Voltaic Cell Animation

Hey guys! So I found an animation on YouTube that demonstrates what happens in a voltaic cell. If any of you have struggled with understanding this, watching this may help!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ljxodF9_g

Spontaneous Reactions

It was really interesting to see today Kayli's demonstration of what a spontaneous reaction can look like. You know, I can't help but think about how a large majority of reactions we have done in lab are spontaneous reactions. It seems as if a lot of reactions in nature are actually spontaneous, and yet there are still quite a few times in which we have to continually input energy in order to maintain the reaction. It certainly is easy to tell the difference between the two though, since if a reaction starts and keeps going without us doing anything it must be spontaneous. 

But why do you think that might happen? According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, it seems as if the universe will actually move towards disorder on its own. What do you think this might mean in terms of reactions? What would be classified as "orderly" and "disorderly"?

Just some fruit for thought, see you all either tomorrow in lab or in class on Wednesday.

Matt

Doubt

Verb: feel uncertain about, question the truth or fact of (something), disbelieve (a person or their word), feel uncertain, esp. about one's religious beliefs.

As the definition implies, the word “doubt” carries a substantial negative connotation, especially in reference to religious beliefs.  From a Christian perspective doubt is seen as especially dangerous territory.  One of the twelve disciples has even been labeled as “Doubting Thomas” due to his disbelief in Jesus’ rising from the dead.  Doubt brings questions about a topic or theory to the surface; when the item in question is something as central and important as one’s faith, there is resistance to those questions because there is fear that it could shake one’s faith.  However, in her talk on 3/20, Dr. Francl presented doubt in a far more positive setting.  She proposed doubt as an opportunity to ask questions that enable one to dig deeper and learn more about a topic.  With this approach, we need not see doubt as something that is going to completely change our minds or force us to turn our backs on our faith.  Instead, doubt can be seen as an invitation to investigate a question in order to learn more about an aspect of Christian faith.