Newton's alchemy notes

A manuscript detailing Newton's dabblings in alchemy, written entirely in his own hand, has resurfaced. This article describes the manuscript's history and a brief account of its contents. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Calendar updated for 2nd Tri.

The calendar page of the Adv. Chem. website has been updated to include the homework due dates and test dates for second trimester. Most pressing are the first homework set for thermo which is due 12/19 and 12/20 and the first three sections of the study guide project which is due 12/15 and 12/16. I realize there is a lot to do in the next couple of weeks with homework and the project, but the timing cannot be avoided. The intention of the project is for you to review the material before we discuss it in class. On the bright side, you will be able to enjoy the holiday break without worrying about chem and the work load drops significantly during the second half of the second trimester.

Solutions Test Dates

After discussing the options for moving the solutions test with all the sections, a significant majority of students favor the following:

Monday/Thursday sections will test on Thursday, December 1st.
Tuesday/Friday sections will test on Tuesday, November 29th.

The restest will be on Monday, December 5th.

Extra Point Chance

I discussed the details of this option with the Monday/Thursday sections. I'll mention the highlights here. If your group would like to finish the blog project by Wednesday at 9:00 am, I will give the group 3 bonus points on the project. Finishing the project early helps me grade them before the long weekend starts. If your group would like to take advantage of this chance, you must finish the project and send me an email before 9:00 on Wednesday. Please be sure only one group member sends me the message that your group has finished early. You are under no obligation to finish early and will not be penalized in any way if you decide to adhere to the original deadline of Friday at noon.

Blog Project

Since we are at the half-way point on the blog project, I am leaving interim grades as comments this week. The total points available so far is 45: 10 for submission of the front page, 5 points for the creation of the sidebar with 5 links and three weeks of entries at 10 points each. The overwhelming majority of blogs earned 10 out 10 for the front page and 5 out 5 for the creation of the sidebar. My comments this week will likely be limited to just a ratio showing some number out of 45. If you would like to discuss these interim grades, please stop by my office.

Comments on blog project

Overall, so far so good. Just a few things to mention. First, please set up your blog to permit comments so I can give you instant feedback on the project to help keep you on target. Comments from me are listed as coming from "TC". Second, remember that this is a formal writing assignment, so limit the 1st person references and the use of contractions. Finally, I suggest you type your posts with Word and then spellcheck and grammar check the language to improve the quality of the posts. Some postings are somewhat verbose and contain distracting typos and spelling errors.

Cancer and diet

A recent NY Times article discusses the possible connection between a diet rich in fruits and veggies and the reduction in cancer. It seems that the jury is still very much out. In fact, one NIH official is quoted as saying the following:

Over time, the messages on diet and cancer have been ratcheted up
until they are almost co-equal with the smoking messages. I think a lot of the public is completely unaware that the strength of
the message is not matched by the strength of the evidence.

Changes to Calendar

Due to my absences and the Jewish holidays in early October, the test on Liquids and Solids has been moved back by one week. The new test dates are Monday 10/17 and Tuesday 10/18. The due date for the second homework set for this unit has also changed. It is now due on Monday 10/10 and Tuesday 10/11.