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what rules are there in regards to abbreviations/words you use in chemistry? (1 Viewer)

niecoups

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basically what the title says...

As far as im aware, so far our school has banned us from using the word "colourless" in exams and my teacher has recently told me i'm not allowed to write RORf=RORr in order to denote Rate of reaction (forward/reverse). Which for that, id understand i suppose but I genuinely don't understand why not colourless?!? Like if i were to talk about the colour ranges for Phenophaelin, what am I meant to use to describe the beginning range as??? Transculent?? Opaque...?.

I really dont want to get marked down for something i didn't even know was against guidelines so if there are any rules i should be aware of ahead of time, pls lmk!!! I was also wondering if some schools/in the HSC will mark you down if you use the terms ionisation and dissociation interchangeably? I have been taught how those two concepts are very different however my friend from another school has stated that her teacher says they are the exact same processes/the exact same thing, so im just confused.

any inputs would be greatly appreciated :blink2: Thank you!
 

coolcat6778

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basically what the title says...

As far as im aware, so far our school has banned us from using the word "colourless" in exams and my teacher has recently told me i'm not allowed to write RORf=RORr in order to denote Rate of reaction (forward/reverse). Which for that, id understand i suppose but I genuinely don't understand why not colourless?!? Like if i were to talk about the colour ranges for Phenophaelin, what am I meant to use to describe the beginning range as??? Transculent?? Opaque...?.

I really dont want to get marked down for something i didn't even know was against guidelines so if there are any rules i should be aware of ahead of time, pls lmk!!! I was also wondering if some schools/in the HSC will mark you down if you use the terms ionisation and dissociation interchangeably? I have been taught how those two concepts are very different however my friend from another school has stated that her teacher says they are the exact same processes/the exact same thing, so im just confused.

any inputs would be greatly appreciated :blink2: Thank you!
their reasoning is probably "you can't truly know if something is colourless, so it's not an observation" or some other bs reason idk.

ionisation is the losing or gaining electrons

disassociation is separating into ions
 

C2H6O

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basically what the title says...

As far as im aware, so far our school has banned us from using the word "colourless" in exams and my teacher has recently told me i'm not allowed to write RORf=RORr in order to denote Rate of reaction (forward/reverse). Which for that, id understand i suppose but I genuinely don't understand why not colourless?!? Like if i were to talk about the colour ranges for Phenophaelin, what am I meant to use to describe the beginning range as??? Transculent?? Opaque...?.

I really dont want to get marked down for something i didn't even know was against guidelines so if there are any rules i should be aware of ahead of time, pls lmk!!! I was also wondering if some schools/in the HSC will mark you down if you use the terms ionisation and dissociation interchangeably? I have been taught how those two concepts are very different however my friend from another school has stated that her teacher says they are the exact same processes/the exact same thing, so im just confused.

any inputs would be greatly appreciated :blink2: Thank you!
the terminology variations due to different school preferences are accounted for in HSC marking, ie colourless = transparent = clear = etc. same for Mg flame test as an example: colourless = no color = too dim and so on

ionisation and dissociation actually are actually slightly different so make sure you know the difference. idk why your friend might have been taught that cause while they are very similar i would refrain from using them interchangeably just in case cause idk how far the lenience can cover you. officially these terms are slightly different phenomena (according to google and what ive been taught)
 

Trial&Error

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As far as abbreviations are concerned, I believe you’re allowed to use them in the HSC as long as you ”define” the abbreviation first.

e.g. “As observed on the graph, the forward rate of reaction (RORf) is …. And thus we can say that the RORf…”

And you must “define” each abbreviation in every question before you use it.
But for school, just accept what your teacher says and roll with it.
 

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