Scientific Gibberish

Last Monday I took Luke and Willow to Ivy Tech to get some of my errands done. I first dropped off my form and got my parking permit. Fortunately, there were people there. Then I went to the library to update my ID. But I'm stupid. I forgot to bring any proof that I was enrolled. They don't want just anybody claiming they go to Ivy Tech. So the kids and I had to get online and print off my schedule first. I must say that Luke and Willow were exceptionally well behaved. So I took them upstairs and showed them my lab and bought them some Cheese-Its. They loved it.

We walked over to the bookstore to check out the prices for lab coats and goggles. I had already priced the coats online at $20-25 before shipping so when I found they were $24 at the bookstore I went ahead and got one. I also found the goggles were $3 at Lowe's but I was willing to pay $4 at the bookstore rather than make another trip.

The first chapter of the chemistry book was lame. It was basically the author begging the student to not hate chemistry. I didn't hate it fully until I had to do the 16 chapter questions. Each "question" was made up of about 4 or 5 questions within it. Several of them were redundant. "Name five ways chemistry has enriched your life." "Name five chemical reactions you use everyday." "What's the difference between a law and a theory? "What's a theory?" "What's the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?" I was writing the same stuff over and over again.

I had my second class yesterday. Our quiz was over the scientific method. One of the questions was "What's the difference between a theory and a law?" Good thing I did that one several times. The way our teacher describes it is different than the way the slides describe it which is different than the way the book describes it so I answered it in my own words. I got two points taken off. So I asked Millsium why it was wrong and he gave me my two points back. See, that's how you get me to not hate chemistry.

We did lab work in class. All of it was with water. We were learning to measure with cylinders, burets, pipets and thermometers. None of it was nearly as difficult as the lab book made it sound. I had to read everything 3 or 4 or 5 times to figure out what they were asking me to do when it was really simple. I hate books like that. And my teacher didn't seem to know any better than the rest of us what the lab book said so his instructions were confusing and often contradictory. My lab partner was just as confused but we eventually got through it after translating everything into non-gibberish. "Oh, just get a beaker and put water in it. Why didn't they just say so?"

I know the content is going to get much more complicated. I just hope I can figure out what everybody is saying. I felt so stupid all morning. And I looked stupid too because, even though we only worked with water, we all had to wear our goggles. After being on for two hours, the goggles left a line on my forehead that didn't go away fully until after I went to bed that night. So I went to Schlotzky's, Hobby Lobby, Value City and church with goggle lines on my face. Thanks, Chemistry!