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What are some classic labs for thermo and physical properties?

Does anyone know to what extent I should study for physical properties on like colors and boiling and melting points? What kind of questions will they ask about magnetism?

-Jaehyun

wethose wrote:What are some classic labs for thermo and physical properties?

Some of the most common are calorimetry and chromatography (by common I mean well known), but you could be using different means to separate a solution into its components, or a lot of others. It helps to go through the test exchange and look at examples of the descriptions of the thermo labs.

Do sig figs matter?

geniusjohn5 wrote:Do sig figs matter?

Yes! I haven't ever encountered anything in Chemistry where sig figs don't matter, whether or not it's Science Olympiad. Usually in the instructions of your test, it will tell you whether or not they matter, but always just assume they matter, just in case. It's a sad day when you get answers right but they don't have the right number of sig figs.

Nerd_Bunny wrote:

geniusjohn5 wrote:Do sig figs matter?

Yes! I haven't ever encountered anything in Chemistry where sig figs don't matter, whether or not it's Science Olympiad. Usually in the instructions of your test, it will tell you whether or not they matter, but always just assume they matter, just in case. It's a sad day when you get answers right but they don't have the right number of sig figs.

To add on, if they don't specify, always give at least three sig figs

What sorts questions about physical properties would appear on tests? Would there be calculations or things like differentiating physical from chemical properties?

Eureka314 wrote:What sorts questions about physical properties would appear on tests? Would there be calculations or things like differentiating physical from chemical properties?

There will definitely be calculations. Practice calculating molarity, molality, and freezing point depression to start out with. Others will be needed, but that's what I've started out with. There really aren't many resources here or on the wiki because physical properties hasn't been a topic since 2006.

Just curious...what are the topics next year for Chem Lab? I know one is going to be physical properties, but what about the other one?

Nerd_Bunny wrote:Just curious...what are the topics next year for Chem Lab? I know one is going to be physical properties, but what about the other one?

Chem Lab is hard to predict because we've yet to actually go through a full cycle of topics. My bet is on Acids and Bases or Aqueous Solutions, though I think the former is more likely.