Friday May 14th, 2010

First journal of the 3rd partial (time passes so quickly). Today we saw the intro of the 3rd partial main theme: ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

First of all, what's Organic Chemistry? simply, it's the the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds.

Now, knowing that we're going to hear carbon so many times that technically we are going to dream with it, we'll see an interesting characteristic of this necessary element for life.

Depending on the length of the carbon molecule and it's shape, the molecule is part of something different (if it has linear shape it forms one thing, if it has an "L" shape it forms another thing, etc.)

The parts of an organic molecule are:

• Prefix.- The first part of the molecule's name
• Suffix.- The second part of the molecule's name

The prefix indicates the number of carbons that are in the molecule:

1. Meth (Methane)
   
2. Eth (Ethanol)
   
3. Prop (Propane)
4. But (Butane)
5. Pent
6. Hex
7. Hept

There are different types of formulas that we're going to see and use in the rest of the semester, and they are:

• CH4 -----> Molecular Formula (it tells us what do we have)
• H-C-C-C-C-H -------> Structural Formula
• CH3-CH3 -------> Condensed Formula
  

The phenomenon of using the same components but making different structures (and consequently different physical objects) is calledIsomery. A more "official" definition of it is this:

Isomery: "A molecule with the same molecular formula, but different structural formula".

Homar Hurtado