Wednesday, May 4

Today's class began rather unceremoniously as we were told to open our packets to page 17 and take out a calculator we're comfortable with using. After a quick review of Lindsay's blog post, we dived right into the lesson plan. On the packet page were four important, essential, need-to-know rules on conjugates:

1. The conjugate base of a weak acid forms a basic solution in water

2. The conjugate acid of a weak base forms an acidic solution in water

3. The conjugate base of a strong acid is neither acidic nor basic

4. The conjugate acid of a strong base is neither acidic nor basic

From these rules we can infer that in a reaction, conjugates of weak acids/bases hold significant influence within the reaction, while conjugates of strong acids/bases do not affect the reaction at all. These rules would help with answering the questions and filling out the tables on page 17. However, should a salt be composed of a conjugate of a weak acid and a conjugate of a weak base, the composition of the solution shall be determined by comparing the Ka and Kb values (the "strengths" of each molecule). Page 18 built off of this new understanding by posing a problem involving the familiar ICE table, a novelty by now. Dash through one problem, then off to finish Lab AB2. The remainder of the class period consisted of this lab, so nothing real exciting unless you're really into watching liquids change color from being reacted with testing solutions. And what better way to end such an average day than with a typical homework assignment? The long WebAssign is due Thursday; only 35 points needed to get an A, though it would probably help if you read the heavy textbook if some problems are proving challenging. Until next time, take care and don't mind the sarcasm.