PV = nRT!

[rebeccmeister]

Boy. I'm making slow progress on things, today. It's just one of those days. There's a job posting for a teaching position at South Puget Sound Community College, which is in Olympia, Washington. Olympia is a great town, in a great location. As I ponder this option, I wonder to myself, "Would I be happy teaching full-time? What about that call to leadership?" Such a job would certainly give me time and mental space to pursue my many other interests, like riding my bike, rowing, ceramics, knitting, gardening, et cetera. But would I get bored after a few years? The niggling doubt worries me. At the same time, I have a hard time dealing with uncertainty. Argh.

--

In other news, I had an "Oh, duh." moment last night. As I mentioned in my last post, I've been trying to track down energetic equivalents. Thing is, I've been doing this for a question where I don't need to bother with such details (thank goodness!). I've measured carbon dioxide production, and I know the carbon content of the materials that colonies are using. So I should be able to relate carbon to carbon; after all, that's what stoichiometry is all about! Much simpler than looking up or trying to measure energetic equivalents.

But then I had to think about how to convert between a volume of carbon dioxide and the percentage of dry mass composed of carbon. Oh yeah. That brought me back to Physical Chemistry, a class I took for "fun." Because, that's right, I can just use that classic equation PV = nRT to figure out how many moles of carbon I measured.

...with only one slight caveat. I don't know the operating temperature, offhand. I have to go back in to school to check it. Oh well.

Comments

T = 272K

[(Anonymous)]

I've been amazed at the varied applications of the ideal gas law.
The electrons in a metal can be considered to be a gas, and from this one can figure out how electrical conduction works.
The incandescent gas that comprises the sun can be considered an ideal gas, and from this one figures out conditions inside the sun.
I've been having fun, and I hope you have been too!
Love,
geeky Dad

whoops

[(Anonymous)]

T = 272K corresponds to 0 degrees C.
I think you can safely assume that the fungus grows at around 20 degrees C,
which is 292K. You're probably safe just to use 300K.
Love,
Dad

Teaching

[(Anonymous)]

Ummm... teaching at a community college equals time and mental space to pursue other interests? Not from my experience... I'm only teaching one course, and it's taking all of my time, and occupies my mind ALL the time. I'm sure not everybody's taking it as hard as I do, but if you just count the time it takes to prepare for lectures, prepare for labs, grade, write exams, think of activities, think of ways to make things clear, think about ways you could have answered the question better, etc., you don't have much time left. Not to mention the sleep deprivation due to waking up early in the morning thinking about TEACHING! Again, I'm only teaching one class. But I prepared for it before the semester started, and I still have all this work to do!
I have no idea how people do it with multiple classes. The only thing I can think that could help is having to teach a course you already have taught and already have all the material for it.
I still go to ceramics, but I'm always late now, and I wasn't when I only dealt with research...

Do