During the two recent Mastery Workshops on Organic Chemistry & Mole Calculations, i realized that many students are finding the chapters on Acids, Bases & Salts difficult. Many have said that the content is pretty heavy for this particular chapter, and they can’t seems to be able to answer the application-type questions in exams.

There are several others that don’t even understand where acids & bases are seen in our everyday lives.
Let us start the discussion by observing where they are found in our enviroment.

This afternoon i was at the cinema to catch the Dark Knight (after being recommended to me by my students).

I must say that this is the best action superhero film I have seen this year. Not only it has lots of exciting battle scenes, special mention must be given to the late Heath Ledger, whose acting role in the movie as the psychopath Joker, which I feel, has far surpassed batman. Not only has he showed us how a psychopath acts, every area of how a psychopath thinks and feels, he has carried it out very well. Hmm. This is not a website to review movies, so i would just say that this is one of the greatest movie this year, and it combines good cinematography, writings, plots, actions, sound effects and excellent actings. The movie shows love, humanity, good over evil & power of psychology.

(PVC Water Pipes in housing estates)

Many of you have heard or learned about Polymer in school. In layman’s term, it is known to many as “Plastics“, just like what my mother would call these group of substances.

Polymers are an important class of covalent molecular compounds in which the molecules are very big (macromolecules) and are made up of a large number of small repeating units or molecules linked together.

There may be several thousand repeating units in a polymer molecule. These small units from which polymers are made are called Monomers.

Waiting to see more videos and/or examples where Chemistry Theories are related to Everyday lifes?

Okie..as i promised many of you, i will add Video Learning a new dimesions to my Chemistry Coaching for students.

Let’s continue where we left off last time, on Metals & Reactivity Series..

This time we shall Investigate on the topic of RUSTING (I,e, CORROSION)…and i shall use my folk’s house to show u everyday life examples of it…

Popularity: 30%

Want to learn about Metals & Reactivity Series in an interactive way? that is different from the Powerpoint slides used in schools?

I will be coming out with a series of videos to show you how Chemistry Theories are linked to everyday life.
We believe by using such ASSOCIATION Method, it will accelerate your learning process.
Our aim is to ensure that you learn Chemistry effectively and efficiently, and the theories will stay with you for life (if not, for very very long in a natural way).

In the video below, you will see me checking out my neighbourhood to find examples of Corrosion of some metals.

In schools, you have learnt about the 3 States of Matter - Solid, Liquid & Gas. You have also learnt about the physical processes that changes one state to another. e.g. Melting, Evaporation, Boiling, Condensation, Freezing, etc..

Sublimation is a very special physical process which changes the solid state directly into the gaseous state without going through Melting process (i.e. without going through the liquid state).

In this video, we share with you one of the everyday life examples that such Chemistry Phenomenons are observed.

Hoho.. Don’t get me wrong!!! For students that have been under my wings before, you know that i am not a person that likes to be mixed Religions and Races together with Chemistry (or Sciences). And i would not like to argue like Charles Darwin on his Evolution Theory Vs. “God”.

I was reading a book borrowed from the national library titled “God Explained In a Taxi Ride” written by best-selling author Paul Arden, came across an interesting page related to Chemistry that would like to share with my readers and students.  In his book, he mentioned Gods of different religions such as Christianity, Catholic, Buddhism, Islam, Hindu, etc and even Scientology..

I came across this billboards at one of the bus stop in Clementi, Singapore and it captures me instantly when i got down from the bus. Being a chemist by training and a Chemistry Specialist in Education these days, the advertisement certainly astonish me.
 (Click on Image to have a better view)

I call this ‘psedo- organic chemistry’..it is like organic molecules/compound popping out of the box. What a way to make advertisement stands out! Does it arouse your curiosity when you see one like that? It certainly does have an effect on me..

Popularity: 11%

Every Compound can be represented by a formula. There are 3 types of formula:

Empirical Formula –> Simplest whole number ratio of atoms present

Molecular Formula –> Total number of atoms in one molecule

Structural Formula –> Shows how the atoms are linked together in a molecule

Note:

=> Structural Formula DOES NOT give the molecular shape

Popularity: 14%

Organic Chemistry is the Chemistry of Carbon Compounds. Several millions organic compounds are known compared to no more than 100, 000 compounds that contain no carbon. There is, however, a small number of carbon compounds (e.g. CO, CO2, Metal Carbonates) that are not classified as organic.

The vast number of organic compounds reflects the exceptional ability if carbon to form covalent bonds with other carbon atoms to form chains, branched chains and rings structures. Straight chain compounds are called Aliphatic Compounds and ring compounds are called Cyclic Compounds.