December 14, 2006:  Grades are now in.  I submitted them to the university around noon today, so you should be able to access them on December 15, or by the 16th at the latest.  (I have no control over when they update that.)  Have a safe and happy break!

December 10, 2006:  Please stop e-mailing me about grades!  You have one week to do the lab write-ups, and the TA's have one week to grade them.  That means that THE TA'S ARE NOT YET FINISHED GRADING THE MAKE-UP LABS.  I will not have anyone's final grade until I get all the grades from the TA's.  I can not field 300 e-mails about grades when I don't even have them yet.  I will know grades around the end of this week, and I will submit them then.

December 2, 2006:  Final grades will be posted some time before December 21.  We don't determine final grades until all the scores are in, and there are still over 50 make-up labs that have not been turned in and graded yet.  The TA's need time to grade them and double-check all their numbers before we determine final grades.

November 21, 2006:  Since we've got a short weekend for the lab report, I have posted a Post-Lab 10 hint sheet on the Freebies page to save you some time.  I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

November 20, 2006:  END OF SEMESTER FAQ.  Got questions about make up labs, extra credit homework, or turning in your notebook or other papers?  Check the End of Semester Faq.

November 16, 2006:  THE END IS NEAR!  This is our last class.   *sniff*  The lecture slides for Experiment 10 are online.  Don't forget about the extra credit!

November 14, 2006:  Extra Credit! Your faithful TA's have convinced me to offer some extra credit.  Here it is, guys, now get off my back already!

You can earn up to an additional 5 points on the quiz of your choice.  Pick one of your old quizzes and answer all the questions correctly.  (You might want to do the problems on a separate sheet of paper and attach it to the original.)  If you get a 20 out of 20 on the regrade, I will raise your grade on that quiz by up to 5 points.  (So if you got a 12 originally and you get a 20 on the regrade, I will raise your 12 to a 17.  Quizzes where you had 16 points or more to begin with will max out at 20.)  But you MUST get 20 out of 20 on the regrade to get any extra credit points. There is no partial extra credit for partially correct revised quizzes.  Watch your significant digits and units!  (Do not revise your lowest quiz because then you will end up dropping a higher score.)

Revised quizzes are due by the start of your regularly scheduled lab make-up period (November 27 or 28 at 9:am or 2:pm.)  Turn them in to your TA, to Dr. Anderson, or to Ethan in the stockroom. You have almost two weeks to complete this, so NO LATE QUIZ REGRADES WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR ANY REASON.  (That's in boldface, italics, and all caps, so don't even bother asking.)

You can use books and notes to help you, but your TA will not help you and Dr. Anderson will not answer questions.

Good luck!

November 10, 2006:  This week's lecture notes are now online on the Lectures page.  I have also posted Dr. Leytner's cheat sheet for this experiment on the Freebies page.  The cheat sheet will help you with the calculations for parts 3 and 4 of the Acid-Base Equilibria lab.

FAIR WARNING:  Enter all your data for Experiment 9 directly into your lab notebook.  I will come around the labs checking to see that data is being recorded in the notebooks.  If I see any loose pages of data, I will confiscate them and you will have to redo that work!

November 6, 2006:  I have posted a help sheet on the Freebies page that will help get you started on Post-Lab 8.  Start the Post-Lab post-haste!  Don't wait until all the TA office hours have passed and then start sending e-mails over the weekend.

November 4, 2006:  Experiment 8!  The beginning of the end.  You'll do this lab in pairs -- make sure you get the data from your lab partner before you let them out of your sight or they will abscond with it and leave you twisting in the wind.  I've seen it happen.  It ain't pretty.  The lecture notes are online.

October 30, 2006:  Dr. Leytner's cheat sheet for Experiment 7 is available on the Freebies page.

October 28, 2006:  In keeping with the spirit of Halloween this week, we will turn our green crystals into an orange solution.  Is this some kind of trick, some form of evil Halloween magic?  No, it's chemistry!  But don't drink this liquid treat or you will shamble around the hallways of Welch like some undead thing that was dragged unwillingly from its grave (kinda like the students in the 8:am classes).  Lecture 7 is now online.

October 27, 2006:  Here's a short list of scientific careers that CH 204 will help prepare you for.

October 20, 2006: Lecture 6 is now online.   And a reminder -- I'll be away from my computer most of this weekend and next, so there may be a long delay in responding to any e-mails.

October 17, 2006: Fair warning:  my weekends are booked solid for the rest of October, which means I'll be away from my computer and won't be as responsive to e-mails on the weekend.  If you wait until the weekend to start the lab write-up, I might not be of any help until late Sunday or early Monday.

October 15, 2006:  TWO additions to the web page today:

1)  For those wondering what their grade is in this class, I have added a grade calculator spreadsheet on the Freebies page.  All you have to do is enter the grades you have received along with the maximum points on each assignment and the spreadsheet will let you know where you stand.

2)  The lecture slides for Experiment 5 are online and ready to go.  Experiment 5 is a change of pace for us -- we'll be making a green crystalline compound in lab this week, and we won't be collecting any data to speak of.  That means the report for Experiment 5 will be made up almost entirely of the discussion questions.  Make sure you record accurate observations during the course of the experiment and report them in complete, and preferably coherent sentences.  Your observations alone will account for 15% of your report grade this week!  The Discussion questions are normally worth 1 - 2 points each, but this week the Discussion questions are worth 3 - 4 points each, so make sure you provide thoughtful, intelligent answers, not just the first thing that springs to mind.  This lab should take about two to two and a half hours to complete unless you screw up. Make sure you follow the lab directions carefully! 

October 7, 2006:  The lecture slides for Experiment 4 are available on the Lectures page.  Also, Dr. Leytner has kindly created a cheat sheet to help you with the calculations for Experiment 4.  I will hand these out in class, but the cheat sheet is also available on the Freebies page as a pdf file.

September 30, 2006:  This week's experiment is fairly short and kinda fun.  You'll be given a group of unknown chemicals and will have to figure out what they are based on how they react with one another.  The Lecture notes for Expriment 3 are now online.

September 23, 2006:  Lecture notes for Experiment 2 are now available. This week's lab is one of the longer ones, so be prepared for three hours or more in the lab.  There will be a quiz over material related to Experiment 1 in lecture this week.  Make sure you know your section number and your TA's name!

Diez y seis de Septiembre, 2006:  Lecture notes for Experiment 1 are now online.  There are also two sample quizzes for Experiment 1 available on the Freebies page.  You will take a quiz on Experiment 1 the week after you do the experiment.  There is no quiz this week.

September 12, 2006:  If you do not have a lab manual, you can pick up photocopies of Experiment 1 at the stockroom (WEL 4.132).  They're on a shelf in the hallway next to the stockroom door.  The Co-op is reordering and should have more copies soon.   If you do not have a lab notebook, the Co-op has run out of those too, but Duplicating (Welch 2.228) still has copies.

September 9, 2006:  The Power Point slides for the first lecture are now available in pdf format.  The top link will get you a pdf file with full-size slides, and the bottom link is a pdf file with tiny slides, three to a page.

September 7, 2006:  The syllabus is now online in PDF format.   I should have the Power Point slides for the introductory lecture up before kickoff on Saturday.

September 1, 2006:  Our first class meeting will be the week of September 11.  Make sure you've got the lab manual and lab notebook, and have a combination lock for the first day.  The Co-op always runs out of CH 204 lab manuals, so get down there quick and snatch one up if you haven't already.  Quickly, I know.  Stop quibbling over my grammar and go get one.