Steven Schwartz

All of you should have Unit 2 HW problems.  If you don’t, download one here.

Unit 2 Book Homework

Hi guys,

My bad, but Lee Ann just brought this to my attention.

On the challenging free response question, question number 2 has the van der Waals equation, but nothing after that.  Some information is missing, so it doesn’t look as if there is a question.  The part that is missing isxn--.

The following should exist between the van der Waals equation and
question 3.  Let me know if it is missing, because if it is, it’s
missing on everyone’s paper.

The coefficients, a and b, for the hydrogen gas are a = 0.242
atom;L2/mole2 (those are exponents) and b= 0.0266 L/mole.  The
corresponding values of a and b for sulfur dioxide are 6.714 and
005636, respectively.

i.  Identify the molecular property that corresponds to the a
coefficient and account qualitatively for the difference between the
value for these two gases.

ii.  Identify the molecular property that corresponds to the b
coefficient and account qualitatively for the difference between the
values for these two gases.

Sorry about the confusion.  I have finished the summer assignment, and I am starting to work on the Unit 3 study guide.  It took me several hours each day for 2 days to knock out the assignment.

See you guys soon!!

Heck no, it’s not ready.  I just finished the Unit 1 & 2 version, like 5 minutes ago.  However, it will cover Chapters 17-19, and as soon as it is done, you may download it from this post.  And I hope it is NOT 47 pages, like the last one was.

New, hot off the presses stuff:

I have decided to redo the Units slightly, based on the training I took at William and Mary this week.  Unit 3 will be Chapters 5, 6 and 20, and then Unit 4 will be 17-19.  I doubt anyone’s read that far anyway, but that’s what we are going to do.

Stay tuned.  It should be written soon.

By now, all of you should’ve received my email regarding the summer assignment.

It’s due on August 20th.  That date is NOT negotiable.  If you are going to be unavailable on the 20th, make arrangements to turn it in earlier to me, OR turn it in to the school (ask them to put it in my box).

You may turn it in late (50% credit) until August 27th.  NO ASSIGNMENTS will be accepted for any reason after August 27th.  No exceptions.

I will be preparing an “answer packet” to give to you.  If you want to keep a copy of your turned in work (to compare to the answers), make a copy for yourself BEFORE you turn it in to me.

The summer assignment will be returned, graded, on the first day of class.  If I have it done earlier (say, by orientation), you may pick it up earlier, but no promises on that.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

I’m not doing power points for Chapters 1-4.  However, some of your classmates might be.  A max of 3 people can sign up for any one chapter.  I’m not sure of the current numbers, but once 12 people have signed up, I will make other assignments as needed.

When you have finished your power point, email the file to me, please.  I reserve the right to post links to good power points to this website.  ALL POWER POINTS NEED TO BE EMAILED TO ME BY AUGUST 31, 2010, FOR FULL CREDIT.  AFTER I PREVIEW THEM, I WILL BE POSTING THEM TO THIS WEBSITE.

The following students have done a power point for Ch 1:

Alex

Here is a power point for Ch 2:

Chapter 2 Power Point

The following students have done a power point for Ch 3:

Maygen

Erin

Here is a power point for Chapter 4:

Chapter 4 Power Point

This study guide will cover Chapters 1-3 (summer assignment work) and Chapters 4, 15, and 16.

After Unit 2 we will have a test.

Unit 3 will be 17, 18, 19 and we’ll have a test after that.  That will probably take us (close) to the end of the first quarter.

Get the study guide here (note:  if you have downloaded it before, this is the third AND FINAL version I have put up here).  It will only be revised if I discover any chemically horrific errors that I need to correct:

Unit 1 & 2 Study Guide

If you have an older version of Word, and the file above isn’t compatible with your computer (it is a .docx file), try this instead.

Unit 1 & 2 Study Guide Old Version

Let me know if you have any problems downloading this.  If you print this, it’s a long filexn--47 pages.

Mr. Schwartz

As some of you know, the website look has changed.  It looks as if I’m going to have to rebuild quite a lot, so stay tuned for future developments.

For the summer, my priority will be AP Chemistry.  If you see something here (and come back often to check), and you don’t understand, please call me or email me.  Do not struggle with what seems like even an EASY question, because that will cause frustration, and you don’t need to be frustrated over the summer.

You do need to REVIEW over the summer, and the more you do, the better off you will be once school starts.  We will hit the ground running on Day 1, with a GRADED QUIZ the first day, and a TEST over the summer assignment on Day 2.  Yeah, I know!!

I will be offering bonus points on the summer assignment for checking this website and making a comment.  The system will tell me who was first.  The first person to comment will get 5 bonus points on the summer assignment (which is 5% of your 1st quarter grade).  It will go down by 0.25 points for each person after that, so the second person will get 4.75 points, the third 4.50, etc.  Everyone will get something, just for showing up and commenting, but the early bird definitely gets the worm with the most points.

Check back often.

Oh yeah, in about 1.5 hours work, I have personally done the following:

1.  Completed the lab problems worksheet.

2.  Done all of the problems for Chap 1 in the new book.

3. Done up through 83 for Chap 2 in the new book.

So, it might look like a mountain of work, but it’s doable.  The point is to make you familiar with problems that are more challenging than you saw in Advanced Chemistry.  When you turn in your packet, I will give you an “answer packet” for you to study!

PS, I have already read Chapters 1-5 in the new book.  By the time September rolls around, I will have read the entire book, at least once, and maybe twice.

15 or 16 people signed up for AP Chem.  That’s FANTASTIC!

Don’t worry too much about starting to “prepare” for AP Chemistry until after your 2nd semester courses are done.  There will be plenty of time over the summer to do some prep work, and yes, there WILL be a summer assignment.  It won’t take you the entire summer to do it, but it won’t be an hour’s worth of work either.

AP Chem is going to be a very problem-solving oriented class.  We are going to learn how to do complex chemical problems, and you cannot possibly memorize the solution to every one.  What you need to do is learn what to look for, and then use solution methods that you have learned to solve the problem.  Try SOMETHING!  Yes, we are going to have powerpoints, but lots of times, you are going to view and study and take notes on those at home for homework.  You’ll come in with questions of things you do not understand and we’ll try to clear that up.  But I’m not going to spend 3 days lecturing on something you might’ve learned during Advanced Chem or could’ve easily learned simply by reading the chapter and viewing my powerpoint.  We do not have time to do that.

We are going to take lots of practice tests.  The AP Chem exam is at 8am on Monday, May 2, 2011.  That’s the very first AP exam.  That means, we have until Sunday, May 1, to get ready for this.  Mark your calendarsxn--we’re going to have a gigantic review on Saturday, April 30th.  We’ll meet at school and we’ll work for as long as it takes.  We might get pizza or Chinese food delivered, so we can keep working.  If you can’t come for the whole thing, come for the portions that you can.  I would suggest using Sunday to rest and recharge your batteries.  Be confident that you have done all you can do to prepare.  If you want to review more, that’s fine, but you are hereby ORDERED to go to bed early on May 1st!!  You will do much, much better on the AP exam if you are well-rested and thinking clearly, as opposed to staying up all night cramming miscellaneous facts into your brain which may (OR MAY NOT) actually be on the test.  By early, I mean 10pm.  A good night’s sleep the night before will help.

I am going to work your butts off from the first day of school until May.  That’s the bad news, and you might as well know it.  We will have problems for homework EVERY NIGHT!  We will have one-question, 15-minute quizzes often.  We are going to take practice AP exams a lot!  I am going to teach you how to do the problems which will more than likely be on the AP exam.  If you work hard in my class, your grade will be the last thing you need to worry about.  I truly expect most of you that signed up to get A’s and B’s in AP.  But, we are going to work hard, and prepare hard, and lots of that is “on you!”  I will certainly help you in every way I can.

Mr. Gordon has told me that next year, 4th period will be an A/B period and that AP Chem will be a 4th period class.  That’s good and bad.  4th period is at the end of the day, and you might be tired from 3 other classes you’ve taken that day, but xn--.it also means that class doesn’t have to end at 2:45.  If you have transportation, and we need to go a little longer, to work something out, that’s what we can do.  That won’t be an every-day thing.  But it’s an option when we need it.

I love AP Chemistry, and I am truly excited and cannot wait to start teaching this class.  The AP test has 5 MAJOR topics that they test on (and they don’t ignore everything elsexn--they just STRESS this stuff)

Stoich! and Reactions

Kinetics

Equilibrium

Thermodynamics

Electrochemistry

This is the stuff we are going to work on for the first semester.  We will have a practice AP test (benchmark exam) at the end of the first quarter, another (midterm) at the end of the 2nd quarter, and another (benchmark exam) at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Depending on progress, we might have assignments over the long breaks (don’t worry, you won’t have to spend your entire break working on themxn--), and WE WILL have an assignment between the semesters, since due to the testing schedule, I probably won’t see you for over a week during that period.  AND ONE LAST THINGxn--if we have 10 snow days during AP Chem, you will need to check my website DAILY for an assignment that will be turned in the day we come back from the “Snowpocalypse of 2011!”

I want to do BETTER than the Virginia average of 54% for passing this test!  If you do too, let’s work hard together to make sure this happens.  I don’t remember where I saw it, and I wish I could find it again, but a couple of years ago, a teacher had her AP students write a list of suggestions to her “next” class on how they could best be successful and most likely to pass the AP exam.  The number 1 thing on everyone’s list wasxn--.

READ THE BOOK.

They went on to add that you should read and take notes and strive to UNDERSTAND the material.  Don’t just skim it to say, yes Schwartz, I read the darn book!

Let’s do this thing!!

Mr. Schwartz

Anyone who is planning on taking AP Chemistry in 2010-11 school year, check back here occasionally for updates.  I will be putting stuff in here throughout the 2nd semester and summer.