how to do the molecules around me assignment

First of all, re-read the syllabus. You are graded both on content and format in this assignment, so be sure to follow the directions! As a reminder, let's repeat the pertinent details as found in the syllabus:

Assignment 2: The Molecules Around Me: I want you to read labels and to research the chemicals found on those labels. Begin by reading the labels of products you have in your home or by browsing the labels of products in stores. You must report on six products, two each from three of the following four categories: (1) food and nutritional supplements, (2) health care and medicinal products, (3) personal hygiene and cleaning products, and (4) outdoor, gardening, and construction and building materials. You must include a photocopy of the label for each product on which you report or hand-copy a complete list of all of the ingredients in your product. None of the chemicals that you report can be the same; you must have information for 30 different chemicals in this assignment. You must use compounds; elements and ions are not acceptable. Each label you use in this assignment must have a minimum of five compounds; you must provide information on five compounds per label. Labels must be complete, legible, and the substances on which you report must be underlined or highlighted. For each product, for every compound you list you must provide the following information:

Each compound must be numbered sequentially from 1 through 30. In other words, the five compounds from your first product will be labeled 1-5, the five compounds from your second product will be numbered 6-10, and so on. Failure to meet this requirement will result in the loss of 10 points. Further information on how to do this assignment and where to look for information my be found on the xmission web site homepage for this class ("how to do the "molecules around me" assignment" and "Molecules Around Me: information sources"). It is *your* responsibility to check these pages and it is required. Remember to read the "Submitted Work: section above before submitting this assignment. You may not share information about compounds with others students. Your work must be unique and it must be entirely your own. Any students caught sharing compounds will receive a grade of "E" for this class.

You should also remember the following requirements as found in the syllabus. Don't skip over these. Read them again, now!

Submitted work: All work submitted must be stapled or paper-clipped, i.e., no loose papers or dog-eared or folded work will be accepted. Do not submit your work in three-ring binders or in page protectors (transparent plastic sleeves). Your work must appear to be the work of college students. I expect your work to be submitted on time and will not give any credit for late work without prior permission.

Work may be submitted in black or blue ink or in pencil. Work submitted in red ink will not be accepted and will receive a score of "0."

I require your two assignments to be typed in a 12 point Times, Times-Roman, or Times-New Roman font and stapled. The "Chemistry in the News" assignment must be double-spaced. The "Molecules Around Me" assignment may be single-spaced. All margins should be 1", no more and no less. Failure to meet this requirement may result in the loss of as much as 25-50 points per assignment. Hand-written assignments will not be accepted and will be awarded a score of "0." See the class web site for further information about the two assignments.

Neatness and spelling do count on quizzes and assignments. Submissions that do not meet the described criteria may be docked at least 50% of the possible points or more. Be sure to make photocopies of all work you submit to me, in case it somehow is lost in making its way from you to me.

All work must be submitted by the posted deadlines to 216A TB, Redwood Road campus. Absolutely do not send me work by e-mail or fax for any reason. It will not be accepted.

Do yourself a favor and re-read this previous section before submitting any work to me!

Remember that while the assignment must be typed (or created using a word processor), the organic structures may be imported as image files, or cut-and-pasted. They may not be hand-drawn. If the molecular formulas or molecular structures for your compounds are not correct, they will be marked wrong. Remember that many online sources tend to give molecular formulas of inorganic compounds alphabetically rather than as you have been taught in class. If you include a compound in this assignment that includes cations or anions you should have learned in class and give me the wrong molecular formula (i.e., alphabetically), you will be held responsible.

As an example, let's assume we choose a product which contains table salt, sodium chloride. After completing Chapter Four in this class we know that this is an ionic compound in which sodium is the cation and chloride is the anion. According to the rules of ionic nomenclature, the molecular formula is written cation first, anion second, meaning that the correct molecular formula is NaCl, not ClNa as given by some online references This alphabetical order is called the Hill System (see, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_system) and is not acceptable for ionic compounds in this class. Another example would be zinc (II) sulfate. Again, based on what we have learned in Chapter Four, we can identify this compound as ionic. We know that the cation is the Zn²⁺ cation and that anion is the polyatomic sulfate ion written as SO₄^2-. Based on charge these ions go together in a 1:1 ratio, and the molecular formula of the compound is ZnSO₄, not O₄SZn as given by the Hill system.

The order of elements in organic compounds most commonly follows the Hill System and is C-H-all other atoms in alphabetical order. If a compound contains 10 carbon atoms 20 hydrogen atoms, a sulfur atom, 3 oxygen atoms, and 2 nitrogen atoms, the molecular formula of the compound according to the Hill System would be C₁₀H₂₀N₂O₃S.

Let's reiterate the difference between organic and inorganic compounds. Organic compounds contain both carbon and hydrogen, except for the bicarbonates (HCO₃^-), which are inorganic compounds. Inorganic compounds do not contain both carbon and hydrogen. This means that there are carbon-containing compounds that are actually categorized as inorganic compounds. These include the carbonates, bicarbonates, and the cyanides. So how can you tell if a compound is organic or inorganic? Try taking a look at its molecular formula! If you misidentify a compound as organic when it is inorganic, or visa versa, a point (1 point) will be deducted for each mistake.

Remember that we talk about molecular formulas, structural formulas, condensed structural formulas, backbone structures, and line structures in the Chapter 5 lecture notes. If you do know how they differ, you need to review.

Ok, we've got that out of the way. I'm going to use a packet of Myoplex Carb Sense Vanilla Cream for my example.

Note that are far more than five compounds listed here so I can pick and choose the ones I want to use.

You may present your information as you choose within the parameters of the assignment. I will provide you with two examples, but you are not limited to these two means of presentation. The use of tables makes your work tidy and easy to read.

I found all of this information using the resources listed on the "Molecules Around Me: information sources" web page. I also used the Copernic software described on that page to help me search. And I used Google (www.google.com) to search using the compound name and either the word "toxicity" or "MSDS."

I deliberately chose calcium caseinate in this example to make a point. There is not much information available for this compound, so I have listed "not available" in the pertinent places. You may not do this. You must have a molecular formula for every compound and a structural formula for every organic compound. In fact, if you choose to present a compound like calcium caseinate, I will not give you credit for it and will mark you down accordingly. Choose your compounds carefully from your products. Also note that the structures in my above example are unacceptably small. I must be able to see them clearly and with ease.

Another common method for presenting information in this assignment is to present it in list form, as follows:

Here are some examples of old assignments that lost points for various reasons. Remember that these look different from the way your assignment should look, since the assignment for this class was slightly different than what I am asking of you.

Note that this student lost points on his first three "organic" compounds because they aren't actually organic. Still, it looks nice. He did his inorganic section as follows:

This student also lost points on the molecular formulas for four of the above molecular formulas for presenting them alphabetically rather than correctly. He also included molecular structures for his inorganic compounds, which is not required. This student did the toxicity portion of the assignment as follows:

You can see that the toxicity information simply consists of several complete sentences which summarize the toxicological data for the compounds.

Here are three examples of work submitted by students during the Spring 2007 semester. All three of these illustrate acceptable ways of formatting your assignment. Each image is a link which will take you to a larger version of the image.

There are other formats one may use for this assignment which are also acceptable. Remember: