Mel Schriver

Most energetic molecule ever made is stable – in liquid nitrogen Nitrogen allotrope releases double the energy of the most powerful chemical explosives

OK, N6 has been made. That will change the second year inorganic textbooks. My supervisor always said prizes mean you have friends but changing the textbooks means you have respect.

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13.06.2025 18:44 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I was past due for my next donation (every 56 days) and I had some time at lunch so I dropped into @canadaslifeline Moncton to see if they had an opening. I was in and out in just over half an hour. Service was exceptional, like a reverse Hallowe'en where the vampires push salty snacks at you.

13.06.2025 17:29 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Years ago I asked our resident sugar bush expert if he ever overcooked a batch of syrup if I could have a sample for the Chem lab.The very next week he presented me with a bottle of dark liquor. I have yearly harvested precipitated maple sugar that we have used as an unknown in our polarimetry lab.

24.03.2025 21:34 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Hooked On Phonics has not served my first year Chem students well. I mean what do they think I have been saying the past two weeks?

28.01.2025 13:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I tell students that the rules of math determine correctness. I cannot fault the student for their set up, just a calculation error leading to a wrong answer (sig figs issue too). I grade this as 7.25/10 (sorry for returning the marked work 3000 years late).

(www.livescience.com/archaeology/...)

04.12.2024 15:57 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

We had an Open House for prospective students and their parents last weekend. I was manning the Science table and brought some visuals. I also made some magnetic water molecule- fridge magnets that were well received.

26.11.2024 13:30 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Our campus sits on 200 acres with 2/3 of it woodland. It is bordered on two sides by the Trans Canada Highway and a major street. In the winter we take the Intro Chem students out to sample snowbanks, ice, snow and stream to see if we can detect a seasonal increase in salt using Vernier probeware.

09.02.2024 18:34 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Canadian concepts: Driveway Laminate: when a sequence of snowfalls, that individually are not significant enough to clear, accumulate and go through freeze/thaw cycles to form an impervious amorphous concretion anchored to the driveway. AKA: Old Man Killer. Solution? Salt.

27.01.2024 14:12 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

"He doesn't bother to bite your jugular like a lion, say... no no. He slashes at you here, or here...
Or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines.
The point is, you are alive when they start to eat you."

Sounds like an external examiner in a thesis defense in the 90's to me.

26.12.2023 12:12 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I have taught chemistry to engineers at 2 different universities and this captures their attitude. "We are all failing but I'm failing best".

www.instagram.com/reel/C0XF2fB...

14.12.2023 18:08 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Fritz Grein saved me during an exam at UNB and I try to honor that kindness by giving each of my students a Kinder Egg during exams. I also provide a pack of tissues to each student. Comment of the semester, student picks up the tissues and asks "is this in case I cry?"

13.12.2023 18:36 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Found in the hallway outside my classroom.

"Venlafaxine is used to treat general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder."

Dear Lord, bless my students, give them a centering peace that will allow them to do the best they can under the circumstances. And help me teach them.

09.12.2023 18:44 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I always thought that the Payne Stewart look was very practical (if garish).

08.12.2023 21:32 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0