Other students work

TASK 5.5 Reading your own and other students work... 

Using computers to display molecular structure is an attractive alternative to traditional line drawings for several reasons. First, the model displayed on a computer screen looks and behaves more like a real molecule than a drawing does. The computer model can be viewed from different angles, and different display formats can be used to show atomic positions, atomic volumes, and other features of interest. Second, the computer can produce a good model even when the student does not know how to make an accurate drawing. Thus, the student, working with a computer, can explore new areas of chemistry ... 

This section began with a class discussion about the importance of water softening and the different factors that influence water hardness. As an example of everyday situation, the efficiency of dishwasher Finish salt was presented. A set of short chemical experiments entitled Testing the dishwasher Finish salt was carried out as a wet laboratory task in groups of students (macro). Later on teachers explained one of those chemical experiments by the use of an animation and also by its 2D presentation with models then students in groups tried to write 2D representations for other chemical experiments (submicro). Students also tried to write down word and symbolic equations and to select the appropriate energy diagrams (symbolic). The results of students work were discussed and corrected when necessary. 

The new workplace was a suite of rooms in the Medical Center. About 15 researchers and students worked and studied in a total area of no more than 1800 square feet, apportioned among five or six rooms. Dr. Pribram had a small office and the only secretary. A larger room was reserved for a small PDP-8 computer and accompanying files and furniture. There were three other doors behind which laboratory space ranged in size from very small to moderately spacious. As a new post-doc student, dressed in slacks and sweater, I felt like a visitor, rather than a staff member. 

A Cohort III interviewee asserts There is no doubt in my mind that I would be a scientist (highest position on the R D side), if I was not black. Another Cohort III interviewee had this to say Some (white) students told me that they were thwarted somewhat in choosing to work with me because of pressures from the chairman. Then you get a reputation because students tell other students and you don t get grad students. ... 

Advances in Gas Phase Ion Chemistry is different from other ion chemistry series in that it focuses on reviews of the author s own work rather than give a generai review of the research area. This allows for presentation of some current work in a timely fashion which marks the unique nature of this series. Emphasis is placed on gas phase ion chemistry in its broadest sense to include ion neutral, ion electron, and ion-ion reactions. These reaction processes span the various disciplines of chemistry and include some of those in physics. Within this scope, both experimental and theoretical contributions are included which deal with a wide variety of areas ranging from fundamental interactions to applications in real media such as Interstellar gas clouds and pleismas used in the etching of semiconductors. The authors are scientists who are leaders in their fields and the series will therefore provide an up-to-date analysis of topics of current importance. This series is suitable for researchers and graduate students working in ion chemistry and related fields and will be an invaluable reference for years to come. The contributions to the series embody the wealth of molecular information that can be obtained by studying chemical reactions between ions, electrons and neutrals in the gas phase. 

For helping me to learn about the interaction of light with small particles I sincerely thank the other students and co-workers who have been my colleagues over the years James L. Stapp, Terry Steyer, Roger Perry, Janice Rathmann, Otto Edoh, Lin Oliver, Wolfgang Kratschmer, and Kenrick Day. Special thanks are due to Arlon Hunt for the work we shared in the days when everything about small particles was new to us, exciting, and occasionally explosive. 

What does it miss Students working through this example will not understand the limitations of analyses based on simple reaction motifs. Nor will they see how these concepts can be applied to fields outside of physical chemistry. Many will not be able to develop or interpret other types of graphical analyses based on the equations. And finally, the problem itself is of little or no interest to them. 

The author gratefully acknowledges Grant GP 9457 from the National Science Foundation. He is indebted to Frederick Rice, Kazimir Linek, and Harriet Frush for helpful discussions and suggestions. Thanks are also given to Karl E. Hepner, Jr., and other students at American University for assistance in the experimental work. 

My main advice to the student undertaking a chemical engineering design project is don t work in a vacuum . By this I mean obtain information and help from as many sources as you can find. Do not assume that you alone can, or should, complete this project unaided. Talk to the project supervisor, other lecturers in your department, lecturers in other departments and at other universities and colleges, other students, technicians, librarians, professional engineers, research students, officers of the professional institutions, etc. Some of these people may not be able to help, or may not want to however, it is usually possible to find some helpful and sympathetic persons who can offer... 

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