Thank you for your interest in our summer workshops on Microscale Gas Chemistry and my course Chm 555, "Microscale Gas Chemistry".  Below I have attempted to answer some common questions that have clogged my mailbox.
 

QUESTION FROM MABEL FROM MANGANESE MILLS, MASSACHUSETTS: What is "Microscale Gas Chemistry" anyway?  Don't you mean "Microscope Gas Chemistry"?

ANSWER:  Mabel, thanks for catching our error!  No, just joking.  Microscale means less!  Less chemicals, less mess, less chemical wastes, less cost.  Less is more!  More learning, more experiments that are affordable, more fun because everyone can try the experiments!

QUESTION FROM CLANCY FROM CALCIUM CARBIDE, CONNECTICUT: What's so great about "gas chemistry"?  How come most books don't include many gas experiments?

ANSWER:  The first question — about the greatness of gas chemistry — is answered with a history lesson.  READ ON!  I know some of you are ready to bounce to the next question because you saw the “H” word!  “H”istory can be fun — especially in science where so many outlandish ideas prevailed for so long.  It’s all about men in funny clothes with goofy ideas!  In terms of history, it was the study of gases and the reactions they do (gas chemistry) that led 18th century chemists to understand modern chemistry — complete with oxygen being an element.  When we study gas chemistry, we try to include the interesting bits of history.  Your second question, Clancy, about the lack of lab experiments using gases:  Yep!  Not too many gas experiments out there.  Gases have been traditionally hard to handle — troughs are big and messy and gases tend to escape and you can’t even see them going.  Some folks just prefer solids and liquids.  However, with our simple big syringe techniques, gases are easy to manipulate and visualize.  Lots of concepts are taught with gases.
 

QUESTION FROM WILMA FROM HYDROGEN HEIGHTS, WASHINGTON: Do the students like these experiments?

ANSWER:  YES!  First off, they love the 60-mL syringes.  They get to see the gases being generated in the syringes right before their very own eyes!  Everyone thinks that is way cool.  You students will like the gas experiments better than any others that they do this next year!  If they don’t, that means you didn’t let them try the dynamite soap or the microscale hydrogen rocket.
 

QUESTION FROM OLIVIA FROM NITROGEN NARROWS, OREGON: Aren’t syringes kind of dangerous?

ANSWER:  Olivia, you hated the doctor’s office, didn’t you?  The syringes we use are not the implements of pain and suffering wielded by sadistic nurses bent of avenging all of humankind for their problems.  No, no, these are not those sorts of syringes.  These are big, fun, happy syringes — 60-mL plastic syringes — without needles!  They are sold for irrigating wounds, cleaning out ears, inoculating elephants, etc.  The kids do perk up when they see the big syringes.  And there will be some joking, but it’s all fun and soon they will think of them as gas dispensing vessels!
 

QUESTION FROM NED FROM NEON LIGHTS, NEVADA: So how does this credit thing work?  Three days for one credit?  And then there are some other possibilities?  What’s that all about?

ANSWER:  Our three day workshops can always be taken for credit from Creighton University.  If you take the workshop at the National Microscale Chemistry Center at Merrimack College or at any other location excluding Creighton, you have the option to get Creighton credit (graduate level) for participating.  When you sign up, you will pay a fee that covers the bare-bone expenses and stuff you get to bring home.  For an additional $250 or so, you can get one credit that may be used towards a masters degree in some cases.  If you are taking the workshop held at Creighton, you must take it for credit.  At Creighton, you will pay an additional lab fee of about $60.

 If you take it for credit, you are eligible for two other credits of Chm 555.  (You sign up three separate times for the same 1-credit course).  The second credit is earned by implementing gas chemistry into your curriculum and writing a report and the third credit is earned by conducting a teacher-training session in your area.  (Pass the Gas, so to speak.)
 

QUESTION FROM DAPHNE FROM CARBON DIOXIDE, DELAWARE: How much does it cost?

ANSWER:  What price, knowledge, Daphne?  Well, actually, I know the answer to that!  Teachers get a huge discount in the summer.  That means that the 3-credit course costs (2002 prices) $251 and there is a $30 university fee.  So your total cost is $281. (Bargain shoppers: The normal tuition is about twice this amount.)
 

QUESTION FROM BART FROM IRIDIUM ISLAND, NEBRASKA: You say I get 50% off tuition if I'm a teacher.  How do they know I am a teacher?

ANSWER:  We have a certain look, Bart.  In case that doesn't do it, I will send you a form for your principal to sign attesting to the fact that you are indeed a teacher.  If he/she isn't willing to go that far, you've got problems I can't help with.  You can download the form you will need by clicking here:  Download the Discount Form!
 

QUESTION FROM PETER FROM ST PAUL, MARYLAND: Is the course suitable for continuing education or graduate credit?

ANSWER:  Yes, yes, yes to the continuing education credit -- as always check with your school district to make sure.  Let them know that this course is offered by the Chemistry Department and we certified by the American Chemical Society.  That'll dazzle them.  About the graduate credit -- well, it depends.  Our 500-level courses have been used by several people towards a Masters degree in science education.  The trick is to get your committee or graduate director to agree to it.  This is best done ahead of time so you are not disappointed.  Because I know some folks want to use this course for this purpose, it has a 500-level graduate number and does NOT have the word 'workshop' in the course title!  (Creighton, unfortunately, does not offer a Masters degree in science education.  You will have to use it in a program elsewhere.)
 

QUESTION FROM ERIC FROM PLATINUM PLATEAU, PENNSYLVANIA: Exactly what will we do during these three days?

ANSWER:  Ah, excellent question, Eric!  Well, I don't plan any tests if that is what you are asking.  Otherwise, we will learn the basic techniques of generating and manipulating gases in syringes and then try lots of chemistry experiments and demonstrations that are suitable for use in your high school chemistry course.
 

QUESTION FROM KATE FROM KRYPTON KORNER, KANSAS: What about room and board?

ANSWER:  This varies from site-to-site, but is always available.  Check the workshop website for details at each location.
 

QUESTION FROM MELVIN FROM MOLYBDIUM MOUNTAIN, MONTANA: How and when do we register?

ANSWER:  This also varies from location to location.  Like I told Kate, check the workshop website for details at each location.
 

QUESTION FROM NORBY FROM NATRIUM NETTLES, NORTH DAKOTA: So how do you grade the course if you don't give exams?

ANSWER:  Be there and be part of the learning-teaching process.  Each day I will give you a rating from 1 - 10 where ten means you were involved and basically coherent, five means you were semi-present, (perhaps you slid out of your chair and onto the floor once or twice), and a zero means you weren't there that day.  After three days, the grades are determined by the rigors of a proprietary calculus that I can’t divulge, as it is my intellectual property and not yet patented.  Anyway, A = 92% and above; B+ = 86% and above, B = 80% and above, C+ 72% and above, C = 68% and above.  Yep, you guessed it, grades run high.
 

 If you have other questions, please call me (402-280-2278) or e-mail back to me (xenon@creighton.edu).

 Hope to see you this summer.

        Cheers, Bruce