Chem 1A Literacy Practices

Lesly Alvarez
Literacy Practices in the Discipline of Chemistry
Professor Johnson
Writing 2
May 04, 2016

Chem 1A Literacy Practices

Literacy Practices in the Discipline of Chemistry

In the mind of a chemist, you can never just look at something; you become intrigued by
the substance and immediately want to know more about it. Luckily, as my Chemistry professor,
Dr. Kunkel, would say, the cool thing about Chemistry is that, you can look at something like a
crystal and understand why it looks like that, and what is happening. (Kunkel, 2016). There are
many sub disciplines of Chemistry, but for the most part, chemists study simple forms of matter.
We often hear the names of famous chemists such as: Dimitri Mendeleev, who created the table
of elements, and the spectroscope and capillarity of liquids, and John Dalton, founder of the
atomic theory. All of the achievements these chemists made years ago are still incorporated today
and contribute to many new discoveries. With that said, Chemistry is one of those disciplines
where you are required to work with other scientists work. It is a discipline where there is a
never-ending cycle of discoveries. These discoveries are made through communication with one
another; therefore, there has to be a way to conduct such research and make sure that it becomes
available to other scientists. The writing literacy practices for Chemistry are different than the
ones we are used to using in our classes like English and Philosophy, but nevertheless they meet
the purpose for what a chemist does. I am currently taking the Chem 1A class, and through it,
three specific literary practices have stood out to me: experimentation, the use of lengthy
mathematical analysis, and the use of other scientists work. Overall, these literary practices have
the requirements and conventions needed to make Chemistry possible.
One of the most common literary practices, in anything that is Chemistry related, is the
use of experimentation. We have been taught the scientific method since middle school and have
learned that experiments are one if of the most important things to do when trying to prove your
hypothesis. Experimentation is one of the many ways to prove something, and in this case it is

Chem 1A Literacy Practices

pivotal if you want your hypothesis to become a theory. Your hypothesis gains validity trough
these experiments. For example, Dr. Kunkel participated in a research study called, ClayCatalyzed Cracking Leads to Suppressed Flammability in Clay-Polyolefin Nanocomposites, and
in this study their goal is to examine organoclay-polyolefin nanocomposites. In this case they are
not trying to prove a hypothesis, but rather, they want to know why different modifications of
this clay leads to different thermal and flammability levels. It The article says, Organoclaypolyolefin nanocomposites have been shown to exhibit slightly increased thermal stability and
decreased flammability, compared to unfilled polyolefins. In contrast, we find that when they
clay has not been organically modified, the resulting polyolefin nanocomposites are less
thermally stable and, unexpectedly, ore flammable,. (Page 1076). Rather than being used to
prove something, in this case, experimentation is being manipulated conducted to figure out what
is occurring during the burning of these different clays. This is one of the many ways
experimentation is used throughout the Chemistry field.
Experiments were being done as early as the pre-seventeenth century. Over time they
have gotten fancier and more complex, but nevertheless, through experiments, many scientists
have made multiple discoveries. One discovery that is very common is the discovery of the
electron charge. This was done by the scientist, Joseph J.Thomson (1856-1940) at Cavendish
laboratory in Cambridge, England. Scientists took a cathode tube and would change the voltage
to make streams of electricity travel up and forth in the tube. No one knew exactly why. J.J.
Thomson became curious and took matters into his own hand. In his experiment he used a
positively charged metal plate and a negatively charged metal plate to change the direction of the
cathode rays. The negatively charges plate repelled the cathode rays, while the positively
chargeds plate attracted them. All of these things were documented, which is why we know of it

Chem 1A Literacy Practices

them to this day. There are other forms of documenting things in Chemistry, and one of the more
common ones is math calculations.
The use of lengthy mathematical analysis is one of the literary practices I have also
noticed. Many things in Chemistry require calculations, which is why it is very common. One
example where math calculations are required is in a buffer. A buffer is a solution made of a
weak acid or base mixed with a salt. It can take changes in pH and is able to neutralize it even
when there is a weak base or acid added to the solution. In the study, Buffer Index and Buffer
Capacity for a Simple Buffer Solution, they Veronica and Gabriel talk about the equation
B=db/dpH and many other equations you use for buffer solutions. They can manipulate many
equations to calculate the pH, and show some of their work on this research paper. Also, in
Professor Kunkels research paper they calculated the temperature and weight of the clays and
graphed it out. Both of these papers also include more than one scientist. Very often do they
work withScientists often collaborate with one another, one another which is why I included the
use scientists work as one of the literary practices in Chemistry.
Every discovery and research papers includes some type of input from another scientist.
Understanding simple forms of matter and the way things chemically work is complex. Rarely
do you run into someone who knows it all in Chemistry, so connections and inputs from other
scientists are very important. In the research paper Dr. Kunkels participated in, and in the
Buffer Index and Buffer Capacity for a Simple Buffer Solution, paper, I noticed that the
phrase, according to, was used often. Both papers used information from other sources and
make made sure to give them credit. Credit is always given in Chemistry. Even in my Chem 1A
class I have noticed Professor Kunkel giving credit to some of our famous scientist and their
discoveries.

Chem 1A Literacy Practices

In my Chemistry class, all of the three literacy practices I chose are present.
Experimentation, is done in lecture at times to show us how these concepts work and to show
what is happening chemically. We did an experiment where we got to see string electrolytes
make a light bulb turn on, weak electrolytes give a dim light, and non-electrolytes give no light.
This was because strong electrolytes completely dissociate. Chem 1A is one quarter of Chemistry
consisting of a lot of mathematical calculations. Professor Kunkel chooses to write everything
out on the chalkboard, and goes through all the steps required to get to the answer. She says she
chooses this teaching technique because, its useful for both me and the students. People are
more engaged than if I had slides. Slides are sort of restrictive and a chalk board is more
spontaneous. This is true in my caseIn my case this is true. As opposed to having slides, I get to
follow along in class and do active learning for the entire lecture This seems to be more helpful
for me. I am a visual learner, so this strategy of teaching is more useful for me. Also, since there
is a lot of formulas for these mathematical problems, she gives a bit of background on where and
from who these formulas came from. We are always working with other scientists work in
Chemistry. Observing my Chemistry class turned out to be very interesting because I got to see
that the literacy practices that happened in the class were influenced by the discipline of
Chemistry.
In conclusion, we repeatedly see these literacy practices come up in Chemistry- related
topics. The reason behind this is the objective feature Chemistry has. In Chemistry everything is
factual, which is why we will never see any literary practices that are not factual based. In other
subjects like Philosophy and English we will get some literary practices like made-up scenarios.
In Chemistry this would not work because a chemist must use facts only. This is why their
research papers also have a unique styleDue to this, Chemistry papers have a unique style. One

Chem 1A Literacy Practices

of their unique attribute is that they have an experimentation section where they explain their
processes thoroughly. Overall, due to the unbiased and experimental features involved in the
complex study of Chemistry, scholars have accommodated literacy practices that fit their
discipline, and we could can see the presence of these practices all throughout the field.

Chem 1A Literacy Practices

7
References

B. Kunkel, personal communication, April 04, 2016.

Chiriac V., Balea G., (1997). Buffer index
and buffer capacity for a simple buffer solution. Journal of Chemical Education, 74.8,
937-939
Kunkel, B.M., Peoples, B.C., Yung, C.M., Scott, S.L., (2011). Clay catalyzed cracking
leads to
suppressed flammability in clay-polyolefin nanocomposites. Macromolecular Materials
and Engineering, 296, 1075-1080.