By Bilyamin Abdulmumin
Most- if not all students have a particular subject that he or she demonizes. Even though -unarguably Mathematics has the largest antagonist but I never fall under the category, my demon subject used to be Organic Chemistry
Some factors that added to my nightmare with regard to Organic Chemistry understanding were not the lack of adequate teachers in my secondary school alone but even the few ones available didn’t tick all the boxes. These reasons plus the next one I’m giving in the next paragraph took me to the Organic Chemistry quarry breaking all kinds of the rocks
I’m a natural visual learner, I find learning in memories difficult. Unfortunately, sheer cramming is the stepping stone for many students that pass Organic Chemistry, and to add a millstone around the neck most Organic Chemistry lectures are given in a two-dimensional approach which gives room for limited visualization.
whereas, in Chemistry especially Organic, every shape, color, orientation, dot, or line counts; so these make it imperative to teach Organic Chemistry with not only trepidation but with deliberate demonstration, and in three dimensions.
I was able to pull through all the steps to the first degree, thanks to my mathematics prowess, since mathematics- calculation- constitutes a major portion of any science course, it allowed me to ride on its back to pass all my courses except one, Organic Chemistry which I carry over and over
But, my Eureka Moment for Organic Chemistry occurred when I came across the topic “electronegativity” through a helpful YouTube educational channel, Khan Academy, mostly taught by the channel founder, Salman Khan.
This channel is heaven on earth for students with or without one deficiency or the other, they took teaching to a whole new level, and they provide the most effective teaching method of demonstration, visualization, and three-dimensional approach, for free.
The Youtube channel takes about 10 minutes to cover a topic, one advantage with any youtube educational video, not only Khanacademy is that they provide the option for pause, rewind, or forward when needed, unlike the usual classroom setting, one can watch a topic over and over and even ask a question without the thought of causing any discomfort. Khan Academy has come to revolutionize the way teaching is done
After understanding the topic I mentioned earlier, Organic Chemistry suddenly appeared straightforward like a push on the button, my curse on the subject was finally broken, and the mystery surrounding my comprehension just disappeared into thin air.
Electronegativity explains how the atom of every element varies in affinity to electrons in a given chemical bonding, from left to right of the periodic table, electronegativity increases, for instance, while hydrogen which is found in the first group has about 2.1 value for electron negatively, oxygen which is further right in the periodic table, group six specifically, has 4. This implies that when hydrogen and oxygen bonded together like in the case of the water molecule, the oxygen which has higher electron affinity (electronegativity) attracts the shared electrons to itself more, making the oxygen become partially negative while the hydrogen becomes partially positive, the implication of this unequal share of electrons is that the overall water molecules will become attracted to one another by this type of bonding, the partially negative oxygen in one of the water molecules became attracted to a closer by partially positive hydrogen of another water molecule.
When this type of bonding (known as hydrogen bonding) is found in Organic compounds e.g ethanol it governs their physical and chemical behaviors. For instance, this is the reason why ethanol is soluble in water but some organic compounds e.g kerosene doesn’t. Ethanol is soluble in water because the partial positive side of the water molecule becomes attracted to the partial negative side of ethanol and vice versa.
Similarly, hydrogen bonding informs why ethanol has a higher boiling and melting point than its corresponding ethane molecule, while the boiling point of ethanol is 78.5 that of ethane -89 0C. In other words, ethanol is found as a liquid under room conditions while its corresponding ethane is found as a gas under the same conditions.
It is interesting to note that the understanding of the concept of” electronegativity” leads to the understanding of similar other concepts in Organic Chemistry like polar bonding, London dispersion, sn1 and sn2, E1 and E2, and polymerization reactions.
Organic chemistry, mathematics, or any other subjects would look extraordinary when one misses the key, but when the missing keys are found they will appear straightforward, so keep on trying till those missing links of your own demonized subjects are found.
