Friday, September 25, 2009

3.1.4 Discussion: How big is a mole?


Discussion Topic:

In the study "The Mole Concept", we introduced the mole, the counting unit for atoms, molecules, and small particles. A mole is the amount of substance that contains as many particles as there are atoms in exactly 12 g of carbon-12. One mole contains 6.0221 X 1023 particles, which is called Avogadro's number. Avogadro's number allows chemists to connect unimaginably small entities to sizes that are found in the laboratory.

In the study, we looked at the size or mass of a mole of everyday items like pennies and donuts. We saw that a mole of pennies would stretch most of the way across the Milky Way. In this discussion, you're going to have a chance to devise your own fun "mole" problem. Come up with an everyday object and figure out how large or massive a mole of that object would be. Try to relate this size to something the other students will be familiar with. Explain to the other students how you solved your "mole" problem. Also, respond to the examples given by other students and propose alternate solutions and comparisons.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Posting discussions: Directions

The discussion questions will be posted on this blog in advance. Reply to relevant Post.

You MUST include your name (first and last) at the beginning or end of the post in order to receive credit on it. If you do not have a google account, you can reply as anonymous, but be sure your name is on the post. Nicknames or email addresses will NOT count.

In order to receive FULL credit:
Reply to initial post (10 points)
Respond to another students' post (5 points)
You can reply as many times as you want, but you must have at least 2 posts for each discussion.

Discussion questions are due the day they are listed on your semester calendar (the 24 hour grace period applies to posts, but it is very difficult for other students when there are no posts to respond to, so please try to get your first post done early).

I am very impressed so far with your discussions. I look forward to hearing from you all through this new format.

If you have any questions, please let me know! eeastman@wchs.com