In this post, the contents shall be split into 4 sections.

Tick-Tock
Have started wearing a watch lately. Don't ask me why, cause I pretty much just feel like doing so. It is a watch that was worn by my father. Not a heirloom, just something he got while he was doing National Service many years back then. I just thought since he doesn't wear it anymore, I might as well do.

Anyway, my main point is that the watch have some certain effects on me. When ever there is pin-drop silence or when I'm calm and thinking. Moving the watch slightly closer to my face would result in me hearing the time going by. It sort of 'hurts' to see time go by and figuring out that there is little time to do this and that. As I listen, I feel as if time is speeding and getting faster after each strike, it just goes on faster and faster to me "tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.."

Having said that it really does reminds me once in awhile how near the O levels are already. Not just that of course, when ever I have some kind of dateline to meet, hearing the ticking sound makes me feel sort of unease and most importantly irritated.


School Reopening
School has reopened and so far everything has been fine. Would take sometime to adjust to the extra class that are held after normal school lessons. Over due homework to meet adds on just as much. Luckily I don't really have many of them though.

I'm pretty much looking forward to a better semester this half year with most misunderstandings cleared and all that. I am sort of doing my best to change after recieving some comments before school resume and what I am doing best at the moment is shutting my ears from unwanted comments. That's one skill mastered!

It feels much better to return to school I guess. Even though there are a lot of work to do, but as a student, school kinda still suits me better after all. Mopping around at home isn't something I would consider great. Kinda boring and all that. There are just so much more things that can be done in school too.


CHEMISTRY, A NIGHTMARE
I'm still confused over Acids, Bases and Salts and although MANY people are telling to go around the problem, I just can't accept it. I guess I just have to find some time to see Mdm Yaw and clear all my doubts. This has practically became an obstacle from me thinking properly and doing well for Chemistry. Not to mention I failed in the last Acid, Bases and Salts test. Just so darn frustrated since no one seems to be able to provide me with an answer thus far.

You would most probably be wondering what could be getting to me so greatly. This is what it is all about:

To test for Sulfate ion we use acidified Barium Nitrate. Add the acidified Barium Nitrate to the unknown solution and look out for white precipitation. If white precipitation is seen, sulfate ion is present. As we know, this white precipitate is actually the formation of Barium Sulfate.

Using this knowledge, we use the same reagents to test for sulfuric acid. There are sulfate ions in sulfuric acid, as such by adding acidified Barium Nitrate we should get the white precipitate, Barium Sulfate. But there shouldn't be any reaction between an acid with a nitrate!

What's more this is what I saw from my tb. This makes me terribly confused.

So my questions are:

1. Can an acid react with a nitrate? If no, why?
2. What is the role of the nitric acid in acidifying the Barium Nitrate before adding it into the unknown solution?

Care to explain?


STUBBORN PIG
So as you can see, I'm pretty much a stubborn person who would never allow myself to choose an easy way out of something like that. People have told me that I just have to accept how things are. However, I won't allow myself to just memo it and accept it without understanding how it came to be. I am more of a WHY person more than WHAT. In other terms, I'm a logical learner who refuse to accept anything I learn without knowing how and what I am actually doing and applying.

This was the same case as when I couldn't remember the Reactivity Series for the same subject. I was lucky though as I had Clara who came up or was taught of a certain method of remembering it. Even though I still have yet to find out the proper way of determining and arranging the elements of the Periodic Table according to their reactivity, I at least managed to found myself a method to remember it with the least effort. One way to put it is that I'm stubborn, the other would maybe be lazy. That's pretty much the main difference between Physics and Chemistry once again.

Meeting up with Mdm Yaw would include clearing up this unresolved question on how the elements in the metals (in actual fact, the transition metals) are arranged in the Reactivity Series, the above and finding out about a certain question I have on Metals.



I must get going already, have lots of work to do. My frequency of post would most probably be declining due to more effort that I am going to put in into this final few laps of the race to the big 'O's like Sharon puts it.

ja-na!

PLAYLIST:
Take Your Sweet Time - Jesse McCartney

The Stupid Things - Jesse McCartney

Not Your Enemy - Jesse McCartney

Kiss Me Thru The Phone - Soulja Boy