Chemistry 100 Assignment
Due Monday, September 10 at 5 p.m.
(no late submissions accepted.)
edited and posted: 9/6/01 at 9 am
Submitting your assignment:
- my preference: submit by e-mail to
endres-e_mail (click here to send)
- Include your name-- I generally won't be able to identify you by your e-mail return address
- you may also turn in at class, or at my office
The Great Black Swamp-- Questing for the Elements
In celebration of the Black Swamp Arts Festival in downtown Bowling Green this weekend-- food, music, arts and crafts... Friday 6 p.m. through 3 p.m. Sunday.
Assignment:
- Submit a list of Chemical Elements
you observe walking around
the festival.
Basically this is a chemical scavenger hunt, but you don't need
to bring back the object.
If you don't attend the festival or if you or want to complete
the assignment early, that's O.K. too. List what you see around you
or even virtual sightings-- things you might reasonably expect to
see on a normal excursion.
- There are probably a few more elements to be seen at a festive
event like this, but you can do almost as well walking around campus
with your eyes open.
The Rules:
The element must be observed in the Elemental state, not as chemical compounds. (There's a lot of calcium in concrete, but only in the form of chemical compounds.)
The element should be in a
relatively pure form and not simply part of a mixture (For example, the nitrogen in air doesn't count. However, an 18K gold ring is really only 18/24 part gold and gold plated earrings only contain a very thin coating-- but I'd count both since the Gold is the essence of the object.))
The element could be a small part of an object or a thin coating. (For example, if you saw a Zirconium plated wing nut you could count it-- but I'm sure you won't find one.)
The element may be covered or even encased, but it's there and forms an important part of the object. For example, the iron (or steel) of a car counts, even though it's completely covered with a coat of paint.
You must include the name of the element and a very brief description of where it was found and/or how it was used.
Each element can only be listed once even if you see it in different forms.
Academic Credit
- This assignment is worth 5 points with a possible 5 point bonus (by comparison, a hour exam is worth 100 points)
- You'll need at least 10 elemental findings to get the credit (Finding ten should be very easy-- just run down the list of elements. Hint: start with metals.)
- Bonus points awarded to the lists with the most elements
or for locating examples not on my personal list.
- Last time I did this I think I found 35 species. I must admit the last 3-5 items stretched the rules a little, but were at least in the spirit of the quest.
- There will be some border line cases and I'll make those decisions. There are no penalties if I reject an item from your list.
- This is one of several such assignments during the semester. Typically I'll count your best scores (say the best 5 scores out of 7 such assignments.) If you miss this you can still make up the points elsewhere.
- assignments like this are brief and will not have a lot of advance notice. In part they are a bonus for attending class and regularly monitoring the Web site.
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