Don't ask me why, because I don't know why, but I was up before dawn and writing study notes on hybridization. Something must be wrong with me.
I don't even like hybridization, but there I was at 5:50 tap tap tapping away at my keyboard.
I can't even use them as is when/if I become a teacher, because I think they might be a touch too irreverent, especially when I say that hybridization is complete bull-hooey.
Back in Alberta, I must have explained the concept a bazillion times to students who didn't get it the first time through in class. With all that practice, I discovered a trick for helping them identify hybridization in molecules. I am sure someone has thought of the trick before, but regardless it seems to work.
Since some of you are chemistry teachers and TA's I thought you might a) laugh and b) find a useful tidbit or two.
Hybridization
I hope at least one of you will enjoy it.
12 years ago
4 comments:
Love it - wish I had this when I was struggling my butt through "General Organic Chemistry I & II" (I'm a bio kid at heart, NOT a chem kid... I get genomics, but it took me ages to wrap my brain around orgo).
I'm depressed. I should care and feel passionate about this but the truth is I don't. Not anymore. Don't get me wrong. Your study note is freaking fantastic! The problem is me, who sees many of my chemist friends either losing their job or still looking for a job. After all these years of hard work and sacrifice, it's disheartening to find out a bus-driver may be earning more than us... Is our field of study too narrow in this buzzing "multidisciplinary" age? I'll always like doing the dirty work in a lab mixing chemicals and splashing water onto sodium chunks but I no longer feel the desire of following the literature. There are so many other things to learn, so many other perspectives to contemplate but never enough time. Oh well, better start my column...
Siu, Don't feel bad. Everyone goes through periods of disillusionment. Heck, I am in one of those right now. Why do you think I am procrastinating by writing study notes?
Maybe it isn't you at all. Maybe organic chem is not very engaging right now in general. James is a lot less dedicated to the literature these days too.
Frankly, I don't "follow the literature" very well either. If there is some topic I need to know or one that tickles my fancy, I will spend the day reading on it. But I couldn't care less if the papers are from last week or the 1970s.
Plus there is more to life than chemistry. And these bigger perspectives you talk of are more important.
Polly,
To tell you the truth, I hated orgo too. Also the reason I didn't go into biology. Too much memorization. All those reagents.
And all those little arrows still give me nightmares.
Janet
Post a Comment