made me feel great that I was included and that someone, for the first time ever on these networks, was asking me what I needed instead of begging me for a candidate pool or an introduction to someone else. At the same time, however, I got this weird feeling that somewhat resembled guilt or maybe even shame. In a lot of ways, I felt for bad being the person always asking for help and for being occassionally irrated when I would receive requests for assistance in areas the person should know I couldn’t be of assistance. Mostly, I felt like I was some sort of idiot for never even thinking of offering my help before someone asked for it. Mugsy’s simple message put such a lasting effect on me- not only does the message stand out among all the others several months later, it gave me a great feeling that Mugsy thought of me. Even though I didn’t have any specific goals or requests to share with him right at that moment, from that point on, I would probably do my best to fulfill any request he made of me, regardless of whether I thought I could be of any great help. Because he took a few minutes out of his busy day to make a simple offer instead of a request.

Filed under: Professional Networking, LinkedIn, Professional Networking, social networking

Kinetic Molecular Theory and Solids

• Kinetic molecular theory- a model that assumes that an ideal gas is composed of tiny particles (molecules) in constant motion
• Normal boiling point- the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid is exactly one atmosphere; the boiling temperature under one atmosphere of pressure
• Heating/cooling curve- a plot of temperature versus time for a substance, where energy is added at a constant rate
• Normal freezing (melting) point- the melting/freezing point of a solid at a total pressure of one atmosphere
• Intramolecular forces- interactions that occur within a given molecule
• Intermolecular forces- relatively weak interactions that occur between molecules
• Molar heat of fusion- the energy required to melt 1 mol of a solid
• Molar heat of vaporization- the energy required to vaporize 1 mol of liquid
• Dipole-dipole attraction- the attractive force resulting when polar molecules line up such that the positive and negative ends are close to each other
• Hydrogen bonding- unusually strong dipole-dipole attractions that occur among molecules in which hydrogen is bonded to a highly electronegative atom
• London dispersion forces- the relatively weak forces, which exist among noble gas atoms and nonpolar molecules, that involve an accidental diple that induces a momentary dipole in a neighbor
• Vaporization (evaporation)- the change in stat that occurs when a liquid evaporates to form a gas
• Condensation- the process by which vapor molecules re-form a liquid
• Vapor pressure- the pressure of the vapor over a liquid at equilibrium in a closed container
• Crystalline solid- a solid characterized by the regular arrangement of its component
• Ionic solid- a solid containng cations and anions that dissolves in water to give a solution containing the separated ions, which are mobile and thus free to conduct an electric current.
• Molecular solid- a solid composed of small molecules
• Atomic solid- a solid that contains atoms at the lattice points
• Electron sea model-
• Alloy- a substance that contains a mixture of elements and has metallic properties
• Substitutional alloy-
• Interstitial alloy-

Laws and Models: A Review

1. To understand the relationship between laws and models (theories).
2. An ideal gas is a hypothetical substance. At low pressures and/or low temperatures, real gases approach the behavior expected for a gas.

The Kinetic Molecular Theory of Gases

3. To understand the basic postulates of the kinetic molecular theory.
4. Kinetic molecular theory- based on speculations about the behavior of individual particles (atoms or molecules) in a gas.
5. Postulates of the Kinetic Molecular Theory of Gases:
   • Gases consist of tiny particles (atoms or molecules).
   • These particles are so small, compared with the distances between them, that the volume (size) of the individual particles can be assumed to be negligible (zero).
   • The particles are in constant random motion, colliding with the walls of the container. These collisions with the wall cause the pressure exerted by the gas.
   • The particles are assumed not to attract or to repel each other.
   • The average kinetic energy of the gas particles is directly proportional to the Kelvin temperature of the gas.
6. Kinetic energy (KE) is given by the equation KE = 1/2 mv^2, where m is the mass of the particle and v is the velocity (speed) of the particle.

The Implications of the Kinetic Molecular Theory

7. To understand the term temperature.
8. To learn how the kinetic molecular theory explains the gas laws.
9. Meaning of Temperature
   • Temperature really is a measure of the motions of the gas particles. The Kelvin temperature of a gas is directly proportional to the average kinetic energy of the gas particles.
10. Relationship Between Pressure and Temperature
    • Gas pressure increases as temperature increases.
11. Relationship Between Volume and Temperature
    • The volume of gas will increase as the temperature is increased at a constant temperature.

Water and Its Phase Changes

12. To learn some of the important features of water.
13. The normal boiling point of water is 100*C at 1 atm pressure, where water changes into vapor.
14. The normal freezing point of water is 0*C at 1 atm pressure. Water expands when it freezes, becomes less dense. This is why ice floats in water.

Energy Requirements for the Changes of State

15. To learn about interactions among water molecules.
16. To understand and use heat of fusion and heat of vaporization.
17. Changes of state are physical changes- no chemical bonds are broken in these processes.
18. Bonding forces that hold a molecule’s atoms together are intramolecular forces.
19. Forces that occur among molecules that cause them to aggregate to form a solid or liquid are intermolecular forces.
20. The energy required to melt 1 mol of a substance is called its molar heat of fusion.
21. The energy required to change 1 mol of liquid to its vapor is called molar heat of vaporization.

Intermolecular Forces

22. To learn about dipole-dipole attraction, hydrogen bonding, and London dispersion forces.
23. To understand the effect of these forces on the properties of liquids.
24. Dipole-dipole attraction- molecules attract each other by lining up so that the positive and negative ends are close to each other.
25. Hydrogen bonds- unusually strong dipole-dipole attractions resulting from H bonding to a highly electronegative atom such as N, O, or F.
    • Two factors account for the strength of hydrogen bonds:
      • The great polarity of the bond
      • The close approach of the dipoles, made possible by the very small size of the hydrogen atom.
    • An unusually large quantity of energy is required to overcome these interactions and separate the molecules to produce the gaseous state. In other words, water molecules tend to remain together in the liquid state even at relatively high temperatures- hence the high boiling point of water.
26. Noble gases and nonpolar molecules are held together by London dispersion forces. London dispersion forces are temporary dipoles formed by an electron’s movement around the nucleus- the electrons of an atom are not necessarily evenly distributed around the nucleus at every instant. Instantaneous dipoles can then induce a similar dipole in a neighboring atom.
    • This interatomic attraction is relatively weak and short-lived.
    • The motions of the atoms must be slowed down before the weak London dispersion forces can lock the atoms into place to produce a solid. This explains why noble gases have such low freezing points.
    • London forces become more significant as the sizes of atoms or molecules increase. Larger size means there are more electrons available to form the dipoles.

Evaporation and Vapor Pressure

27. To understand the relationship among vaporization, condensation, and vapor pressure.
28. Vaporization/evaporation occurs when the molecules of a liquid escape the liquid’s surface and form a gas. This process requires energy to overcome the relatively strong intermolecular forces in the liquid.
29. Vapor, not gas, is the term customarily used to describe a substance that exists naturally as a solid or liquid at 25*C and 1 atm.
30. Net evaporation occurs at first, so the amount of liquid decreases slightly. As the number of vapor molecules increases, the rate of condensation increases. Finally the rate of condensation equals the rate of evaporation and the system is at equilibrium.
31. The pressure of the vapor present at equilibrium with its liquid is called the vapor pressure.

The Solid State: Types of Solids

32. To learn about the various types of crystalline solids.
33. Crystalline solids have a regular arrangement of their components.
    • Ionic solids- ions conduct an electric current
    • Molecular solids- neutral atoms do not conduct electricity
    • Atomic solids- contain atoms of only one element covalently bonded to each other
    • The internal forces in a solid determine many of the properties of a solid.

Bonding in Solids

34. To understand the interparticle forces in crystalline solids.
35. To learn about how the bonding in metals determines metallic properties.
36. Ionic solids- stable substances with high melting points, held together by the strong forces between oppositely charged ions.
37. Molecular solids- melt at relatively low temperatures because the intermolecular forces are relatively weak.
    • If the molecule has a dipole movement, dipole-dipole forces hold the solid together.
    • In solids with nonpolar molecules, London dispersion forces hold the molecule together.
38. Atomic solids- properties vary greatly because of the different ways in which the atoms interact with each other
    • Bonding in metals- strong but nondirectional, explained by the electron sea model.
    • Because of the nature of metallic crystal, other elements can be introduced relatively easily to produce alloys. An alloy is a substance that contains a mixture of elements and has metallic properties. There are two common types of alloys.
      • Substitutional alloy- some of the host metal atoms are replaced by other metal atoms of similar sizes.
      • Interstitial alloy- some of the interstices (holes) among the closely packed atoms are occupied by atoms much smaller than the host atoms. The presence of interstitial atoms changes the properties of the host metal.
      For video lectures on the Kinetic Molecular theory, click here.

Filed under: Chemistry Help, alloy, atomic solid, boiling point, Chemistry, condensation, crystalline solid, dipole-dipole attraction, electron sea model, evaporation, freezing point, heating/cooling curve, hydrogen bonding, intermolecular forces, interstitial alloy, intramolecular forces, ionic solid, kinetic molecular theory, London dispersion forces, melting point, molar heat of fusion, molar heat of vaporization, molecular solid, substitutional alloy, vapor pressure, vaporization

Intermolecular Forces

Intermolecular forces- not within molecules, rather between molecules

Dipole-dipole attractions – electrons are not evenly distributed, partial charges (signified by greek letter Delta)

Hydrogen bonds (type of dipole-dipole attraction) – extremely strong, must contain N, O, or F (most electronegative)- otherwise they would be regular dipole-dipole. Greatest tendency to stick together, highest boiling points and melting points.

• Outer structure of DNA has covalent bonds. Inner structure (stairstep) are hydrogen bonds. Important to allow transcription/replication without pulling entire structure apart, but will hold together under normal circumstances.
• Water has a higher boiling point than similar fluids because of the hydrogen bonds. It is more likely to be found in a condensed state because it is more difficult to break apart the bonds to cause a state change into a gas.

London Dispersion Forces

• Instantaneous dipoles- dipoles that exist for only an instant due to the electron’s random movement, can cause a neighboring molecule to also change for an instant. Often shown with two deltas (partial partial positive, partial partial negative). As we increase molecular weight, we increase the dispersion forces. Ie the larger the molecular weight of a molecule, the more prevalent the dispersion forces. We can see this on the periodic table. As molecular weight increases, we increase the tendency for the particles to stick together. (both the same, as in the case of diatomic gases, like oxygen, nitrogen, etc.)

For a video lecture on intermolecular forces, click here.

Filed under: Chemistry Help, boiling point, Chemistry, diatomic gas, dipole-dipole attraction, electronegativity, hydrogen bond, instantaneous dipoles, London dispersion forces, melting point

Notes About Pressure, the Ideal Gas Law, and Gas Stoichiometry

Pressure

• To learn about atmospheric pressure and how barometers work.
• To learn the various units of pressure.
• The terms torr and mm Hg are used interchangeably by chemists.
• 1 standard atmosphere = 1.000 atm  = 760.0 mm Hg = 760.0 torr
• The SI unit for pressure is the pascal (abbreviated Pa).
• 1 standard atmosphere = 101,325 Pa
• 1.000 atm
  • 760.0 mm Hg
  • 760.0 torr
  • 14.69 psi
  • 101,325 Pa

Pressure and Volume: Boyle’s Law

• To understand the law that relates the pressure and volume of a gas.
• To do calculations involving this law.
• PV=k (Pressure x Volume = a constant)
• For Boyle’s law to hold, the amount of gas (moles) must not be changed. The temperature must also be constant.
• If we know the volume of a gas at a given pressure, we can predict the new volume if the pressure is changed.

Volume and Temperature: Charles’s Law

• To learn about absolute zero.
• To learn about the law relating the volume and temperature of a sample gas at constant moles and pressure, and to do calculations involving that law.
• The volume of each gas is directly proportional to the temperature (in kelvins) and extrapolates to zero when the temperature is 0 K.
• Charles’s law in the form V1/T1=V2/T2 applies only when both the amount of gas (moles) and the pressure are constant.
• V=bT or V/T=b=constant

Volume and Moles: Avogadro’s Law

• To understand the law relating the volume and the number of moles of a sample of gas at constant temperature and pressure, and to do calculations involving this law.
• For a gas at constant temperature and pressure, the volume is directly proportional to the number of moles of gas.
• V=an or V/n=a where V is the volume of the gas, n is the number of moles, and a is the proportionality constant.

The Ideal Gas Law

• To understand the ideal gas law and use it in calculations.
• Constant n means a constant number of moles of gas.
• Universal gas constant – V=R(Tn/P)
• Ideal gas law- PV=nRT
• Always convert the temperature to the Kelvin scale and the pressure to atmospheres when applying the ideal gas law.

Gas Stoichiometry

• To understand the molar volume of an ideal gas.
• To learn the definition of STP.
• To use these concepts and the ideal gas equation.
• Remember that the molar volume of an ideal gas is 22.4 L at STP.

Filed under: Chemistry Help, absolute zero, Avogadro's Law, Boyle's Law, Charles's Law, Chemistry, gas, ideal gas, moles, pressure, stoichiometry, STP, temperature, Universal Gas Constant, volume

Brief Notes About the Kinetic Molecular Theory and PV=nRT (Ideal Gas Law)

• Kinetic theory of gases- temperature, volume, pressure, moles
• Units of pressure
  • Atmospheres
  • Torr/mm Mg (Millimeters of mercury)

• How temperature and pressure relate to each other
  • A balloon is placed in a refrigerator- temperature decreases, volume decreases (T=kV) (direct proportion) (k=constant)
  • Air is forced into an elastic balloon- volume increases, # of moles increases (n=kV) (direct proportion) (k=constant)
  • An airtight syringe is depressed- pressure increases, volume decreases (v=k(1/p)) (indirect proportion) (k=constant)
  • A sealed tank is heated in a fire- temperature increases, pressure increases (T=kP) (direct proportion) (k=constant)

• To find a change or solve for a variable, isolate the missing variable from the equation.
  • PV=nRT (gas constant=0.0826 L atm/mol K)
  • P=nRT/V

Filed under: Chemistry Help, atmospheres, Chemistry, direct proportion, mm Mg, pressure, PV=nRT, temperature, torr

Limiting Reactants and Percent Yield

• Limiting reactant (limiting reagent)- the reactant that is completely consumed when a reaction is run to completion.
• Theoretical yield- the maximum amount of a given product that can be formed when the limiting reactant is completely consumed.
• Percent yield- the actual yield of a product as a percentage of the theoretical yield.

 

Calculations Involving a Limiting Reactant

1. To learn to recognize the limiting reactant in a reaction.
2. To learn to use the limiting reactant to do stoichiometric calculations.
3. The reactant that is consumed first limits the amounts of products that can form.
4. Steps for Solving Stoichiometry Problems Involving Limiting Reactants:
   • Write and balance the equation for the reaction.
   • Convert known masses of reactants to moles.
   • Using the numbers of moles of reactants and the appropriate mole ratios, determine which reactant is limiting.
   • Using the amount of the limiting reactant and the appropriate mole ratios, compute the number of moles of the desired product.
   • Convert from moles of product to grams of product, using the molar mass (if this is required by the problem.)

Percent Yield

5. To learn to calculate actual yield as a percentage of theoretical yield.
6. Percent yield is important as an indicator of the efficiency of a particular reaction.
7. (actual yield / theoretical yield) * 100% = 100% percent yield.

Filed under: Chemistry Help, actual yield, Chemistry, limiting reactant, limiting reagent, mol, molar mass, moles, percent yield, stoichiometry, theoretical yield