Assignments

This is where each week's assignments in Advanced Chemistry are posted.

Week 24: Tuesday, February 18th – Friday, February 21st

Good morning! I hope you've been enjoying the winter wonderland during this three day weekend. This week for Black History Month, I'd like to tell you about St. Elmo Brady (1884-1966), the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry. Dr. Brady was born in Louisville, Kentucky and graduated from Louisville Colored High School in 1903. He then attended Fisk University, an all-black college in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was encouraged to study chemistry and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1908. He briefly taught at Tuskegee University before taking a scholarship offer to study at the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign, where he earned his M.S. in chemistry in 1914 and completed his Ph.D. after only two years, giving an oral defense of his 228-page dissertation, titled “The Scale of Influence of Substituents in Paraffine Monobasic Acids. The Divalent Oxygen Atom,”. In 1917, Dr. Brady married Myrtle Marie Travers, who taught English at Tuskegee, and they had two sons, St. Elmo Brady Jr. and Robert Brady. In 1920, he accepted an offer to chair the chemistry department at Howard University, an HBCU (Historically Black College/University) founded in 1867, where he initiated the first graduate program in chemistry at an HBCU. He returned to Fisk in 1927, where he taught general and organic chemistry to hundreds of students, assembled an outstanding chemistry faculty, developed an undergraduate curriculum, and coordinated construction of the first modern chemistry building at an HBCU. After retiring from Fisk, Brady spent 14 years collaborating with educators at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, to help build their chemistry department.

Here's the plan to wrap up thermochemistry this week:

Mon. 2/17

Tue. 2/18

Wed. 2/19

Thu. 2/20

Fri. 2/21

Make sure you use the ChemQuiz.net practice quizzes that I posted on Google Classroom, because your quiz on Thursday will have very similar problems. We'll take the make-up quiz next week on Monday, and then you'll work on a gas laws simulation at home on Tuesday while the freshmen take the PreACT and the juniors take the ACT. I hope you have a great week – stay warm!

Week 23: Monday, February 10th – Friday, February 14th

Hello again! I hope you've enjoyed your surprise 4-day weekend and stayed warm during the ice storms. This week for Black History Month, I'd like to tell you about Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to fly in space. Dr. Jemison was born in Alabama in 1956 to a maintenance supervisor and an elementary school teacher. She entered Stanford University at the age of 16 and graduated with degrees in chemical engineering as well as African and African-American studies, and she later earned her medical degree from Cornell University. Because she was inspired by watching Star Trek as a child, she applied to NASA to become an astronaut, and in 1992, she served on an eight-day Space Shuttle mission that conducted microgravity investigations on bone cell research while orbiting Earth 127 times. In 1993, she became the first astronaut to appear in an episode of Star Trek. Dr. Jemison is a member of Fortune 500 companies’ boards, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and she also leads the "100 Year Starship" project, a global initiative to ensure the capabilities of interstellar travel by 2112 while transforming life on Earth. Very impressive!

Here's the plan for another abbreviated week of thermochemistry:

Mon. 2/10

Tue. 2/11

Wed. 2/12

Thu. 2/13

Fri. 2/14

Next week, we'll take our second thermochemistry quiz on enthalpy and Hess's Law, so make sure you don't forget everything during your time off. Have a great week, and enjoy your 4-day weekend!

Week 22: Monday, February 3rd – Friday, February 7th

Happy Black History Month! Before I list this week's activities, I'd like to tell you about Dr. Percy Lavon Julian (1899-1975), who was a Black chemist whose work laid the foundation for human hormone production. Julian, born in Montgomery, Alabama, was the son of a railway clerk and the grandson of enslaved people. At the age of 17, because of his academic abilities but due to the lack of a high school for Black students in Montgomery, he was accepted as a "sub-freshman" at DePauw University, taking classes at a nearby high school in addition to the regular college courses he took. He was elected to the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society and graduated with a B.A. degree in Chemistry in 1920 as valedictorian of his class, and went on to earn his M.A. degree from Harvard in 1923 and Ph.D. from the University of Vienna in 1931. In 1935, he completed the research that would result in the total synthesis of physostigmine, which led to the process that made it readily available for the treatment of glaucoma. This work established Julian’s reputation as a world-renowned chemist at the age of 36. Despite Julian's achievements, the Board of Trustees did not allow him to be appointed to the teaching staff at DePauw, so he went into industry, producing numerous patents and successful products, including a fire-retardant foam that was widely used in World War II to extinguish gasoline fires. His biomedical research made it possible to produce large quantities of synthetic progesterone and hydrocortisone at low cost. During his life, Dr. Julian was also widely recognized as a steadfast advocate for human rights, and in 1973, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the greatest honors a scientist can achieve.

Here's the plan for this week as we dive deeper into thermochemistry:

Mon. 2/3

Tue. 2/4

Wed. 2/5

Thu. 2/6

Fri. 2/7

With two labs this week and some challenging topics, I'm hoping we have minimal interruptions. If you're out of class for any reason, please do your best to keep up with what you miss so that you don't fall behind. This will be our last full week of school for a while, because for the next three weeks we'll only have four school days each week due to teacher in-service, a holiday and the ACT. I hope you have a great week, and as always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Week 21: Monday, January 27th – Friday, January 31st

Hello again, and welcome to the last week of January! As it warms up outside, we're going to start learning about the role that thermal energy plays in chemistry as we begin Unit 11: Thermochemistry. Here's the plan:

Mon. 1/27

Tue. 1/28

Wed. 1/29*

Thu. 1/30

Fri. 1/31

* Some of you in 3rd period will be out on Wednesday for the CTE site visits, so make sure you complete the calorimetry worksheet and use the practice quiz on Google Classroom. That way, you'll be prepared for Friday's quiz.

Kent State's Chemistry & Biochemistry Department is hosting Explore Kent Chemistry Day on Saturday, February 8th from 9:30am–2:00pm. While there will be some similarity to the field trip we took earlier this month, there will also be an opportunity to hear from representatives at NEOMED (for those of you interested in possibly going to medical school), and there will be opportunities to talk directly with professors about their research in case you're interested in doing lab work through College Credit Plus. Also, free lunch! Sign up for free here, and let me know if you have any questions.

As always, I hope you have a great week!

Week 20: Tuesday, January 21st – Friday, January 24th

Wow, a five-day weekend! I hope you're all resting and staying warm. For this short week, we'll finish up Unit 10: States of Matter with a lab and a quiz:

Mon. 1/20

Tue. 1/21

Wed. 1/22

Thu. 1/23

Fri. 1/24

I've created two practice quizzes for you on ChemQuiz.net to help jog your memory and prepare you for Friday's quiz. I also linked to them from Google Classroom to make them easier to find.

Don't forget to attend the College Credit Plus meeting this Thursday at 7pm in the RHS Auditorium if you have any interest in doing lab research at Kent State this summer or next school year.

Make sure you get enough sleep tonight so that you're ready to go back tomorrow, and enjoy your short week of school!

Week 19: Monday, January 13th – Friday, January 17th

Hello again! I hope you had fun on last week's field trip and saw lots of interesting things at the KSU Chemistry & Biochemistry Department. I have another chemistry opportunity to share with you below the schedule. This week, we're going to move very quickly through an easy but fundamental topic – states of matter! Here's the plan:

Mon. 1/13

Tue. 1/14

Wed. 1/15

Thu. 1/16

Fri. 1/17

The Chemistry Olympiad is an annual competition to find the best Chemistry students in the United States. The first round takes place locally in March, but you have to register for it by this Friday. We've had several Roosevelt Chemistry students move on to the National competition in the past, so if you're interested in trying, register for the exam and then look at these past exams to get an idea of what's on them. When I participated in the Chemistry Olympiad in high school, I didn't qualify for Nationals, but I got the highest score at my school, so it was a real confidence boost for me that helped convince me that I could study science in college. If you're interested in giving it a shot, I can help get you ready!

Let me know if you have any questions, and have a great week!

Week 18: Monday, January 6th – Friday, January 10th, 2025

Happy New Year! 🥳 I hope you all had an enjoyable Winter Break and are fully rested and recharged to finish up this school year strong. We're going to start out this week with some review and also filling in some gaps from topics we didn't have time to cover 1st Semester, and then we're (hopefully!) going to go on a field trip to KSU's Chemistry Department on Thursday. Here's the schedule for the first week of 2025:

Mon. 1/6

Tue. 1/7

Wed. 1/8

Thu. 1/9

Fri. 1/10

* I'm waiting for a final confirmation of our field trip from Kent State, so if our plans change in any way, I will let you know!

I hope you have an awesome first week back! As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Week 17: Monday, December 16th – Friday, December 20th

Welcome to exam week! The plan is pretty straightforward – study for the 1st Semester Exam so you can earn the best grade possible and enjoy your Winter Break. Here's the schedule for this week:

Mon. 12/16

Tue. 12/17

Wed. 12/18

Thu. 12/19

Fri. 12/20

I'll also send out the exam schedule flyer on Remind and on Google Classroom as a picture so you can save it to your phone. You have plenty of prep material: I gave you a paper copy of the 1st Semester Practice Exam in class and posted the key on Google Classroom; I put together a Google Doc with links to 39 different practice quizzes on ChemQuiz.net that will let you focus on specific topics on which you'd like to improve; and you have your past quizzes from class, which cover all the material on the exam.

Good luck on this exam and all of your other exams this week! Please let me know if you have any questions at all, and I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing Winter Break. See you next year!

Week 16: Monday, December 9th – Friday, December 13th

We've finally made it to the end of 1st Semester! The plan is to learn how to do stoichiometric calculations so that we can go on Winter Break with everything nicely wrapped up. Here's what we're doing for our last full week of class before Semester Exams:

Mon. 12/9

Tue. 12/10

Wed. 12/11

Thu. 12/12

Fri. 12/13

I think a good number of you are going to be impressed by how much you've learned in the past few weeks and how useful stoichiometry can be, especially when we do the lab on Wednesday. It's a skill that you'll use throughout chemistry at every level, including next semester of our class, AP Chemistry, and college Chem. Have a wonderful week!

Week 15: Monday, December 2nd – Friday, December 6th

Welcome back! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving Break and were able to get some rest so you're fully recharged and ready to go for this final sprint to the end of the semester. Here's the plan for the first week of December ☃️:

Mon. 12/2

Tue. 12/3

Wed. 12/4

Thu. 12/5

Fri. 12/6

There are only 12 school days left to get through stoichiometry next week, and I want to take at least one day two weeks from now to go over everything that will be on your 1st Semester Exam, which will look a lot like your quizzes. Imagine taking all your quizzes so far, stapling them together, and maybe cutting the number of questions by 25%, and that'll be your exam.

I hope you have a great week back, and please let me know if you have any questions!

Week 14: Monday, November 18th – Friday, November 22nd

We've finally made it to Thanksgiving Break! 🦃 I'm really proud of you all for sticking with Advanced Chemistry for this long. For this last week before break, we're going to wrap up our short unit on chemical reactions. Here's the plan:

Mon. 11/18

Tue. 11/19

Wed. 11/20

Thu. 11/21

Fri. 11/22

This will be a nice place to pause until we return from break and tackle balancing equations, the mole and stoichiometry. As always, let me know if you have any questions. I hope you have a relaxing Thanksgiving Break, and I'll see you in December!

Week 13: Monday, November 11th – Friday, November 15th

Greetings, future chemists! For this week in Advanced Chemistry, we're going to wrap up our short unit on naming chemical compounds and then start Unit 6: Chemical Reactions, which we'll work on up to Thanksgiving Break next week. Here's the plan:

Mon. 11/11 🇺🇸

Tue. 11/12

Wed. 11/13

Thu. 11/14

Fri. 11/15

This should be a pretty straightforward week, because we'd like to get through predicting and balancing chemical reactions by the end of next week so that we have enough time to tackle stoichiometry when we come back from Thanksgiving Break. Let me know if you have any questions, and have a great week!

Week 12: Monday, November 4th – Friday, November 8th

Hello again, I hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep this morning! For this week in Advanced Chemistry, we're going to wrap up our unit on atomic models and move on to Unit 5: Ionic and Molecular Nomenclature. Here's what we're doing for the first week of November:

Mon. 11/4

Tue. 11/5 🗳️ 

Wed. 11/6

Thu. 11/7

Fri. 11/8

If you're going on the Exped day trip on Wednesday 11/6, you can take the quiz before you leave at 8:00am, or you can take it when you get back. Otherwise, you can wait to take the "B" quiz on Thursday. I hope you enjoy the early morning sunshine while it lasts, and as always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Week 11: Monday, October 28th – Friday, November 1st

Good afternoon, I hope you've enjoyed this excellent weekend! For this week in Advanced Chemistry, we're going to continue our work on understanding the atom and its properties. Here's what we're doing for the last week of October:

Mon. 10/28

Tue. 10/29

Wed. 10/30

Thu. 10/31 🎃

Fri. 11/1

Do your best to not overdose on candy, and please let me know if you have any questions. If you're going on the Exped trip and/or the Leadership Retreat, make sure you check in with me by Tuesday afternoon to get your work in advance. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Week 10: Tuesday, October 22nd – Friday, October 25th

Hello, future scientists! I hope you're enjoying this extended weekend and getting outside to enjoying the warm weather while it lasts. For this week in Advanced Chemistry, we're going to dive deep into the atom to try to uncover some of its mysteries. Here's what we're doing for this short first week of 2nd Quarter:

Mon. 10/21

Tue. 10/22

Wed. 10/23

Thu. 10/24

Fri. 10/25

I hope you find our activities about atomic models interesting, because it's probably my favorite topic in all of chemistry (physics, too). Some of it isn't going to make sense at first, but that's okay, because we'll only need to understand it well enough to be able to predict how atoms behave in chemical reactions. Have a great week, and let me know if you have any questions!

Week 9: Monday, October 14th – Friday, October 18th

Welcome to the end of 1st Quarter! It may be hard to believe, but after this week, we'll be 25% done with the school year. For this week in Advanced Chemistry, we're going to wrap up our work on the periodic table and take a quiz so that we can go into another relaxing three-day weekend. Here's what we're doing this week:

Mon. 10/14

Tue. 10/15

Wed. 10/16

Thu. 10/17

Fri. 10/18

Congratulations on making it this far! When we come back next week, we'll start exploring the different models of the atom that have been proposed over the past two and a half centuries. Please let me know if you have any questions, and have a great week!

Week 8: Monday, October 7th – Friday, October 11th

And just like that, it's October! 🍁 For this week in Advanced Chemistry, we're going to take our Unit 3 Quiz and then start our next unit on the periodic table and atomic models. Here's what we're doing for the penultimate* week of 1st Quarter:

Mon. 10/7

Tue. 10/8

Wed. 10/9

Thu. 10/10

Fri. 10/11

I hope you enjoy this short week and get some rest and relaxation over the upcoming three-day weekend! Let me know if you have any questions.

* Google it. 😁

Week 7: Monday, September 30th – Friday, October 4th

Hi there! I hope you had fun at Homecoming and were able to dry out after all the rain we got this weekend. For this week in Advanced Chemistry, we're going to continue our work on understanding matter and its properties. Here's the plan:

Mon. 9/30

Tue. 10/1

Wed. 10/2

Thu. 10/3

Fri. 10/4

Next week, we'll have our quiz on Unit 3: Properties of Matter on Monday 10/7 with the make-up on Wednesday 10/9. I hope you have an excellent week, and as always, please let me know if you have any questions!

* If you're going on the Exped trip on Tuesday and Wednesday, I've already posted this video and the worksheet in Google Classroom.

Week 6: Monday, September 23rd – Friday, September 27th

Hello, future scientists! For this week in Advanced Chemistry, we'll take our quiz on scientific measurements before moving on to our new unit on properties of matter with some fun labs that involve chemical reactions! Here's the plan for the first week of fall 🍁:

Mon. 9/23

Tue. 9/24

Wed. 9/25

Thu. 9/26

Fri. 9/27

The practice quizzes on ChemQuiz.net will help you on the quiz, so you'll definitely want to complete as many of those as possible. Have a great Homecoming week, and let me know if you have any questions!

Week 5: Monday, September 16th – Friday, September 20th

Hi, everybody! This week in Advanced Chemistry I'm hoping we can wrap up our unit on scientific measurements with some hands-on activities and a quiz that covers proper measurement techniques and estimating, scientific notation, sig figs, and percent yield and error. Here's the plan for the last week of summer:

Mon. 9/16

Tue. 9/17

Wed. 9/18

Thu. 9/19

Fri. 9/20

Make sure you're doing the practice quizzes on ChemQuiz.net that I post in Google Classroom! They're not for a grade, but they include detailed explanations for each of the questions, so they'll definitely help you learn tricky topics like sig figs that you can really only understand through practice.

I hope you have a wonderful week! As always, please let me know if you have any questions, and I'll see you in Fall. 🍂

Week 4: Monday, September 9th – Friday, September 13th

Hello again! I hope you had a good weekend and have recovered from all that rain on Friday night. Here's what we're doing in class as we move into our second unit of the course:

Mon. 9/9

Tue. 9/10

Wed. 9/11

Thu. 9/12

Fri. 9/13 

This is the beginning of math in chemistry, and we use numbers slightly different in science than the way they're used in other disciplines, so I hope you enjoy this new approach.

This week, I'm going to pass out PSAT practice exams to everyone. The PSAT takes place on Wednesday, October 9th in the morning at RHS and costs $19. It's a good way to practice for the full-length SAT, but more importantly, it's the qualifying exam for the prestigious National Merit Scholarship for juniors. Doing well on the PSAT could really pay off, and it looks good on a college application. Registration begins on September 20th on MyPaymentsPlus - I highly recommend taking it!

Let me know if you have any questions, and have a great week!

Week 3: Tuesday, September 3rd – Friday, September 6th

Hello everyone, I hope you're enjoying your three-day weekend! Here's what we're doing in class for this abbreviated week as we wrap up our first unit:

Mon. 9/2

Tue. 9/3

Wed. 9/4

Thu. 9/5

Fri. 9/6

As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Week 2: Monday, August 26th – Friday, August 30th

Welcome to the first full week of school! I hope that school has started well for you and you have any issues with your schedule worked out. Now that we've had a few days to get to know each other and set some expectations, we can get to work! Here's what we're doing in class this week:

Mon. 8/26

Tue. 8/27

Wed. 8/28

Thu. 8/29

Fri. 8/30

Please let me know you have any questions, and have a great week!

Week 1: Wednesday, August 21st – Friday, August 23rd

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year! I'm excited to have you in class, and I hope you're looking forward to a good year of learning about chemistry.

Advanced Chemistry is a challenging course that explores matter and energy as well as the changes they undergo as they interact. Students will need strong Algebra skills, an interest in scientific issues, and a willingness to work hard in order to be successful in this course. Over my career, I’ve found that Chemistry is often one of the first classes that truly measures a student's readiness for college, so some of my students have been surprised at the amount of work required. Your child should expect to be challenged by this course.

Here's what we're doing in class for the first week of school:

I hope you had a great first week and that you were able to get some rest this weekend before we attempt to go to school for five full days without strange bell schedules or burning birds. Let me know you have any questions!