February 2005 - Posts
well... I become more and more nervous as the mailing day comes closer. and it's pretty hard to concentrate on smth these days.
The date of our Nationals was anounced and it's going to be held on March 24-27, right here in Bishkek. Until that time, I'm here.
Here are some pics that I promised to post:
Just a beautiful building:
The dating Clocks in the center of the city, there's always someone waiting for another near there:
it's the school where we prepare (BKTL):
a random view:
and holding the Solomon's Book (kind of Serway in Organic Chemistry):
guess who drew it:
more pics soon!!!
Good Luck with your Decisions!
-meder
Hey guys,
it's raining outside... the first part of the week was pretty warm and it seems that spring is close... the rocking day is also close (mid-march).. check out Matt's last post.
well, yesterday we had our first exam... it was a little tricky, especially quantum part.. i scored third (worse than i expected), but never mind. the next exam is on Saturday.
I have photographed some views of Bishkek, but can't upload the pics. maybe, in the next post...
how are you doing?
Good Luck with your decisions, guys!!!
meder
On Thursday I'll have to leave to Bishkek for Olymp. preparations. That might take a lot of time and I might find out my decisions there. There's not gonna be a lot of internet, so... my posts are going to be a bit shorter and rarer.
check out this album (on Kyrgyzstan):
Good Luck with your decisions, guys!!!
ps. thank you, Saad. the review is great!
Happy St. Valentine's Day!!!
for more info check this page out...
Hi!
I spent this week solving our new pps. They consist of a typical nuber of topics with typical number of questions. What's good about them, is that they contain definite links to definite subjects (it wasn't like that in prev pps).
Now I want focus your attentions to last problems. Look ta Problem 26 here. Does it look hard? Read it and tell me the answer. I know, you're gonna be surprized about the easiness of it. An IChO Problem? - -
Ok now, take a look at P-27 in the same place. Try to solve it (it has no deal with Chemistry and I know you will be succesful). Do you get 1760 at 27-1? me too... Try to answer to 27-2 now. There's some problem, isn't there? Or am I so dump?
-----edit------
well... I've just found out an interesting thing... that Elias Corey (from my prev post) is, actually, an MIT alumnus.
incredible...
I'm saying that I love Chemistry but there are no posts on it here (while there are some on Physics). So, here it goes:
Organic Synthesis is probably the most artistic part of Chemistry. I've read a book (and advice it to everyone): “Organic Synthesis: the Science Behind the Art“ by Smit, Bochkov and Caple. It shows all the beauty of modern Synthesis. Let us examine a specific example.
A Corey-House synthesis.
Everyone, who has taken Chemistry classes at High School should remember the Wurtz synthesis. It's where two haloalkanes come together with metallic sodium (Na). Sodium “takes“ Halogens and alkyls form a new compound.
That synthesis has got a lot of side products and the target product has a low percentage.
So, in 80's four American scientists (Corey, Posner, Whiteside, House) developed the Wurtz sythesis. From an overview the logic seems to be the same, but it's not like that, if we look deeper. So what's the difference?
They don't use Na. Instead, they have divided the synthesis into two steps. First one is the "activation" of one radical, and the second one is the addition of the second radical. They add Lithium (Li) to a haloalcane (activation). They add Copper (I) Iodide, then and Alkyl Lithium Cuprate forms (activated radical). Then everything goes as shown below:
(pic from chempensoftware.com)
Elias J. Corey is a prof. of Chemistry at Harvard, and he has recieved a Nobel Prize in1990 "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis". Here(pdf) is his Nobel Lecture on Organic Synthesis.
------------------
Most probably I have nothing to do. I'm sick and I don't visit classes for a while. So, I watch movies. Today, there were “National Treasure” with Nicolas Cage and “Alexander”. Both are good in their own genres and I just can't compare them. But “Treasure” seemed to be a bit more appealing to me.
Also have seen the Oscar Nominees List. It seems that “The Aviator” has got 11. Well, sure I have to watch it soon. I was happy to find Harry Potter there. Can't say that movie was very good (book's better every time), but Cuaron's work is better than both of Columbus' (that's just my opinion).
ok. It's forth. 24 days of February left. There are about 15 in March, though. But let's think about them in March.
----edit----
Thank you, Jane. I wish you a big envelope on “pi” day, too. and I'm already ok. The case with Harry Potter: I think, it's always good to see different views of different people on the same story. But flying dementors were kind of overflow....
Hope to get to watch “The Phantom of The Opera”. I heard about that movie.
Andrew, String Theory has explained a phenomenon that wasn't explained by any other theory. The case with Back Holes that are getting smaller (Einstein's theories say that Black Holes have minimal surface area and thus, cannot get smaller). If you want to read smth on it go here.