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Five ideas in chemical education that must die

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Abstract

The article concerns five traditionally difficult issues that chemical educators encounter and how they should be resolved. In some cases I propose the examination of necessary and sufficient conditions in order to cast light on the relationships under discussion. The five educational issues are, the notion that a pH value of seven implies a neutral solution of water and vice versa, the use of Le Châtelier’s Principle, the relative occupation and ionization of 4s and 3d orbitals, the explanation of anomalous electronic configurations and the elements that make up group 3 of the periodic table.

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Notes

  1. This Idea Must Die, ed J. Brockman, Harper Perennial, New York, 2015.

  2. Philosophy of Chemistry: Synthesis of a New Discipline, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, ed D. Baird, E.R. Scerri and L. McIntyre, Springer, Dordrecht, 2006, vol 242; Philosophy of Chemistry: Growth of a New Discipline, Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, ed E.R. Scerri and L. McIntyre, Springer, Berlin, 2015, vol 306; E.R. Scerri, Collected Papers on the Philosophy of Chemistry, Imperial College Press, London, 2008; Foundations of Chemistry, Springer, https://link.springer.com/journal/10698.

  3. Another related false notion to do with pH is that the range of possible values runs from 1 to 14. These limits can easily be exceeded in cases of 1 M or 10 M solutions of strong acids (pH = 0 and −1 respectively) or 10−15 M, which yields a pH of 15, all of which values that novice chemistry students initially find rather shocking.

  4. D. W. Oxtoby, H. P. Gillis and A Campion, Principles of Modern Chemistry, 7th edition, Brooks/Cole, Belmont, 2012, p. 642.

  5. M. Munowitz, Principles of Chemistry, Norton, 2000. P. 454.

  6. A. Thompson, J. Stephens and A. Lainchbury, Advanced Chemistry Calculations, 2nd edition, Hodder Education, 1998, p. 116; M. Lewis and G. Waller, Advancing Chemistry, Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 263.

  7. S-G Wang and W H E Schwarz, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2009, 48, 3404 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200800827); E.R. Scerri, The trouble with the aufbau, Education in Chemistry, November 2013, 24–26, E R Scerri, A tale of seven elements.  Oxford University Press, 2013.

  8. R. Chang, Physical Chemistry for the Chemical and Biological Sciences, University Science Books, 2000, p. 602..

  9. One notable exception is the textbook by D.W. Oxtoby, H.P. Gillis and P. Campion, Principles of Modern Chemistry  (7th ed.), Brooks/Cole, 2012, p. 219.

  10. W H E Schwarz et al., Chem. Eur. J. 2006, 12, 4101, (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.200500945) (see figure 8 and accompanying text).

  11. W.B. Jensen, J. Chem. Educ., 1982, 59, 634 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/ed059p634).

  12. D.W. Oxtoby, H.P. Gillis and A. Campion, Principles of Modern Chemistry, Brooks/Cole, 7th ed, 2012, p. 71. However, on the inside cover, the table shows lanthanum and actinium in group 3.

  13. L. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, Quantum mechanics, Pergamon, 1959, p. 245; D.C. Hamilton and M.A. Jensen, Phys. Rev. Lett., 1963, 11, 205 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.11.205); D.C. Hamilton, Am. J. Phys., 1965, 33, 637 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1972042).

  14. Jensen implies that this reassignment of the configuration of ytterbium has been a ‘recent’ change. As a matter of fact, it was first made in 1937.

  15. This is not the case in the Janet or left-step periodic table, however, in which helium is placed in the s-block.

  16. E.R. Scerri, Mendeleev's Periodic Table Is Finally Completed and What To Do about Group 3? Chemistry International, July–August 2012, 3, 28.

    A very short introduction to the periodic table, Oxford University Press, 2008, Ch. 10.

  17. T.K. Sato et al., Nature, 2015, 520, 209 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14342).

  18. The proposal was first made in E R Scerri, Chem. Int., July–August 2012, 34, 28. Also see, E. Scerri, A Very Short Introduction to the Periodic Table, Oxford University Press, 2011, chapter 10.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Eric R. Scerri

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Scerri, E.R. Five ideas in chemical education that must die. Found Chem 21, 61–69 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-018-09327-y

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