The Periodic Table

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

7:01 PM

@StevenGrigsby Nooooo!

Sheesh I was like you.

You're doing it the right way: Discussion should be in chat.

(Sorry my browser crashed for no reason)

Nothing like discussion should be on the main site.

Image you're in a conference, or seminar.

Can you stand up and shout to the speaker @Steve?

user161117

No it's not really that

user161117

it's the point system

user161117

I don't think there should be one

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@StevenGrigsby This system just wants to keep people on the site.

user161117

and all the questions and answers should be anonymous

user161117

7:04 PM

The merit of an answer and question should be purely based on just that

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@StevenGrigsby SE's idea is to focus on the content, not the user, but I understand what you're saying.

@StevenGrigsby People like me don't care about the points. Take a look at the last time I answered something.

But not everyone is like me.

A lot of the more guru users don't care about points, but want to teach something.

user161117

I think you can't really teach effectively without a little room for discussion

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@StevenGrigsby The little room for discussion is available in the comments.

user161117

maybe some day I'll have enough rep to comment

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

24

A: What do the quantum numbers actually signify?

Quantum numbers give information about the location of an electron or set of electrons. A full set of quantum numbers describes a unique electron for a particular atom. Think about it as the mailing address to your house. It allows one to pinpoint your exact location out of a set of $n$ loca...

user161117

7:07 PM

?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@StevenGrigsby The rep limit is because we don't want to find spam in the comments.

It's very harder to track.

@StevenGrigsby An example of a teaching.

@StevenGrigsby You can get 5 upvotes on one of your answers and be able to comment everywhere. Once you start, you see it's really easy.

user161117

Oh shit!

user161117

That's crazy

user161117

That second response to that question is my friend's professor

user161117

in Copenhagen

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

7:09 PM

Fred?

user161117

Frank

user161117

Jan Jensen

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Hmm.

See? The system attracts those kind of users here.

It works.

It's strict, but it calls for high quality answers.

We downvote or delete bad answers.

Lemme put it this way: With the "freedom" you have in forums, the chance that you'll get a good answer to your question is 50%, while here it's 80-90%, which depends on how well you write your question.

BTW @Steve when you get to 200 points in one site, you'll be awarded with 100 points automatically on every site you participate or make an account in.

That way, you can comment without answering or asking anything.

user161117

Hey what book did you use for physical chemistry

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Many of them you wouldn't know.

user161117

7:16 PM

Haha good thing I am asking

user161117

or is it cause they're not in english

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Well, what do you want?

Quantum chemistry?

user161117

I'm just looking for some variety from Atkins

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Thermodynamics?

user161117

Yeah specifically

user161117

7:17 PM

Really anything

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Which one yeah specifically?

santiago

@bon fixed

user161117

I am just looking or generally good books from anything in physical chemistry

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Hmm, lemme think.

user161117

or theoretical organic chemistry for that matter

user161117

7:18 PM

I'm just trying to find something that's fairly mathematical and a book that someone out there has enjoyed

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Silberberg's is nice they say.

2

A: Introduction to Chemistry Textbook - Theory based

Silberberg or Zumdahl Chemistry are great introductory reference books in my opinion. They cover the topics in just the right amount of depth and explain concepts extremely well, I highly recommend it. Inorganic Chemistry and Physical Chemistry by Peter Atkins also seem to be decent (though ve...

@Steve ^

BTW @Steve where're you from?

@Steve I wonder what level you need the books to be.

user161117

I have a Bachelors in chemistry

user161117

planning on going into computational chemistry

user161117

I was mostly focused on doing a math degree though, however I decided to change the past few months since I found myself missing chemistry

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Oh, then you should ask our German™ Academy.

user161117

7:27 PM

I am not looking for anything simple, just looking for something that I can spend time leisurely working through and thinking about that will be worth the effort

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@pH13 @Martin-マーチン You guys should help @Steve find some comp chem books.

Well, @Steve, I dunno why you ask me, since I'm 16. ^^

user161117

For instance, have you read Woodward's synthesis of chlorophyll? Reading through the steps of his synthesis with his explanations made me fall in love with chemistry again

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@StevenGrigsby I'll remember to read that.

Hey square!

Square Steve here needs some good comp chem stuff to read.

bon

Sorry you'll have to look elsewhere. My comp chem knowledge is next to zero unfortunately

Ask @Martin, @pH13, @LordStryker etc

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

I miss Lord. :"(

@Steve something like this?

user161117

7:31 PM

@bon what kinda chem do you like, o chem or biochem?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Organochem.

bon

@StevenGrigsby Primarily org chem

user161117

Cool what stuff in particular like, can you give me nittier and grittier details like pericyclic radical coupling homologations yadda yadda

user161117

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Also yeah I wanna learn about DFT this sorta stuff looks cool and weird, I like this answer

bon

@StevenGrigsby I'm not that advanced yet - I'm only just about to start uni - so just general o chem at the moment

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

7:37 PM

@StevenGrigsby I think you definitely can find some good stuff to read from that guy's answers.

user161117

Oh I guess I just came here assuming everyone had a phd in chemistry or something sorry haha XD

user161117

I was thinking my lame little bachelors in chem was like going to make me a baby

user161117

Well cool I'm glad to hear you're getting into chemistry, it definitely get weirder and more interesting the more you get into it

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@StevenGrigsby I have a PhD in lolic-chemistry.

user161117

I tutored organic chemistry once a week for about 3 years, I love it so if you need help I love talking about it, especially the mechanisms

user161117

7:40 PM

niiiiiiice

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

BTW @Steve pro tip: [help] [tour] [faq] [chemistry.se] [meta.se] [math.se] [tag:haha] [meta-tag:discussion] turns into [help] [tour] faq Chemistry Meta Stack Exchange Mathematics haha discussion

Oh wait, darn it.

[help] and [tour] only work in comments.

So @Steve you-can-talk-like-this if you ever lost your mind like us.

user161117

I'll try to keep that in mind

user161117

if I can find it

user161117

I mean my brain, not this message of course

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Anyway @Steve you made me curious: I'm gonna go look if we have something that tells why the reputation system is good.

user161117

7:47 PM

Haha it's ok I don't wanna think about the reputation system anymore

Mithoron

@StevenGrigsby Well, I think most of my comments are useful, bad comments would be few percent max

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Steve I found this.

user161117

Yeah but clearly this is a bad question it's -12 reputation

user161117

is this really worth reading?

user161117

Looks like it should probably be deleted eh

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

7:57 PM

@StevenGrigsby It's bad'

3B3e+

3W3hat -is -my -ke+yboard -doing ?!

user161117

it's trying to do scientific notation

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@StevenGrigsby The down votes are because of the insults the user has made. Read the question if you want to eat some popcorn, read some answers if you want to see why we need a rep system.

user161117

I don't want to talk about this anymore

user161117

I only want to talk about chemistry

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@StevenGrigsby K.

Mithoron

8:12 PM

2

Q: Choice of base for malonic ester synthesis

Most reaction mechanism use $\ce{EtO-}$ as a base for a malonic ester sythesis, to deprotonate the alpha hydrogen. But in the equilibrium there are still esters that haven't been deprotonated. Why won't the enolate do a nucleophilic attack on the ester, just like in Claisen reactions? Why isnt LD...

user161117

8:46 PM

Hmmm I don't know about this

user161117

I don't really see the issue here, aren't Claisen condensations normally done this way, what is he afraid will happen?

user161117

That it will turn into an enol?

Mithoron

Condensation of two molecules of one of substrate shouldn't occur here, but theoretically could

bon

9:24 PM

I added some of my thoughts as an answer. In particular, looking up the pKa values was rather enlightening

user161117

9:44 PM

I was looking at this and trying to work out the condensation mechanism but it's ridiculously hindered

user161117

plus, once that alpha hydrogen leaves, it's going to be a fairly poor nucleophile since that electron pair is actually quite unreactive being stabilized by two ester groups

user161117

that alpha hydrogen is more acidic than ethanol I think you're kinda saying that I'm not sure why you're bringing DMSO into this

santiago

11:49 PM

lol I tweeted a link to the space whisky question - already retweeted!

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