بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum,

This was written in math class after I heard someone I knew is… gone. I would like to note that in reality, Allah is the one who always look after you and I am just a temporary being, but I think the phrase: “I’ll look after you” is supposed to mean that I’ll always care for you and that I will always be available for anyone so long as I am not asleep, in class, praying or doing whatever my mom tells me. It is a poem meant to reassure people that we often are our worst obstacle and we keep boxing ourselves in and that everything will be okay. (That was a shameless summary)

—
I’ll Look After You
—

The days keep turning,
The sun keeps burning,
We keep falling into fallibility,
I guess this is what they call reality.
—
Don’t say you are ‘lonely’.
Don’t say you are the ‘only’.
If only you knew,
That I will look after you.
—
We keep falling in and out.
If there ever was a doubt,
Our hearts are so quick to break.
At these moments, our souls are awake.
—
Don’t say those hurtful things,
Don’t say that there are only unhappy endings,
If only you knew,
That I’ll look after you.
—
Forgive yourself and bear the wait.
There is no reason to let your spirit separate.

The tallest tree was a seed grown.

The most beautiful people in the world may never be known.

—

Don’t think when it is night, the sun is no more.

Don’t keep knocking at an open door.

If only you knew,

That I’ll look after you.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum,

This post is primarily dedicated to Mally as she is the only other chemistry major in our high school class to my knowledge.

WARNING: There maybe *technical* chemistry jargon so don’t read ahead if you can’t handle the exothermic reaction… shameless joke. And I stop caring about grammar. I am sleepy.

Today’s Chemistry Teaching Musings: Lab.

Yes I said it, Lab. With a capital L. (Sounds kinda creepy especially if you are reading this post two in the morning….)

I was in lab today working on recording the heat of a reaction before and after it occurs and seeing if the experimental value of the heat change matches the literature value. (In language for Noreen and Spiderman: that means I am trying to get the book answer in my lab.) So I did the experiment three times, twice ‘old school’ (literally having a thermometer in the reaction and writing down the temperature every minute) and once on the LabPro (some computer software that does it for me). As I was waiting in between minutes or waiting for the computer to do its stuff, I started to think about the procedure and why I always mess up every lab.

According to my chemistry professor, he once said (I may be poorly quoting this) that there are three reasons why ‘labs go wrong’–the person doing the lab is messing up, the procedure itself is faulty or the chemistry law/principle only is oversimplified for the class you are in (therefore your results don’t match up to it). But I was wondering–what can procedural errors mean?

I am fully aware I messed up that lab and that I am part to blame (Faith786: I am doing another trial because I think I messed up the first one. Chemistry Professor: You probably did. XD) but I think there are MAJOR holes with the procedure and different types of holes so I guess I am kind of elaborating on how ‘labs go wrong’ based on procedural errors.

1. The actual procedure is wrong in the assumptions of technique: In the lab I did, I had to mix hydrogen peroxide (H2O2–used as a disinfectant and possibly for bleaching) with Iron (III) nitrate (Fe(NO3)3–don’t try to drink it, that is all I know) as a catalyst for decomposition. So what does that mean? Fe(NO3)3 should only help H2O2 decompose–it should NOT change or do crazy things. But when you initially mix the Fe(NO3)3 with the H2O2, an immediate cloudy dark brown solution forms for couple minutes–that means the Fe(NO3)3 turned into **something else** temporarily. What it is, I don’t know but for a temporary period of time, Fe(NO3)3 was NOT a catalyst–this could affect the results as heat could have escaped or been absorbed by that temporary reaction and change the heat you measure from H2O2 decomposing. You are assuming that only heat change is coming from H2O2 NOT Fe(NO3)3.  (For people who want to say according to Hess’ law that the overall reaction heat equals the sum of the reactions to get the same reaction heat: well, yeah, but there are bound to be oopsies in that too–especially if Fe(NO3)3 permanently changed.)

2. The method in calculating your final results is flawed even if the procedure is ’sound’: So let us say that the procedure is fine–then we should take the change in temperature, the specific heat and the amount of H2O2 used and start finding out how much heat was released (q=mst and then more stuff). That is fine–but if you try to compare it to the ‘generic’ or ‘textbook’ heat released from H2O2, that heat was measured at 25 degrees C and 1 atm (pressure). The actual pressure and temperature in the lab are NOT 25 degrees C and 1 atm so you are comparing it to a sample that is not on the same standards and that can make your ‘lab go wrong.’

3. The chemistry law you are using might be actually true–in ideal settings: So in theory, PV=nRT is true. The previous point oversimplified how to calculate change in heat by neglecting temperature of formation or the pressure of the settings which the reaction occurs in. But PV=nRT follows properly experimentally determined trends but you can never hit the *exact* amount because either your gas is not ideal (probably) or the conditions you are working in aren’t ideal (but you can get awfully close). So when you get a percent error with PV=nRT, it may not be you or your calculations; it can just be that the gas you are working with is NOT an ideal gas. It happens. Maybe another gas another day. =) And I still love you, PV=nRT. May you save other people from detention like you did for me.

4. The procedure isn’t nuts about precision: I may be being a little hypocritical in this point because I personally don’t care about my decimal places or making sure the compound is completely dry or something–but that doesn’t mean the procedure can be. For example, the lab procedure for measuring temperature said that the temperature should be measured to the tenths (one decimal place) but if you do that, it will appear that for 7 minutes, your temperature didn’t change but it really did. Ex: My results: 29.0, 29.0, 29.0, 29.0 (degrees C). What it could have been: 29.08, 29.06, 29.04, 29.01 (degrees C). There is a HUGE difference. In the former there is no change. In the latter there is an actual decrease. But that isn’t my fault–the procedure said only one decimal place. And when I want to do a linear relationship, in one there is no change and the other there is and that can make a WORLD of a difference when I do more calculations later on. Blast you procedure!

Enough rambling today. I need to read for history and chemistry. Aaahhh yummy yummy.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum,

I guess this is becoming a series just because I am bored in the computer lab and I am procrastinating my CIS homework. These moments can be slightly misquoted due to Faith786’s bad memory.

Some funny gen chem moments:

(There is this really long definition of the first law of thermodynamics on the class powerpoint)

*click*

Homer Simpson shows up looking disoriented with the caption: “Huh?”

=story of my life.

—

Chem Professor: So yes, this is Gay-Lussac who was clearly made fun of (for his name) in middle school….

—

Random Calc moment:

Calc Professor: So yes, try to solve this problem without a pencil or calculator. Just look at it and tell me the answer.

(Class stares at board blankly)

Calc Professor: I have a dog at home and even he can solve this faster than you.

Faith786’s goal by the end of the semester: try to be smarter than my calc professor’s DOG.

—

Me: What do you mean when you referred to me as a ‘child of God’?

Chem professor: Oh yes, you have such low self esteem and you forget that you are a child of God.

Me: No, I mean, what did you mean?

Chem Professor: (surprised) That you have low self esteem?

Me: No! What does ‘child of God’ mean?

(This captures all my questions I ask him in class/lab.)

—

Random CIS (computer class) moments:

(Someone was doing a powerpoint presentation and she stopped talking and the slide did this really prolonged “moo” in the middle of a silent classroom)

Me and CIS professor: That was… AWESOME.

—

(Talking to someone in my history class  in CIS class)

Me: I cannot believe I got 10% off my midterm because I forgot to mention pimps. Who gets 2% off their final grade in a class because they didn’t talk about pimps?!

CIS Professor (bewildered and amused): I just walked in the wrong end of that conversation….

—

History professor: So cosmopolitan magazine used to be considered an intellectual periodical for women back in the 30s/40s (can’t remember).

Me: Why?

History professor: Because women used to take whatever it said seriously. Like, if there was a review on vacuum cleaners, people would trust the magazine’s judgment. People wouldn’t buy a vacuum cleaner if someone who reviewed it said something like: “This vacuum sucks! and not in the good way.”

—

Lab moments:

—

(While working with a thermometer in a tube of hot oil)

Friend: He (chem professor) is coming make sure everything is working.

Me: Okay… hold on.

(Professor comes and he looks at my apparatus and my ‘recorded’ results critically.)

*Pause*

Chem Professor: So, do you write poetry?

Me: What?!?

—

Chem Professor: (My name) did you read the lab before coming today?

Me: Yes… that is why I asked if I can modify the procedure and do that part seperately instead of together… what kind of question is that? I have to read the lab ahead of time in order to know what I am supposed to do now.

Chem Professor: Good. You pass (the class).

—

(I am leaning on my knees on a stool with wheels trying to *fix* my lab set up because I am too short/the part I needed to fix was too high up)

Me: (Friend’s name) can you get that orange book and put it behind these two tubes so I can see if the water level is equal?

(Friend stands in front of me and she puts the book behind the set up, making sure she isn’t hitting me, my arms or the glassware I am holding.)

Me: Can you keep your hands still? The book keeps hitting the tube and the water gets agitated.

Friend: Can you hurry up and just fasten it already?

(I am shaking because I am on a stool with wheels holding glassware with water in both hands and my friend is shaking trying not to move the book or hit me.)

*Flash*

Me and my friend (we turn our heads): huh?

Chem Professor (holding a camera, smiling): Lab students at work.

Friend: This is NOT the time to take a photo!

—

Assalamu Alaikum,

Experiencing a CIS (Computers) coma… blast you microsoft excel! But I am so indebted to my computer professor… may Allah bless you.

Today’s Words of Wisdom:

“If only you knew even a fraction of how much God takes care of you in a single day, you would smile for eternity.”

True. Simple amazing.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum,

I am slightly upset that I have somehow ‘lost’ couple posts in my draft box, but this will have to suffice until I get funnier stuff up.

Life lately has been waxing and waning as usual and in some ways, I am being very productive and in others, I feel very stagnant. But in regards to the many realms of chemistry, I have been finding my current chemistry class fascinating just because it is so different from any previous chemistry class I have had or heard from Sarah, Mally and other IFSers. The following notes and observations were made both in my chemistry class and other classes I am taking this semester.

What I have learned (so far) that works in teaching a chemistry class:

—Worksheets. It brings organization in both what the teacher is doing and what topics are being covered in different questions.

—Humor. (No I am not joking. Bad joke… seriously.) Humor is a technique to get students’ attention and relate material to something a kid can remember–like now I will always associate P1V1=P2V2 with a can of hair gel blowing up. (But I find that funny for another reason…) Or the first law of thermodynamics with Homer Simpson.

—Powerpoints–but just for concepts, not math. It is nice to associate diagrams and images with concepts. And powerpoints can be good if done right. This is a sparingly used technique it shouldn’t be used three times a week.

—Doing problems on the board. It sounds elementary, but assigning problems and actually seeing problems being done in a systematic manner on the board really helps. Except when the teacher goes too fast and Faith786’s brain blows up. Again.

—Practice Quizes and Exams. Although I have very mixed feelings about my current quizes and exams and whether or not they actually *assess* whether or not a student knows the material, giving practice exams and quizes really helps kids get their feet wet in what to expect and I firmly believe can help their test and quiz scores than not having one. The real problem isn’t the practice exam, but the exam itself.

—Discussions. Teaching the concepts is one thing, but to get kids to tell those concepts back to you or to other students can help the teacher know if the kids know and help the kids know if they didn’t already know it. Although it can be a time waster, doing this at the beginning or the end of every chapter can be done realistically (you can write a sheet of things to talk about and make kids tell it to each other and the other student writes down what the first one said, etc.)

—Make kids write and solve problems on the board. You can make more than one kid do this on the board at the same time if you know what problems they are solving ahead of time. This is excellent for making kids think on the spot, good for a teacher to figure out how long they take to solve the problem, to see *where* the student starts to struggle, makes kids pay attention because they may get called on next, and a teacher can see the method a student uses to solve the problem and can check if there are any ‘logic’ holes in it.

—DO. YOUR. OWN. LABS. I may spend forever on lab reports, get mad percent errors and curse out microsoft excel, but I know I have learned more in one lab this semester than all my previous labs from all my chemistry classes COMBINED. Yes, I learned more from mixing water and fruit juice the third week of lab than in my high school lab on oxidation reduction with the ‘brown gas’ *permeating* the hallway. (Shameless Shalaby reference. How dare I mention his name on my blog–now my blog must do ghusul….)

—

—

That is a sufficient list. Now the stuff that don’t work. (I hope none of my professors/old teachers are reading this)

—Too much of anything. Too many problems, worksheets, powerpoints, lectures, discussions will make anything turn stale. I am not saying you have to juggle things every day, but doing the same thing two weeks straight might may me go bonkers.

—Not giving homework/not grading homework/not giving comments on homework. Yes, I said it. Homework is *critical* for students AND teachers to learn. It forces kids to practice what they have learned, it forces teachers to assess if the kids have learned it, it makes students write things in a logical and coherent manner and it helps teachers modify their current and future teaching plans (whether or not they can move on or if there needs to be an emphasis on something)

—Lecture. Lecture. Lecture. Yes, I pay for a teacher to teach me, but not to *lecture* me. I can go to detention for that. Lecture is a method of teaching but teaching is a culmination of methods of transferring knowledge. If all I am going to hear is a lecture, I’ll leave a tape recorder in class and pick it up later.

—Being mad. Notice I didn’t write being happy or smiley in the other list. I do believe a person should be happy and smile, but even I’ll admit that a teacher should be more strict at the beginning of the year. But being mad will just *mess up* the class and potentially the whole year. I won’t say you should be corny and smiley the whole time, but I will say you shouldn’t be angry. That can have serious effects not only in the classroom, but whether kids will continue to listen or not.

—Not showing an interest of the student. I believe I have talked about this before, but again, I am not saying that you should get in their drama. I don’t care and I don’t want to get involved. But showing an interest shows you care and that can help a student perform much better and admit when he/she needs help.

—

—

…I have more to say so I may update this later but I need to get to bed. (Sarah: This early?) XD

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum,

(Written 10/2)

I am suffering a chemistry coma (if you do too much chemistry and think about amus too much this may happen to you) and I decided to go outside. This morning I went to campus about 7:00 AM and I remember the sky was really cloudy. Now the sun is blaring and I guess I got inspired to write this by that and remembering Hafiz’s poem….

—

Lights Up the Whole Sky

—

Your hands are trembling,

Your faith is broken

Your words are fumbling.

Keep your heart wide open.

—

Shadows seem to keep following you

The constant fear of giving in

overcomes the knowledge you already knew.

The line between faith and doubt seems to thin.

—

Never think when it is night the sun is no more.

Don’t even question or wonder why–

In lonliness or darkness; in the depths of your core,

Divine Hope lights up the whole sky.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum,

I am posting these rather frequently–I hope this doesn’t soon immediately fizzle out. I guess I have been doing TONS of chemistry lately, so these posts keep getting written. God knows what I will do if I make it into Physical Chemistry…. I do have some Islamic posts in the making, but I always leave them half finished. I’ll try to a spiderman post request by the end of next week. (Which one, you’ll have to tune in and find out!) XD

—

To Spiderman and Sarah: I TOTALLY DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE TYPING THIS! LOL.

—

So today in class my professor said he grades the lab reports himself to have an idea what the class understands and struggles with–and that is when I started thinking of this post:

How do I customize my chemistry class to meet the needs of every class I get each year?

Every year, a teacher gets a new class with a new group of kids. This new group of kids might be overall really smart or really dumb. You get new nerds, idiots, class clowns, rebels, burnouts, etc. etc. The class may quickly *get* balancing equations, but might be stark dumb in kinetics (hey–I am stark dumb in kinetics). How would I ‘plan’ myself as a teacher to be accommodating to where there needs to be more emphasis in the subject matter? And how do I ‘learn’ to ‘connect’ to the new group of students? What teaching techniques must I use for each class each year? Some classes like worksheets, others like doing problems on the board, some might be nuts enough to love labs. How do I assess this and what are some *universal* trends (no pun intended) in chemistry classrooms that I can fallback on?

—Are students more likely to better at stoichiometry than thermochemistry (my high school graduating class was the opposite, but the class after me seemed better at stoichiometry…. I still remember how *badly* my class bombed the stoichiometry test and how my high school chemistry teacher called me out. I was a dead girl walking that day. XD)

—Do students prefer labs more than analyzing real life articles/movie clips/images?

—Do students prefer doing problems at their desks or on the board? Individually or collectively? (I almost always prefer individually.)

—Do students prefer labs that you have a complicated procedure and you know the most likely outcome, or to make their own procedure and ‘find out’ what the results are?

—Do students struggle more with the math or with the concepts. I could argue that the reason NO ONE ELSE in my AP Chem class got a 4 or 5 was because they didn’t understand ‘Chemistry Logic.’

—On that note, how can I teach both math and concepts and at the same time, implant a ‘Chemistry Sense’ (my chemistry senses are tingling….)  or ‘Chemistry Logic.’

—How do I bounce between different teaching techniques WITHOUT sacrificing learning the content/cutting back on the syllabus?

—How can I make the class meaningful outside of theoretical and hypothetical situations? How can I make chemistry relevant to *EVERY DAY* life? (Throwing stats or facts won’t work–Like, how can chemistry affect a way looks at life or thinks logically?)

—What are project (not necessarily a poster, model or presentation) ideas that I can assign that students can use to explore different branches or elements (no pun again) of Chemistry without losing substance of what is being taught/being biased when I grade them?

—Why am I thinking over 5 years ahead of myself and procrastinating my history homework… AGAIN.

—What is some advice that YOU (reader of this post) can give ME on what you want in your ideal chemistry teacher? Would you want a teacher who can give a lot of real life experiments or more practice problems to get concepts down? Would you want someone who was easy on homework grading but was extremely critical on lab/practical work? Or would you want a teacher who was critical on the homework and classwork, but gave a little more leniency on tests? (Although I have separate thoughts on the grading process, but I digress–) What do you think would make a good teacher?

I don’t know how many chemistry teachers (to be) that would ask you this, but here I am on the internet asking genuinely because I am so sick of people hating school, hating learning, and getting a bad education. School is such a psychologically, spiritually and emotionally gratifying place. Or at least-it ought to be. I want to do my part, but I am kind of slow so I need a little help on what to do. So emails, comments, or phone calls would be really appreciated.

Speaking of help, I need to harass my chemistry professor about this week’s lab. Why acetic acid? How do you have a precipitate that is soluble? Isn’t that what defines what a precipitate is–that it is INSOLUBLE? And why Carbon-12? Why are Hydrogen and Magnesium discriminated? Why have I been taught a lie (amus) for the past five years? What is the meaning of life in terms of atomic particles? XD

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum,

I think I figured out why I use roman numerals. Probably because when I have to name d-block molecules, I have to put the roman numeral charge, so it is somehow subconsciously coming on to my blog….

I am again procrastinating my lab report and I am super grateful that I DID NOT break anything this week. (Alhamdulillah! LOL)

I don’t feel comfortable typing this. XD

I was reading some random article about how a student’s emotions are almost directly correlated with how the student will perform at school. Now as a teacher, it isn’t my business to know what is happening at home (unless it is something extremely detrimental, illegal, etc.) but I know that I have some control of how the student can ‘feel’ in the classroom. My computer professor always shows us a mini youtube clip before class to ‘loosen’ up our mood so that way it can help us transition into his class.

(News anchorman to a little girl: Do you believe in Santa Claus? Little Girl: No I am Jewish!)

So I was thinking–what are some ways to help ‘uplift’ a student’s mood while keeping the class focused on the subject matter (chemistry)? And how can I be both a good educator and a source of inspiration of learning for the students? So I came up with some ideas that may or may not work:

• Technology: (Did I just put that as my first point? I must be losing it….) Apparently the new IFS chemistry teacher has one day of the week where for about 5 minutes she would show a video clip of a chemical reaction/something chemistry related just to get her student’s feet wet in other areas of chemistry she can’t bring in the classroom. And watching footage MAY help distract a student’s mind from other problems he/she may be dealing with outside of the classroom. This may work, but it is not something I would want to do too frequently….
• Articles/Real Event News Related to Chemistry: Chemistry is hard to learn because it is really hard to visualize. I often hear people complaining about the Mythical Irrelevant Chemistry Syndrome (MICS): How chemistry is a bunch of symbols that have no place in the world. Having something related to the ‘real’ world be it an article, movie clip or image, can really help educate and maybe even inspire students to learn….
• Breaking Apparent Logic. I have seen this done by about three teachers/professors in my life. It is a technique that requires planning and intelligence. I’ll use an example from my high school math/physics teacher, who is one of the coolest people in the world. Period. He mentioned the concept of gravity and how it affects velocity, force, etc. He then asks us that if we keep in mind weight, size and mass, which would fall first to the earth–a small marker or a thick textbook? From ‘apparent’ logic, you would say the book because it would have more force, mass, etc. But then after he dropped both of them and they fell at the same time, he ‘broke’ the student’s ‘apparent’ logic. It immediately captured most of the students’ attention. If anything, by instinct as humans react to loud noises. XD Actually, my chemistry professor did something of this method with calculating atomic mass. The only issue was, I think he tripped up a lot of students with introducing the electron mass because some students left confused. (I was confused for other reasons.) So this method is a bit dangerous, but excellent when executed correctly.
• Bringing up Facts That are Directly Related to the Students. The keyword is RELATED. You can pull any fact (like how ice in water will remain at the same temperature until the ice fully melts) but it doesn’t mean much to a student unless you can relate it to the student or the student to it. You can, for example, offer the student a glass of water and offer the student to propose on how to make the cup of water as cold as possible and then crack this fact on the student when he/she puts ton of ice in 60 mL of water.
• Mnemonic (can’t spell it), Rhyming, Catchy Slogan technique(s): Psychology studies suggest that rhythm helps with memory. That is how the Quran is easier to memorize than other religious texts because it has a slight rhythm(s) to it. Similarly, songs, slogans and other things get committed to memory easier than rope memorizing because it exercises different parts of the mind. Red Cat [reduce at cathode], LEO says GER [Loss Electron=Oxidation/Gain Electron=Reduction], Percent to Mass, Mass to Mole; Divide by smallest and multiply until whole [empirical formula], Clouds Hovering Over [balancing combustion reactions: first Carbon, Hydrogen, then Oxygen] etc. I still remember them and they are dead useful on a test. But I never really understood the:’ If it were left up to me, it would be down right easy’ [significant figures] one. But then again, I suck at sig figs.
• Emphasize Proper Nutrition and Exercise at Home  in the Classroom. I know this isn’t really related to chemistry, but if a student gets this right, I read a study a year ago that performance increases by 30%! And it is good for the student’s physical, psychological and emotional health, which in turn will help them in the classroom. I am not saying to lecture them everyday, but giving a gentle push or offering something can work wonders for an individual. Speaking of which, I haven’t gone for a run today….
• Asking the Right Questions. This point is specifically in dedication to Mr. Ibrahim, my AP English teacher, my current chemistry professor, and my current history/gender and urban life professor. This is critical for learning in the classroom. You can ask any question, but if you ask the *RIGHT* questions, it can bring a student’s attention back to the subject/teacher. But this requires caution because some questions might be excellent, and the students are thinking, but they need a little ‘help’ or ‘guidance’ or what to look for. For example, my history professor mentioned about the validity of some of the sources of historical studies. I mentioned how almost all the information was procured by a distinct group of people in society, how the questions were biased, how there were no empirical facts. She was looking for us to see the ulterior motive for that particular group of people making that study. To make that inference, she needed to ask us: Well, why do you think the ***** would want to have these studies in the first place? That is a good way of guiding the student without necessarily spoon feeding the student. An excellent chemistry example happened recently: My professor inquired a group of students how the nature of scientific discovery or logic of deduction affect us in other areas of life (i.e. decision making). That took chemistry out of the classroom and made students wonder how scientific thinking literally affects them.

…There are many other points, but I’ll give this as enough for one post. You also don’t want to give students too much to read. XD And I am tired of typing and I think it is safe to say that you are sick of reading. I’ll ramble more later.

Please pray I become the best chemistry teacher I can be and if you have ANY advice (even if you think it is stupid or politically incorrect), please feel free to comment or email me!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum,

I am such a silly mood right now because I just found out I have this HUGE project assigned… ahh I forgot the intricacies of the academic world in the past year…. This post is particularly dedicated to Spiderman, who will never learn to appreciate or even simply learn chemistry. (But I will teach you how to balance an equation, insha’ Allah)

I don’t know if this will become a series, but I HAD to put this up–

My chemistry professor put some links on our chemistry webpage to some articles that explain concepts from class. I saw this photo and I broke out laughing in the middle of the computer lab:

Its like this guy. the good news is that he filled up with gas. The bad news is that the gas nozzle is still attached.

Link: http://www.chemistryland.com/CHM130W/07-Mole/Mole.htm

—

(I swear, I am waiting for some friend of mine to do this. I won’t say who. XD)

—

Random chemistry moment: (What makes it so funny is how my professor can say this with such a straight face)

Professor: So why is this idea a good one? (In reference to his method of calculating atomic mass)

*class is silent*

Professor: I mean, other than that it was MY idea….

XD

—

(After my professor lectured non stop for an hour about AMUs, moles, atoms, random percent composition, etc.) [roughly quoted]

Me: What… just happened for the past hour?

Friend: We were learning chemistry. Weren’t you paying attention?

Me: Yeah… I took notes, I wrote what he said, but I don’t know what happened.

Friend: Are you okay?

Me: I think I am experiencing a Chemistry Coma…. or a Chemistry Hangover from too much exposure.

—

And random calculus moments:

Professor: A limit that approaches to two different values from each side is kind of like going out with your honey. Your honey is going to one restaurant (name) and you are going to another restaurant (name). It is inconvenient, but it happens.

-

Professor: When the (f(x)=x^2) graph vertex hits the x axis, it just *kisses* it.

—

More as the semester continues….

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum,

EDIT: This is a super old post in my draft box and I am too lazy to finish it. I am still procrastinating my overdue history homework–

While I am still on my Shaykh Hamza note taking rampage, why don’t I include his book, Purification of the Heart?
I am just basically listing each illness and its cure, so they are not very good notes and I would recommend that everyone should read this book. Again, this is just to summarize or list the core principles. You should read the book.

—

Purification of the Heart

—

Miserliness: (stingy/hoarding money) The treatment is to realize those who achieve great wealth normally do so after wasting his/her whole life. And life goes by and soon it is over. So through contemplation can you get over this disease.

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Wantonness: (careless or reckless in regards to moral integrity) The treatment is to willfully experience hunger and to reflect the seriousness of death and the afterlife. Hunger is important for spiritual growth and reflecting on death and how we should take it seriously would shatter the the will to be wanton.

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Hatred: Pray for the one you hate and with sincerity your heart can mend.

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Iniquity: (strong injustice) The cure is to have certainty of the ultimate destiny of humanity–death. Then you have to be fair.

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Love of the World: We can love the Quran, our parents etc. but not money, jewels, anything leading to greediness and arrogance. There is no cure that is specifically mentioned, but thinking of death and the reality of life I think can break this one. (My two cents, anyway.)

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Envy: Consciously oppose one’s caprice (random change of mind) and the other is to know with certainty that holding envy against another person can harm oneself. Praying for yourself and the other person can help too.

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Blameworthy Modesty: (Being too shy to take charge when something goes wrong) No cure is listed, but swallow your fear and stand up if you see something is wrong! =)

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Fantasizing: The cure is to think of God or look at your own faults and work on them rather than thinking of other people or things that don’t matter to you.

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Fear of Poverty: The treatment is to have a good opinion of God and know that He will provide for you.

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Ostentation: (showing off–specifically wealth or being holy) Doing acts of worship in private or when people are not watching. You can also read surah Ikhlas

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Relying on Other Than God: Keep thinking of God and how He provides for you, holds all benefits, and tests people.

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…Maybe the rest later….