Categories
STEM Education Poetry

Solution Focused

“This math quantifies a dilution;  
Molarity of new solution, 
M2, can be found.
Shift equation around: 
M1 times V1; over V2.  Done!” 

This Twitter poem, originally posted 4 November 2019, discusses a common equation taught in General Chemistry, taking significant advantage of chemical shorthand to fit into the limerick structure.  One focus of an introductory chemistry course involves solution stoichiometry: the arithmetic governing reactions that take place in aqueous solution (in water).   

“This math quantifies a dilution…”
Quantifying (calculating) what happens when an aqueous solution is watered-down, or diluted, involves a key equation, the terms of which will be defined subsequently: M1V1 = M2V2.

“Molarity of new solution, /
M2, can be found.”
Chemists use “molarity” as a convenient unit of concentration: how much of a solute of interest, represented in moles, will be present in one liter of a solution? 

Using the equation above, we compare the molarity and volume of a stock solution– properties of a reagent we could take off the stockroom shelf, denoted here as “solution 1”– to the molarity and volume of a new solution, denoted as “solution 2.”  Specifically, we can find the molarity of the new solution, represented correctly as M2 and in the poem as M2.  (As ever, I lament my inability to have used subscripts with the original post.)     

“Shift equation around: /
M1 times V1; over V2.  Done!”  
This is a strained set of lines: algebraic explanations are not poetic.  However, this is how I’d teach the concept in class, manipulating the variables of molarity (M) and volume (V).  

Starting with the equation of interest (M1V1 = M2V2) and rearranging to solve for M2, we end up with M2 = (M1V1)/V2.  To get there, we “shift the equation around.”  The product of the molarity and volume of the original solution is in the numerator (“M1 times V1”), while the volume of the new solution (“V2”) is now in the denominator.  That completes our calculation (“Done!”).  The double meaning of “solution” is interesting to consider here, as we find the solution to an algebraic calculation that itself involves the characteristics of an aqueous solution.       

Categories
Science Poetry

Prefix Menu

“Brief verse (perhaps a ‘nano-rhyme’?) 
To wish success and writing time 
To those who on month’s novel path go:
Best of luck in NaNoWriMo!”

This Twitter poem was written for the start of National Novel Writing Month 2019 and posted on 1 November 2019.  It highlights the presence of “nano”– a metric prefix– in the common shorthand for the month: NaNoWriMo.     

“Brief verse (perhaps a ‘nano-rhyme’?)” 
The choice of prefix and the aim of the brief verse here aligned fortuitously; hence this essay’s title.  “Nano” is a metric prefix meaning 10-9, indicating that whatever measurement cited will be on the order of one-billionth.  It may be useful to first reference what’s likely a more familiar metric prefix, “centi,” via the centimeter: by definition, 10-2 meter, or one one-hundredth of a meter.  Likewise, a nanometer is one one-billionth of a meter; a nanosecond is one one-billionth of a second.   This brief, four-line poem was a tiny one and thus “perhaps a nano-rhyme.” Moreover, the “nano-rhyme” phrase alluded to the sound of “NaNoWriMo” in its entirety, which is what had initially inspired the poem.   

“To wish success and writing time /
To those who on month’s novel path go: /
Best of luck in NaNoWriMo!”
I am consistently impressed with the efforts of those who complete NaNoWriMo, writing a draft of a novel in thirty days; returning to writing has been immensely rewarding over the past few years, but my efforts are almost entirely brief by definition: couplets, limericks, double dactyls; these accompanying essays.  The task of writing a full-length book (“month’s novel path”) seems most daunting! 

That said, I fully appreciate the value of a consistent routine, and I have found that my day-to day work benefits from finding writing time during the evenings and weekends.  That’s particularly true in the midst of this chaotic, challenging year, and so I also wish the best of luck to those who’ve started this effort here in 2020. 

Categories
STEM Education Poetry

Dimensional Analysis

“To analyze problems dimensional,
Use method routine and conventional: 
All your units bookkeep,
Lest unwanted flaw creep
Into calcs, causing steps unintentional.”

The 28 October 2019 Twitter limerick is a common exhortation in my classroom, presented here as a poetic refrain.  

“To analyze problems dimensional, /
Use method routine and conventional…” 
Dimensional analysis is a mathematical technique used in a variety of STEM classes.  Every time I teach the practice in General Chemistry, I remind students to use a tried-and-true method– “routine and conventional”– for checking their answers.  

“All your units bookkeep, /
Lest unwanted flaw creep /
Into calcs, causing steps unintentional.”
A quantity in chemistry is properly represented as both a number and the associated unit (for a simple example, “a dozen eggs” is equivalent to “12 eggs,” not simply “12”).   Chemists and other scientists use “SI units,” those defined by the International System of Units, to report length (meters, or m), mass (kilograms, or kg), and other quantities; these are part of the metric system.  Other systems of measurement exist; for instance, the USA uses what is known as its customary system, defining miles, feet, and inches, among many others.  Different units can be converted into one another through the use of conversion factors (for instance, 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters).      

Whenever students are completing chemistry-related calculations (“calcs,” for short), I repeat the importance of including units at all times, via chemical “bookkeeping.”  Units can be treated algebraically and canceled out, via the steps of dimensional analysis, to ensure that calculations progress properly toward a target quantity.  

I often see in grading homework that students tend to omit units until reporting their final answer, and I warn against this, as it can lead to wasted time (“steps unintentional”) or– more problematically– errors (“unwanted flaw[s]”).  Infamously, mismatches in units have caused some notorious moments in STEM history, as with the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999. 

Categories
Science Poetry

Reverse Engineering

“This National Chem Week draws near its brink.
This year’s celebrations passed in a blink.  
We’ve seen metals marv’lous
(And heard some rhymes ard’ous)
In heralding species from ‘Ac to Zinc.’”

The 26 October 2019 limerick commemorated the end of National Chemistry Week 2019.  

“This National Chem Week draws near its brink. /
This year’s celebrations passed in a blink.”  
It was an interesting challenge to think of several metal-themed poems for National Chemistry Week 2019.  With a few, as with this one, the rhyme scheme was retrosynthesized from the target of a specific metal’s name in the final line: working in reverse to frame the structure of the limerick around that end goal. 

As described further below, this was a poem in which the rhymes were somewhat forced and the lines required some chemical shorthand to properly fit.  The title here thus provides both a discussion of this particular writing process and an acknowledgement that this entry, along with much of this website, could be read as “re: verse engineering”: regarding the structuring of these brief poems.

“We’ve seen metals marv’lous /
(And heard some rhymes ard’ous) /
In heralding species from ‘Ac to Zinc.’”
The end of the limerick highlighted the general theme of 2019’s National Chemistry Week (“Marvelous Metals”) while acknowledging that this theme often led to language that was more awkward than elegant.  In lines three and four, “marvelous” and “arduous” relied on elision to fit into their assigned rhyme scheme.  Line five necessitated a stylistic mismatch with respect to the chemistry content, in highlighting metals as a category in their entirety: from start to finish; from stem to stern; from A to Z.  “From ‘Ac to Zinc’” was used as a metallic variation on this last phrase, using the chemical symbol for actinium and the element name of zinc, for the alphabetical start and near-finish of the metals on the periodic table.  (Zinc is more rhyme-friendly than the metal in the final alphabetical position, zirconium!)

Categories
Science Poetry

Roots of the Matter

“A prevalent metal is sodium;
Its tabled place: row three and column one.
The symbol seems mismatched;
From Latin, it’s dispatched:   
An abbreviation of natrium.”  

The 25 October 2019 limerick was the second of two to focus on a particular example of the “Marvelous Metals” generally celebrated in National Chemistry Week 2019.  This poem discussed sodium, specifically, examining its placement on the periodic table and the etymology of its name.     

“A prevalent metal is sodium; /
Its tabled place: row three and column one.”
Sodium is found in many settings on Earth.  On the Periodic Table of the Elements, sodium resides in the first column of the third row, classifying it as an alkali metal. 

In teaching, I have never looked up where the word alkali came from; given the etymological focus of the poem, this seems a fitting chance.  This word is derived from Arabic originally, meaning “from ashes of the ‘qaly,’ or saltwort.” Saltwort refers to any of several plants that live near saltwater; aqueous solutions of these plants’ ashes are basic. The alkali metals, likewise, react with water to form basic solutions.

“The symbol seems mismatched; /
From Latin, it’s dispatched: / 
An abbreviation of natrium.”
As seen in “Clashing Symbols,” some chemical elements’ symbols seem misaligned with their elements’ names.  Sodium’s name is derived from the Latin word natrium, which in turn refers to the Ancient Egyptian word natron, which historically referred to a salt mixture found in Egypt.  Sodium is found in many salts (ionic compounds), including sodium chloride (NaCl; table salt).   

Today, interestingly, natron is defined as a mixture of multiple compounds, each of which includes sodium.  While this likely is not dramatic enough of a change to qualify as an example of word drift (and, certainly, such a discussion quickly moves beyond my expertise!), the shift points to another challenge of learning chemistry: sifting out when detailed nuances are important to clarify and when they can be disregarded.  The dense rules of chemical nomenclature must be understood to learn General Chemistry; however, the etymologies and roots of the element names used in nomenclature rarely are explored. 

Categories
STEM Education Poetry

Unmitigated Gallium

“This metal in hot tea will fast succumb,
Its melting point readily overcome.
So spoon disappearing
Is chem feat endearing–
A keen fact reported re: gallium.”

This was one of two limericks written for National Chemistry Week 2019 that focused on specific metals; this one was posted on 24 October 2019.  This particular poem referenced gallium via Sam Kean’s entertaining 2011 book about the history of the Periodic Table of the Elements: The Disappearing Spoon.     

“This metal in hot tea will fast succumb, /
Its melting point readily overcome.”
In The Disappearing Spoon, science writer Sam Kean describes a practical joke common to chemists.  A spoon can be fashioned out of pure gallium (“unmitigated” gallium, justifying the pun used in the title!) and served alongside a cup of piping-hot tea.  Gallium’s melting point, at around 86 degrees Fahrenheit (or around 30 degrees Celsius), is “readily overcome” by the tea, and so the spoon quickly melts in this setting. 

“So spoon disappearing /
Is chem feat endearing– /
A keen fact reported re: gallium.”
This phenomenon is well known enough as a popular parlor trick that it became the central image of Kean’s book; it is a “chem feat endearing.”  The structure of this particular poem, in which the riddle of the element is not revealed until the final few syllables, was particularly fun to write, reminding me of the weekly limerick challenges on NPR’s “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me.”  

A common theme in these essays is the challenge inherent in teaching General Chemistry of balancing the fascinating narratives and biographies of science with the content required in a general STEM course.  I thus often find myself alluding to or describing Kean’s book when I introduce the Periodic Table of the Elements, to better acknowledge these many underlying “Science 2” stories. 

Categories
STEM Education Poetry

Calculated Efforts

“With Avogadro’s number–
And a molar mass to boot–
We can practice stoichiometry
And many calcs compute!    
(If using six times ten
Raised to the power twenty-third,
Be sure to check your answers
So their scale is not absurd!)”

The Twitter poem posted on 23 October 2019 can be viewed as a STEM education-themed poem; it is written in a “teacher’s voice” and examines a chemistry-specific metacognitive technique.    

“With Avogadro’s number– /
And a molar mass to boot– /
We can practice stoichiometry /
And many calcs compute!”
The first four lines specifically were posted on Twitter during National Chemistry Week 2019.  “Avogadro’s number” is named in honor of Amedeo Avogadro, who has been cited in this space before regarding his gas law, which related the amount of a gas to its volume.  The SI unit for amount is the mole.  Chemists use Avogadro’s number to convert between moles of a substance and the number of atoms or molecules of that substance.  A useful and common analogy is the concept of a dozen.  Saying someone has a dozen eggs is equivalent to saying someone has twelve eggs.  Saying someone has one mole of eggs is equivalent to saying someone has 6.022 x 1023 eggs.  Given its magnitude, Avogadro’s number is useful in converting between the particulate scale and the macroscopic scale. 

The concept of molar mass relates moles to the more familiar unit of grams.  The number underneath an element’s chemical symbol on the periodic table is its molar mass: the number of  grams in one mole of the element.  For example, measuring out 12.01 grams of carbon is equivalent to measuring out one mole of carbon, which is equivalent to measuring out 6.022 x 1023 atoms of carbon. Mastering these concepts opens the door to a wide array of interesting calculations, collectively termed stoichiometry.        

“(If using six times ten /
Raised to the power twenty-third, /
Be sure to check your answers /
So their scale is not absurd!)”
I refrained from posting these final four lines on Twitter last fall since, without additional context, the second set of rhymes could sound critical.  As alluded to above, though, this is a common refrain in my classroom, whenever Avogadro’s number (“six times ten raised to the power twenty-third,” poetically) is involved.  I remind students that as they are converting between grams, moles, and numbers of atoms, the scales of the numbers will be very different.  (For instance, a 10.00 gram sample of carbon is equivalent to 0.8326 moles of carbon, a quantity which is equivalent to 5.014 x 1023 atoms of carbon.)  A student can always use common sense and these very different scales to double-check that they’ve not reported an incorrect answer where the scale is accidentally “absurd”: they can think about their thinking, via a chemistry-specific metacognitive technique.   

Categories
Science Poetry

Textbook Definitions

“The metals are elements wondrous:
At room temp, most, solids; dense; lustrous;
Also ductile, conductive.
But this form’s reductive;
In textbooks: more info, illustrious.”

The 22 October 2019 limerick was part of the National Chemistry Week 2019 sequence, focusing on another aspect of “Marvelous Metals.”  

“The metals are elements wondrous: /
At room temp, most, solids; dense; lustrous; /
Also ductile, conductive…”
Chemistry textbooks compile much technical information in a relatively small space; this limerick takes this a step further, cataloging several traditional definitions and properties of metals via the syllabic constraints of a limerick.  

Metals exist in the solid phase at room temperature, with the notable exception of mercury.  Metals’ densities are high: even a small volume of a given metal has a significant mass (and these densities are characteristic to specific metals, as commemorated in Archimedes’s famous realization).  Metals are lustrous, reflecting light and appearing shiny.  They are ductile and can be turned into wires; they can conduct heat and electricity.  [As a sidenote, textbooks generally mention ductility (a metal’s ability to be made into a wire) and malleability (a metal’s ability to be flattened into a sheet) in the same sentence, but I couldn’t fit the latter property into this space.]          

“But this form’s reductive; /
In textbooks: more info, illustrious.”
The last two lines are a bit contradictory: they acknowledge the limits of the limerick and point an interested reader towards the more expansive information discussed in textbooks… even as the inspiration for the limerick arose from the brevity with which these books address metals’ many interesting properties, in introducing the periodic table.  

Usually, however, a textbook will include more extensive discussions of descriptive chemistry as well; these chapters expand on the general discussion of metals provided in the early overview, examining particular groups’ chemical and physical properties.  Likewise, some of the other limericks written for this week will address specific metals in more detail.       

Categories
STEM Education Poetry

Midterm Assessment

Though I strive for increasing simplicities,
Class preps melt into muddled cyclicities.  
Here in Fall 2020,
There’s effort a-plenty
In balancing Chem’s synchronicities. 

This non-Twitter poem is not so much intended to elucidate any aspect of STEM education as to acknowledge this challenging autumn for faculty and students alike, here in the middle of the fall semester.   

“Though I strive for increasing simplicities, /
Class preps melt into muddled cyclicities.”
I’ve spoken with a few of my colleagues about how much the 2020-21 academic year reminds us of our respective first years on the tenure track.  It is a major shift to go from the research focus of postdoctoral work into full-time “class prep”: generating sets of notes with which to stay at least a day (or at least a few hours!) ahead of the class sessions that require those resources.  Since real-time teaching itself– organizing lectures, grading assessments, etc.– easily constitutes the substance of a normal work week, any term a professor has a completely new course is notable for the additional work it involves.  

The poem’s first two lines acknowledge that, although I attempted over the summer to prepare, it wasn’t fully possible.  Thus, recently, time has seemed to “melt into muddled cyclicit[y],” as it did a decade ago, when I began my teaching work; it’s easy to lose track of the days, moving through this befuddling term!  

“Here in Fall 2020, /
There’s effort a-plenty /
In balancing Chem’s synchronicities.”          
Teaching is very rewarding, but it’s also considerably time-consuming this autumn, mainly because I’ve been learning best practices pertaining to remote classrooms.  “Balancing Chem’s synchronicities” is a shorthand for those daily routines: preparing coherent lecture outlines and videos to be available asynchronously; maintaining synchronous classroom sessions, so that students and I can discuss questions on useful timescales. (I’ve been most fortunate to work with wonderful classes and colleagues; as I predicted in Week 1, the “effort a-plenty” is a shared endeavor throughout the department and across campus.)    

Categories
Science Poetry

Clashing Symbols

“The marvelous metals are able
To make up quite a lot of the table
That we term periodic:
Collection symbolic 
Wherein lies each element’s label.”  

The 21 October 2019 limerick was written as part of National Chemistry Week 2019. It provides an overview of the periodic table of the elements (PTE), the relative populations of metallic and non-metallic elements on the PTE, and the use of chemical symbols on the PTE.   

“The marvelous metals are able /
To make up quite a lot of the table /
That we term periodic…”
A wide number of chemical properties and principles can be gleaned from an understanding of the periodic table of the elements (PTE).  For instance, metallic character versus non-metallic character can be assessed: the left side of the PTE includes metals, and the right side of the PTE includes non-metals.  Roughly 80% of the elements are metals; they thus “make up quite a lot of the [periodic] table.”  The dividing line between metals and non-metals is often referred to as a “staircase,” given its appearance; the semimetal or metalloid elements are collected in this range of the PTE.  

“Collection symbolic /
Wherein lies each element’s label.”
The periodic table uses chemical symbols as a convenient shorthand for the element names; the label for each element is a one-letter or two-letter symbol. 

Sometimes, these labels are predictable given the name of the element, as with cobalt (Co), for which the symbol is intuitive.  Other times, the labels reflect a name expressed in a different language, as with iron (Fe) and potassium (K); both of these take their abbreviations from the Latin words for the elements (ferrum and kalium, respectively).  The title of this piece alludes to the idea that these instances can seem frustrating and dissonant, as one is learning chemistry; the idea of “metallic symbols” here provides an intriguing play on words with “metallic cymbals.”

As with an introductory approach to any subject, some degree of memorization is inherent and important in learning to use the periodic table efficiently as a disciplinary tool.