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Commons |
9/16/06
It says in our lab that since 1962, pennies have been made of
copper and zinc. The data that we have for the 1960s shows that the
density of pennies was about 9.1-9.3 g/mL. I know that is a little
higher than the density of copper. Is the margin small enough that it
doesn't really matter? Also, are we expected to determine the % of
copper and zinc in the pennies?Your densities are greater than that of copper itself and since zinc has an even lower density than copper, the statement that pennies are made of copper and zinc does not make sense.
Your data for mass is more accurate than your data for volume (given the instruments that you had to measure them.) Therefore, you might explore the question of volume a bit more. Can you compare your volume data to that of the other groups? Is there more accurate volume data available? If you obtain a more accurate volume, then you could recalculate your density and then find the percentages of copper and zinc in the pennies.
9/12/06
I am wondering where we are suppose to get the information to answer the non-book questions. Are they in the book, and it is just that the exact question is not there? Or do I have to go somewhere else to find a way to answer the question?
The homework questions labeled non book are just as you described. They are not directly from the end-of-chapter questions in the text book. You are welcome to use a variety of sources to answer them: your text, the course pack, the lecture notes, the internet, another text, etc.
Speaking of sources, rumor has it that at least two people in the class spent 2+ hours searching for the dry weight of a human. A tip for the next time that you have to search: consider searching for something besides dry weight such as the percent of water that a human is made of. And, in this case, there is no one correct answer, rather a range of answers.
9/6/06
Am I supposed to know the dry weight of a human?
No. This is an opportunity to use the internet (and cite your source.) There are a range of answers depending on your source.
For the second question in the homework, should one have members from their lab group rate their questions or can it be classmates?
Any classmate is fine.
9/5/06
I just wanted to ask a few questions relating to the homework assignments. Would you like full sentence answers or would bullett points be sufficient for some of the answers? And would these assignments need to be turned in electronically or would you like printed copies of the answers?
Bullet points are sufficient.
Please turn in a hard copy of your answers if you type them. Handwritten is fine too.
I have a few questions about the assignment (homework 1):
1. Are we supposed to get the answers from the book or answer from our own knowledge( for eg the question about the applications of chemistry in our chosen fields)?Some of the questions on the assignments will have more than one possible correct answer. You will also not always be able to find the answer in your book. The example you chose (applications in your field) is a question where we expect to receive 96 different answers (one from each student in the class.) It is part of our efforts to personalize the course for you and help you think about how it is connected to your interests.
2. If I do answer some of the questions from this book or some other book, will that count as plagiarism?If you quote directly from a source, you should cite your source. Then, you will have no worries about plagiarism.
3. How long do you expect the answers of the subjective type questions to be? (Lines or words)The answers to the subjective questions should be concise. The first three questions in this homework assignment ask for lists. I imagine each item in the list would be 1-2 sentences long.
4. On what basis will this assignment be graded?( what do you look for in a good assignment?)
Homework is graded as follows: 4 points for completeness (answering all of the questions.) Then two random problems will be graded for correctness. If a subjective question is chosen for grading, it will be evaluated on criteria such as:
a) did you follow the directions in answering the question?
b) is you answer scientifically/logically sound?
Please let me know whether you would prefer the homework assignments to be typed or hand written.
Whichever you prefer; handwritten is fine.