Premeds - take chemistry more seriously

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Teleologist

Teleologist

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Just by hanging out in the MCAT forum one witnesses almost hourly what little chemistry that many premeds know.

Here's one reason to learn chemistry:

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/14/tms_diazomethane_update_on_a_fatality.php#396800

Jose's comment is right. When I was at Uni, a girl got a spill of CH2Cl2 in her eye, went to ER and the first question she had after explaining the incident was : is that a base or an acid?

These are all the premeds who we taught. See, they were only interested in what they needed to know for the next exam.
Click to expand...

I bet 20 dollars that half the people here don't even know whether methylene chloride (I named it without having to Google it either) is an acid or a base. Methylene because it possesses the methylene radical, -CH2, and chloride, because, well, Cl.

In all seriousness, many premeds don't take chemistry seriously. At least in my experience. What about yours? Do you take chemistry seriously?
 
Teleologist said:
Just by hanging out in the MCAT forum one witnesses almost hourly what little chemistry that many premeds know.

Here's one reason to learn chemistry:

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/14/tms_diazomethane_update_on_a_fatality.php#396800



I bet 20 dollars that half the people here don't even know whether methylene chloride (I named it without having to Google it either) is an acid or a base. Methylene because it possesses the methylene radical, -CH2, and chloride, because, well, Cl.

In all seriousness, many premeds don't take chemistry seriously. At least in my experience. What about yours? Do you take chemistry seriously?
Click to expand...

How should I wire you 20 dollars?
 
ProudMD said:
How should I wire you 20 dollars?
Click to expand...

Save it for when you don't get into med school.

EDIT: save it for your malpractice suit.

"I swore that CH2Cl2 was a base!!! And so I doused him with sulfuric acid to neutralize the base! But now he's missing a cornea!"
 
:wtf:

What a lame story; DCM should not be used in General Chemistry labs and everyone must wear goggles when they are in lab.
 
Teleologist said:
Just by hanging out in the MCAT forum one witnesses almost hourly what little chemistry that many premeds know.

Here's one reason to learn chemistry:

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/14/tms_diazomethane_update_on_a_fatality.php#396800



I bet 20 dollars that half the people here don't even know whether methylene chloride (I named it without having to Google it either) is an acid or a base. Methylene because it possesses the methylene radical, -CH2, and chloride, because, well, Cl.

In all seriousness, many premeds don't take chemistry seriously. At least in my experience. What about yours? Do you take chemistry seriously?
Click to expand...
Please, tell me more about how you're more qualified than everyone else because you could name one compound without googling it. It's a riveting tale.
 
Teleologist said:
Just by hanging out in the MCAT forum one witnesses almost hourly what little chemistry that many premeds know.

Here's one reason to learn chemistry:

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/14/tms_diazomethane_update_on_a_fatality.php#396800



I bet 20 dollars that half the people here don't even know whether methylene chloride (I named it without having to Google it either) is an acid or a base. Methylene because it possesses the methylene radical, -CH2, and chloride, because, well, Cl.

In all seriousness, many premeds don't take chemistry seriously. At least in my experience. What about yours? Do you take chemistry seriously?
Click to expand...

Ok

1) IUPAC naming for this is "dichloromethane" not "methylene chloride" you pretentious prick.

2) It isn't strongly acidic or basic, the danger it poses is due to metabolism into CO and/or carcinogenic properties. You are a pretentious prick.

3) Seriously in all seriousness, you are a prick. A pretentious one, too.
 
to lighten this thread and hopefully we can all forget about OP, I was in advanced Ochem lab using a pipet to transfer some dichloromethane into a flask with my lab partner standing next to me. Suddenly, somehow, as I tilted the pipet the pressure change of some sort caused it to shoot from the pipet onto my lab partners bare neck/chest area :wideyed: she started freaking out saying it burns and ran to the safety shower ... first and only time I've seen one of those in action... room was flooded and she was soaked..
I was like :whoa: haha i felt terrible but she got to go home and not do the rest of the lab.

A couple of professors that came by explained that dichloromethane on the skin (especially <1mm that shot on her) isn't that harmful it just feels like burning bc it evaporates so quickly and she would be fine. Now, if it's in your eyes that's a different story...
 
amad01 said:
to lighten this thread and hopefully we can all forget about OP, I was in advanced Ochem lab using a pipet to transfer some dichloromethane into a flask with my lab partner standing next to me. Suddenly, somehow, as I tilted the pipet the pressure change of some sort caused it to shoot from the pipet onto my lab partners bare neck/chest area :wideyed: she started freaking out saying it burns and ran to the safety shower ... first and only time I've seen one of those in action... room was flooded and she was soaked..
I was like :whoa: haha i felt terrible but she got to go home and not do the rest of the lab.

A couple of professors that came by explained that dichloromethane on the skin (especially <1mm that shot on her) isn't that harmful it just feels like burning bc it evaporates so quickly and she would be fine. Now, if it's in your eyes that's a different story...
Click to expand...

That's some pretty scary stuff! But thankfully your lab partner wasn't injured in anyway.
 
Pretty sure I don't remember most of the Orgo I studied since I took the MCAT. At least I'm not a prick like OP. Insulting @ProudMD was totally uncalled for. I don't care if you know all the chemistry in the world. It doesn't give you the right to be a huge dick.
 
Ace Khalifa said:
Pretty sure I don't remember most of the Orgo I studied since I took the MCAT. At least I'm not a prick like OP. Insulting @ProudMD was totally uncalled for. I don't care if you know all the chemistry in the world. It doesn't give you the right to be a huge dick.
Click to expand...

‡ Never forget ‡

He clearly knows little to nothing about chemistry, I suspect he may be in middle school. Hear that OP? I think you may need the $20 for your plane ticket to the Caribbean.
 
Teleologist said:
Just by hanging out in the MCAT forum one witnesses almost hourly what little chemistry that many premeds know.

Here's one reason to learn chemistry:

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/14/tms_diazomethane_update_on_a_fatality.php#396800



I bet 20 dollars that half the people here don't even know whether methylene chloride (I named it without having to Google it either) is an acid or a base. Methylene because it possesses the methylene radical, -CH2, and chloride, because, well, Cl.

In all seriousness, many premeds don't take chemistry seriously. At least in my experience. What about yours? Do you take chemistry seriously?
Click to expand...
Every statement you made here is pretty incorrect.
 
lol my UG was small = not a ton of money for facilities = science building was built before OSHA required emergency showers/floor drains possibly? because we didn't have floor drains for the emergency showers....
 
allenlchs said:
:wtf:

What a lame story; DCM should not be used in General Chemistry labs and everyone must wear goggles when they are in lab.
Click to expand...

I don't think the comment said where DCM was used.

Also as a gen chem lab TA just the other week we were letting students use DCM. I'm pretty sure that it's okay to use DCM in a gen chem setting then, because the same lab has been repeated by thousands of students each year.
 
efle said:
Ok

1) IUPAC naming for this is "dichloromethane" not "methylene chloride" you pretentious prick.
Click to expand...

Wait, I never claimed that methylene chloride was the IUPAC name, or that I would give the IUPAC name. Do you call benzene by its systematic name? Common name, IUPAC name, picture, formula, abbreviation (i.e. DCM) - it's all the same molecule. And when you splashed some in your eye, who cares what it's called - just know whether it's an acid or base! LOL.

efle said:
2) It isn't strongly acidic or basic, the danger it poses is due to metabolism into CO and/or carcinogenic properties. You are a pretentious prick.
Click to expand...

Agree with first statement, but then an non-sequitur?

Don't take it to personally. You might know, but clearly the attending in the OP didn't know whether it was an acid or a base.
 
I cant be the only one on SDN that is actually majoring I organic chemistry...
 
Teleologist said:
Wait, I never claimed that methylene chloride was the IUPAC name, or that I would give the IUPAC name. Do you call benzene by its systematic name? Common name, IUPAC name, picture, formula, abbreviation (i.e. DCM) - it's all the same molecule. And when you splashed some in your eye, who cares what it's called - just know whether it's an acid or base! LOL.



Agree with first statement, but then an non-sequitur?

Don't take it to personally. You might know, but clearly the attending in the OP didn't know whether it was an acid or a base.
Click to expand...
Do you know what constitutes a molecule being an acid or a base??? You keep asking whether this molecule is an acid or a base and it's neither..
 
Teleologist said:
Wait, I never claimed that methylene chloride was the IUPAC name, or that I would give the IUPAC name. Do you call benzene by its systematic name? Common name, IUPAC name, picture, formula, abbreviation (i.e. DCM) - it's all the same molecule. And when you splashed some in your eye, who cares what it's called - just know whether it's an acid or base! LOL.



Agree with first statement, but then an non-sequitur?

Don't take it to personally. You might know, but clearly the attending in the OP didn't know whether it was an acid or a base.
Click to expand...
You sound like you sure know your chemistry. That's actually really awesome, because there's something that I've been trying to understand about ammonia for a while.
I never quite understood how to express the tunneling effect that allows the ammonia molecule to switch between the two states in the form of a solvable Hamiltonian. Could you show me how to derive the eigenvalues of the bra-ket vector that expresses those states so that both eigenstates are formulated (Could you remind me if it's just a basic matrix transformation or a determinant that is needed? I just can't remember)?
Thanks! I'm sure you'll know this from the top of your head.
 
Hrdrock said:
Do you know what constitutes a molecule being an acid or a base??? You keep asking whether this molecule is an acid or a base and it's neither..
Click to expand...

Wait, you don't know what a rhetorical question is?
 
aprimenumber said:
You sound like you sure know your chemistry. That's actually really awesome, because there's something that I've been trying to understand about ammonia for a while.
I never quite understood how to express the tunneling effect that allows the ammonia molecule to switch between the two states in the form of a solvable Hamiltonian. Could you show me how to derive the eigenvalues of the bra-ket vector that expresses those states so that both eigenstates are formulated (Could you remind me if it's just a basic matrix transformation or a determinant that is needed? I just can't remember)?
Thanks! I'm sure you'll know this from the top of your head.
Click to expand...

Damn, I manage to kill every one of the chemistry questions in the MCAT sub-forum and here you come along with a question that stumps even me. I guess we all have some learning to do (myself included).

It's for the good of the corneas! No more eyes getting burned out and helpless attendants Googling stuff when they could be saving eyes!
 
stop-wave.gif
 
Teleologist said:
Save it for when you don't get into med school.

EDIT: save it for your malpractice suit.

"I swore that CH2Cl2 was a base!!! And so I doused him with sulfuric acid to neutralize the base! But now he's missing a cornea!"
Click to expand...

Research shows that physicians are significantly more likely to be sued if their patients don't like them. I suggest you collect your $20 and open up a nice savings account, kid. You're gonna need the best malpractice insurance you can get.
 
-It's the student's fault for not wearing goggles.

-Saying Methylene Chloride is just as valid as Dichloromethane. It's standard to remember both the common and IUPAC name, so there's no reason to flog the OP about it.

-There's no Methylene component to Methylene Chloride. Methanol used to be called Methylene, and Methylene chloride is structurally derived from Methanol, not the Methylene. Not to mention the presence of two chlorides, not one. Generally, common names are easier to remember, but their relevance to actual structure can be misleading. That's why we remember both common and IUPAC.

-
 
Holmwood said:
-It's the student's fault for not wearing goggles.

-Saying Methylene Chloride is just as valid as Dichloromethane. It's standard to remember both the common and IUPAC name, so there's no reason to flog the OP about it.

-There's no Methylene component to Methylene Chloride. Methanol used to be called Methylene, and Methylene chloride is structurally derived from Methanol, not the Methylene. Not to mention the presence of two chlorides, not one. Generally, common names are easier to remember, but their relevance to actual structure can be misleading. That's why we remember both common and IUPAC.

-
Click to expand...

-In an introductory level lab it may be the fault of the TA for not giving a proper safety demo/education

-It would be as valid, except he was trying to show off his profound savvy with compound naming based on the components, so he should have arrived at the IUPAC nomenclature not a semi-erroneous common name.

-extra dash
 
Teleologist said:
Just by hanging out in the MCAT forum one witnesses almost hourly what little chemistry that many premeds know.

Here's one reason to learn chemistry:

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/05/14/tms_diazomethane_update_on_a_fatality.php#396800



I bet 20 dollars that half the people here don't even know whether methylene chloride (I named it without having to Google it either) is an acid or a base. Methylene because it possesses the methylene radical, -CH2, and chloride, because, well, Cl.

In all seriousness, many premeds don't take chemistry seriously. At least in my experience. What about yours? Do you take chemistry seriously?
Click to expand...

You put water in the eye to neutralize it. Not acid. Not base. Continue putting water in it until pH is 7.4. Appearance of the eye will probably tell me if it was acid or base. Base does more damage, causes liquefactive necrosis.
 
Teleologist said:
Save it for when you don't get into med school.

EDIT: save it for your malpractice suit.

"I swore that CH2Cl2 was a base!!! And so I doused him with sulfuric acid to neutralize the base! But now he's missing a cornea!"
Click to expand...

Sigh
 
Gosh OP, how incredibly impressive your immense knowledge is. Good thing such information is so valuable in determining your viability as a future physician. Oh wait...
 
Does anyone who's ever worked in an organic chemistry laboratory or even taken orgo lab actually refer to the solvent as "methylene chloride"??? The bottles are almost always labeled "DCM", intuitively: "Dichloromethane"
 
efle said:
Don't you sigh at him, he's going to be a very important doctor one day b/cus he knows all about acids!!1!
Click to expand...

Bruh, methylene chloride aint an acid.

Holmwood said:
-It's the student's fault for not wearing goggles.
Click to expand...

That's a fantastic attitude to have as a physician. It's the bloke's fault for not buying an SUV which would have kept him safe during the crash as opposed to a bike!
 
altblue said:
http://www.realclearscience.com/lists/worst_lab_accidents_in_history/
On topic, the worst chem accidents are ****ing scary though! 🙁
Click to expand...

I agree. A researcher at UCLA died after she squirted some t-butyllithium from a syringe into open air or something like that. No matter what the carbon-based salt was, I can't imagine that ending well; highly exothermic proton abstraction from whatever moisture in the air combined with the creation of a nice, combustible hydrocarbon and the presence of a nice hydrocarbon solvent for the t-buLi .... probably created a fireball instantly. Her sweater caught on fire and she died.
 
Knowing a lot about chemistry will not make you a better doctor. I just took an exam on group theory... Pretty sure I'm never going to see this stuff again unless it is somehow related to research I do in the future (which, judging on how irked I am at that exam, it may be some time before I want to even look at it again haha).

Also pretty sure DCM isn't really acidic or basic. It's not soluble in water, so I guess I would think that in the presence of some organic acid or base it would be more likely to lose a proton then gain one (or, in other words, lose electrons than donate them - the lone pairs on Cl aren't that great for sharing).

Vaguely recall reading somewhere that DCM can be slowly hydrolyzed into HCl over time... Now I want to boot up Web of Science 😉
 
Teleologist said:
Bruh, methylene chloride aint an acid.



That's a fantastic attitude to have as a physician. It's the bloke's fault for not buying an SUV which would have kept him safe during the crash as opposed to a bike!
Click to expand...

Brochefski, I was mocking you

That's not really the same thing, more like it's the bloke's fault for not wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle
 
Edit - The former post was called for but (in)appropriate.
 
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