Why introductory chemistry is boring: a long-term historical perspective • Hacker News Board

Re: Why introductory chemistry is boring: a long-term historical perspective

#141

Post by 0x445442 » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 9:11 PM UTC

thereisnospork wrote: post #120

chongli wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't work for everyone though. I'm studying pure math and I find most applied math problems very boring. I also like solving puzzles, though. If a problem is little more than knowing which formula to use (with some manipulation) and then punching the values into my calculator then it just feels like I'm doing a computer's job. So I think if we gear our curriculum too heavily to the applied side of things, we…

I would say 'plug and chug' applied problems don't work for anyone, past the first couple. At risk of anecdote: I like solving puzzles as much as anyone[1] but the purer side wasn't a puzzle to me because there is no purpose, no picture to be pieced together[2]. [1] Back to the original topic, chemistry interestingly inverts its approach with organic chem - a class in puzzle solving that often frustrated premeds tryi…

Gerry Sussman has a really good talk touching on [2]. It was surprising to me that his real interests are in classical mechanics but he uses computation as a tool to convey the ideas.

Re: Why introductory chemistry is boring: a long-term historical perspective

#142

Post by MadWombat » Thu, Jan 02, 2020, 3:03 PM UTC

samatman wrote: post #41

MadWombat wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> fingers into concentrated sulphuric acid You might want to wash your fingers under a lot of cold water after that :)

Real talk: don't do this. Instead, wash the affected area with bicarbonate of soda. Then cold water.

Real talk it is. "Bicarbonate of soda" is not a thing, either say baking soda or sodium bicarbonate. Sulfuric acid is water soluble, there is nothing wrong with washing it off under running water. There is a bit of a problem if you are washing off a lot of acid (i.e. you stuck your whole arm into a vat of acid) or if you are using a container with water rather than a source of running water. When sulfuric acid gets diluted a lot of energy gets released, so if you have a lot of acid or not enough water, you might get burned before the acid is washed away.

Re: Why introductory chemistry is boring: a long-term historical perspective

#143

Post by hyperpallium » Sun, Jan 05, 2020, 12:30 AM UTC

salty_biscuits wrote: post #124

hyperpallium wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Euclid was a pure mathematician.

Almost nothing is known about who Euclid was. Might not have even been a single person.

You might be other things as well, but if you write a textbook on pure mathematics, you are a pure mathematician.