2016年5月11日 星期三

1042有邊讀邊學生物英文期末考試~最後確認與試場規則公佈


報名到今天全部截止,表單已關閉。

報名表已經以e-mail寄出!

報名場次請看所附表單,請大家核對。

5/27 是晚上七點到八點
5/25與5/26都是中午12:30-1:30
三場都是在校本部D602考試。

試場規則:

一、有排考座位,請依照排考座位入座。
二、考試有畫卡,請帶2B鉛筆。
三、未報名者不得參加考試。
四、由於本科目為線上課程,老師跟助教從來沒有看過您,考試請攜帶學生證以便查核,未攜帶學生證不得入場!
五、擅自更改考試時間者,監考人員(我以及助教)會拒絕讓您入場。

※如因緊急狀況需更改考試時間,請儘速與老師聯繫。※

2016年5月10日 星期二

What's the relationship between oxygen and sour?

In Lesson 17-1, we learned the prefix of oxygen. They are:

ox-, oxy-

We also learned that the prefixes for sour or sharp taste are the same. How come?

Antoine Lavoisier. Source: Wikipedia
The reason why oxygen and sour/sharp taste use the same prefixes has a lot to do with Antoine Lavoisier.

Although other scientists like Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm Scheele complained that Lavoisier was not the first one who found oxygen, he was the first person to conduct the first adequate quantitative experiments on oxidation and give the first correct explanation of how combustion works.

He discredited the 'phlogisticated air' theory, noting that after he burned elements like phosphorus, mercury and sulfur, the overall weight did not change at all. When he heated red calx (mercury oxide, HgO), this substance is being released back into the air.

Because the compound generated from burning phosphorus, mercury or mercury are acidic, he named this 'vital air' to 'oxygen', mistakenly thought oxygen is the constituent of all acids. Chemists in 19th century proved that hydrogen is the component of all acid, but by then the name is too well established.

Lovoisier was killed in the French Revolution. According to a (probably apocryphal) story, the appeal to spare his life so that he could continue his experiments was cut short by the judge: "La République n'a pas besoin de savants ni de chimistes; le cours de la justice ne peut être suspendu." ("The Republic has no need of scientists or chemists; the course of justice cannot be delayed.")

中文版

2016年5月9日 星期一

1042有邊讀邊學生物英文期末考試

目前報名表已經初步整理完畢並寄出,請大家找尋您的資訊並核對。

統計到目前共有115位同學報名,

5/27(五) 19:00-20:00(主時間):47人
5/25(三) 12:30-13:30 :23人
5/26(四) 12:30-13:30 :49人

由於不同時段有重複報名的現象,已報名主時間(5/27 晚上)同時也報名其他時間的同學,請以主時間為主。

另外,有一位同學在5/4的晚上10點14分報名,但是完全沒有留下姓名與學號,只有寫「可以」跟「不太行」....= =(請看下圖) 請快點跟我釐清您的身份。



請注意,上次給大家的是「報名表」不是時段調查,三個時間都會排考試,所以不能來的時間就不要留下任何資訊給老師!

請大家核對所附檔案,檔案有三頁,每頁代表不同時段,請務必確定您的名字與學號有在上面!

由於每場考試的試卷不同,老師會根據報名人數印製考卷,頂多只會多一兩張,不要以為可以不報名就隨便選一場參加,現場會排考位置,所以如果您沒有報名,不會有您的座位也沒有考卷!

要換時間請跟老師聯絡,請不要自己換時間,那樣就不會有你的考卷!

下次預定開課時間:1052學期。

2016年5月3日 星期二

What is the relationship between halogens and salts?

In Lesson 17-4, we learned that functional groups containing chlorine (Cl) are using the prefix hal(o)-. As a matter of fact, fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (At) are called the halogens or halogen elements collectively.

However, we learned that the suffix hal(o)- meaning sea or salt in Lesson 18-2. Are they using the same prefix? Why is that?

The reason why elements fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (At) are called the halogens is because when they react with metals they produce a wide range of salts, including calcium fluoride, sodium chloride (common salt), silver bromide and potassium iodide. Therefore, they are name halogens, meaning 'salt-producing'. The suffix -gen means 'produce', which we learned in Lesson 16-5.

Jöns Jakob Berzelius. Source: Wikipedia

This name was suggested by Swiss chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius in 1842. However, the term halogen was created by Johann Salomo Christoph Schweigger at 1811. It was suggested for naming chlorine at the time, but it was not used. Later, the term was used by calling all of the element of  group 17 -- including chlorine.

中文版

Why cyanide and blue share the same prefix?

After learning Lesson 17-4, you may become curious why cyanide and the color blue share the same prefix. It is:

cyan(o)-

The reason why they share the same prefix is because it is being firstly obtained by the heating of the pigment known as Prussian blue.

Prussian blue. Source: Wikipedia

Prussian blue is a dark blue pigment with the idealized chemical formula Fe 7(CN) 18. To better understand the binding situation in this complex compound the formula can also be written as Fe 4[Fe(CN) 6] 3 · xH 2O. It is the first synthetic dye. It also called Berlin Blue or Persian/Paris Blue. It is the traditional "blue" in blueprints.

Prussian blue can be use to treat thallium poisoning. It was synthesized by the paint maker Johann Jacob Diesbach in 1706.

Because cyanide was obtained from Prussian blue at first, it was named cyanide as a reference of blue. The Greek for dark blue is kyanos.

中文版

Reference:

Wikipedia. Cyanide - Nomenclature and Etymology.

2016年5月2日 星期一

This suffix is making me dizzy: -oate

In Lesson 17-4, there is a suffix -oate can be used in :

dissociated type of carboxylic acid (COO-), and also in ester (R-O-R).

We get confused with acid because the suffix of acid is -ate.

I found that even Google translate has a hard time to differentiate. Last time I was reading an article regarding to 3-methylbutyl pentanoate, 3-methylbutyl 3-methylbutyrate,  3-methylbutyl 2-methylbutyrate, butyl pentanoate and propyl hexanoate. When I checked these five compounds in Google translate, it translated them as acid or ester. Fortunately, they are referred as esters in that article.

Those compounds are the five esters that can be detected in dead and decomposed human cadavers.

Source: Wikipedia

However, -oate is not the worst one. The worst chemical suffix is -ane!

Reference:

E. Cuypers et. al., 2015. The Search for a Volatile Human Specific Marker in the Decomposition Process. PLOS One. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137341

中文版

2016年5月1日 星期日

Why chlorine and color green use the same prefix chlor(o)- ?

After finished learning Lesson 17-2, I am sure all of you noticing that chlorine (Cl) and color green share that same prefix. It is

chlor(o)-

Why do both of them share the same prefix? There's a story.

The element chlorine was firstly discovered by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774. When he treated the pyrolusite with hydrochloric acid over a warm sand bath, a yellow-green gas with a strong odor was produced. The reaction is indicated as below:


4 HCl + MnO2 → MnCl2 + 2 H2O + Cl2

However, he did not realize what he got is an element. He thought it is an oxide (also a lot of people at that time), although he did notice this yellow-green gas can make the litmus paper turning blue. He also noticed that this gas can kill bugs.

Humphry Davy. Source: Wikipedia

Humphry Davy repeated his experiment in 1810 and he reckoned it is an element. He named it chlorine because its color. In Greek, chlōros means yellow-green color. Although Johann Salomo Christoph Schweigger suggested that it should be named as halogen, but it is named chlorine. The term "halogen" was later being used to name all of the elements that have similar characteristics as chlorine -- they can all form sea salt-like compound with metals.

Chlorine gas in an glass container. Source: Wikipedia

中文版