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Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Chemistry Olympiad and other competitions => Topic started by: Rutherford on February 04, 2013, 10:57:52 AM

Title: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on February 04, 2013, 10:57:52 AM
Okay, the preparatory problems are on this page http://icho2013.chem.msu.ru/materials/Preparatory_problems_IChO_2013.pdf. Whoever wants may post his attempt on a problem, so we can all together check our solutions. I will start with the first and half of the second problem:

1st Problem
:
1. Pros:
-bigger distance between the layers, so they can be easier separated;
-the carbon atoms attached to oxygens are more reactive that the regular atoms in graphite and they can easier undergo reactions during the synthesis of graphene.   
    Cons:
-you have to remove oxygen.
2. x=0.375, xmax=0.5;
3. -OH, -COOH, -C=C-, -C-O-C-;
4. I got 34%, but I don't understand the part with upper and lower limit;
5. CH0.22O0.46*0.67H2O.

2nd Problem:
1. ΔH=-467.5 kJ/mol, ΔG=-454.5 kJ/mol, Nγ=2.59;
2. ΔG=-438.3kJ/mol;
3. 25.9%

Anyone got somewhere a similar result? If not, where is the difference?
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: AWK on February 04, 2013, 11:30:46 AM
Quote
5. CH0.22O0.46*0.67H2O.
Each water is joined through hydrogen atoms with two oxygens. What is maximum amount of water per atom of carbon?

Concerning 3.
In my opinion name graphene oxide include double bonds.
http://bucky-central.me.utexas.edu/RuoffsPDFs/211
On the base of above work I would rather use secondary and tertiary OH groups as different functional groups.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on February 04, 2013, 12:09:56 PM
AWK, thanks very much for the reply.
The oxygens are from different sheets of GO, so per 1 carbon atom, there are 0.22 -OH groups which bond to 0.22 H2O molecules and 0.24 -O- groups which bond to 0.24 water molecules, is it 0.22+0.24=0.46 then?

3. -OH group is a functionally group. I am not sure how could I represent secondary and tertiary alcohols as they contain the same group, which is -OH.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: AWK on February 05, 2013, 08:43:28 AM
AWK, thanks very much for the reply.
The oxygens are from different sheets of GO, so per 1 carbon atom, there are 0.22 -OH groups which bond to 0.22 H2O molecules and 0.24 -O- groups which bond to 0.24 water molecules, is it 0.22+0.24=0.46 then?

3. -OH group is a functionally group. I am not sure how could I represent secondary and tertiary alcohols as they contain the same group, which is -OH.
It does not matter that oxygen atoms  come from different sheets - just look on stoichiometric unit of GO.
3. This is a question what authors meant.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on February 05, 2013, 08:51:49 AM
I think I understood, is it 0.23 then?
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on February 12, 2013, 03:59:45 PM
Has anyone done Problem 14? I'm not really sure where to start (partly because I'm unclear on the definition of "standard biochemical redox potential" as opposed to "standard potential").
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on February 15, 2013, 05:07:42 AM
No idea. If someone knows it would be nice to share here.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Borek on February 15, 2013, 05:30:31 AM
Has anyone done Problem 14? I'm not really sure where to start (partly because I'm unclear on the definition of "standard biochemical redox potential" as opposed to "standard potential").

My understanding is that it is just converted to pH 7.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: UG on February 15, 2013, 05:36:36 AM
Are you going to the competition Raderford?
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on February 15, 2013, 07:12:58 AM
I didn't even went to the National Olympiad this year, yet, but this seems like lot fun to me, so I want to attempt these preparatory problems. If I pass then good, if not, at least I learned many new things.

Something changed with the 1st problem.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on February 16, 2013, 08:41:57 AM
Anyone determined the unknown tin compound in the 4th problem?
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on March 04, 2013, 12:57:40 PM
Does anyone have any books they would recommend to build your level of chemical knowledge up for an exam like this? I have mostly been browsing the Internet till now, I was wondering if someone who's seen a couple of past papers could make a good guess and some suggestions for what books to read to build up my knowledge of chemistry more thoroughly up to this level.

Edit: They tend to question only a few topics each year but I would be very grateful for a textbook that covers all of them in that much detail :)
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Sophia7X on May 02, 2013, 12:58:54 PM
Raderford did you finish this problem set yet?
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on May 03, 2013, 04:26:37 AM
Nope. I can't find the problems anymore  ???.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 12:28:03 PM
 :( I have it downloaded but it is over 1 MB so cannot upload it directly. Yes the website has been malfunctioning for a while.

I will be happy to compare answers for Problem 7 if anyone wants to. That's the only one I've done to completion.

I will do Problem 2 now I think.

If you want the text for a particular problem just ask.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on May 03, 2013, 12:41:52 PM
What was the 7th problem  :P? TOF&TON?
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 12:43:54 PM
No it was simple equilibrium, we had a discussion about the second half of it with Borek and curiouscat if I remember right.

Done a bit of Problem 2 and I already disagree with your answers in Problem 2.1.

ΔHr°=(Sum of ΔHcomb°[Reactant]·v[Reactant])-(Sum of ΔHcomb°[Product]·v[Product]) is a well known result of Hess' law, I skipped writing out the reactions fully but it's the same result

ΔHr°=0+0-(0+(1/6)·ΔHcomb°[C6H12O6])
ΔHr°=-(1/6)·ΔHcomb°[C6H12O6]=-(1/6)·(-2805)=+467.5 kJ·mol-1

Seems like the answer to me. I think you have forgotten a minus somewhere. Or maybe it is me  :P

Obviously this affects the ΔGr° answer (mine agrees with yours otherwise), coming out to +480.53 kJ·mol-1 from my value.

How do we work out minimum number of photons needed? My intuition would say it's all about how energetic the photons are (i.e. their frequency) but clearly there is some minimum number required ...
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on May 03, 2013, 12:55:33 PM
Yeah, I made a mistake. I remember that problem. For the number of photons use: ΔG/Na=N·h·ν (Na-Avogadro's number, N-number of photons, h-Plank's constant, ν-frequency). I think that the answer needs to be an integer.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 01:06:22 PM
Yeah, I made a mistake. I remember that problem. For the number of photons use: ΔG/Na=N·h·ν (Na-Avogadro's number, N-number of photons, h-Plank's constant, ν-frequency). I think that the answer needs to be an integer.

1) What's the logic behind this formula? Many things I don't understand about it ... Comes from E=h·frequency clearly but how have you derived it?

2) However I try to use your formula to work out how many photons are necessary, the answer doesn't come out reasonable. Show the use please.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on May 03, 2013, 01:18:01 PM
1) It is derived from E=h·ν. As I remember they ask how many photons are needed to produce 1 molecule of CH2O. ΔG is the energy needed so the reaction can proceed, as it is expressed through kJ/mol, you need to divide it by avogadro's number to obtain the energy required to form one molecule (also convert kJ to J!).

Now you have the energy needed for one molecule. A photon will have the energy E=h·ν and you need N photons, thus ΔG/Na=E·N=h·ν·N. Understood now?


2) I think the wavelength was 700nm, right? Using it I got that N=2.8=3 photons.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 01:44:44 PM
1) It is derived from E=h·ν. As I remember they ask how many photons are needed to produce 1 molecule of CH2O. ΔG is the energy needed so the reaction can proceed, as it is expressed through kJ/mol, you need to divide it by avogadro's number to obtain the energy required to form one molecule (also convert kJ to J!).

Now you have the energy needed for one molecule. A photon will have the energy E=h·ν and you need N photons, thus ΔG/Na=E·N=h·ν·N. Understood now?


2) I think the wavelength was 700nm, right? Using it I got that N=2.8=3 photons.

Got it, thanks. λ=680 nm so N[photons]=2.73 molecule-1. But that's if all energy is absorbed - according to the problem, only 10% is absorbed so we'll have to multiply our answer by 1/0.1=10, 27.3 photons. Not the integer we were looking for but actually your suggested working seems decently robust. What I didn't recognize is that ΔGr° is the energy required for the reaction to proceed. (Also I did not see that λ is provided)

Edit: Actually maybe all energy is absorbed. (in which case 2.73 is the answer again) The statement "green plants utilize 10% of the available solar energy" is unclear ... does it mean that, of all the photons that fall, green plants utilize 10% of them, or does it mean that of the photons which the green plants take in, 10% of their energy is absorbed? I'm guessing the former but seemed ambiguous to me.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 01:47:09 PM
I get the impression you cannot see the problem so here is the text:

Photosynthesis is believed to be an efficient way of light energy conversion. Let’s check this
statement from various points of view. Consider the overall chemical equation of photosynthesis
performed by green plants in the form:
H2O + CO2  CH2O + O2
where CH2O denotes the formed carbohydrates. Though glucose is not the main organic product
of photosynthesis, it is quite common to consider CH2O as 1/6(glucose). Using the information
presented below, answer the following questions.
1. Calculate the standard enthalpy and standard Gibbs energy of the above reaction at 298
K. Assuming that the reaction is driven by light energy only, determine the minimum number of
photons necessary to produce one molecule of oxygen.
2. Standard Gibbs energy corresponds to standard partial pressures of all gases (1 bar). In
atmosphere, the average partial pressure of oxygen is 0.21 bar and that of carbon dioxide – 310–4
bar. Calculate the Gibbs energy of the above reaction under these conditions (temperature 298
K).
3. Actually, liberation of one oxygen molecule by green plants requires not less than 10
photons. What percent of the absorbed solar energy is stored in the form of Gibbs energy? This
value can be considered as the efficiency of the solar energy conversion.
4. How many photons will be absorbed and how much biomass (in kg) and oxygen (in m3 at
25 oC and 1 atm) will be formed:
a) in Moscow during 10 days of IChO;
b) in the MSU campus during the theoretical examination (5 hours)?
5. What percent of the solar energy absorbed by the total area will be converted to chemical
energy:
a) in Moscow;
b) in MSU?
This is another measure of photosynthesis efficiency.
Necessary information:
Average (over 24 h) solar energy absorbed by Moscow region in summer time – 150 Wm–2;
Moscow area – 1070 km2, percentage of green plants area – 18%;
MSU campus area – 1.7 km2, percentage of green plants area – 54%;
green plants utilize ~10% of the available solar energy (average wavelength is 680 nm)

Then some enthalpy of combustion/entropy stuff which we just used already.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 01:58:04 PM
2.2. Answer is 496.76 kJ·mol-1, taken from ΔGr=ΔGr°+R·T·loge(Q)=ΔGr°+R·T·loge(P[O2]/P[CO2]), ΔGr° as before (480.53 kJ·mol-1), R modified for kJ instead of J. The only constituents of Q are the gases, since they are the only ones which contribute to the partial pressures (question gives that Gibbs' energy depends here on partial pressures of gases, not on how much of the other liquids or solids are available).
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on May 03, 2013, 03:00:18 PM
Yes, I cannot see the problems, I did it only how I memorized.

4. and 5. are very ambiguous for me. Couldn't solve them when I tried. I have the same dilemma you have. We could use some help here :-\.

For the integer, it seemed more logic to me to have e.g. 3 photons than 3.127 photons (what is that 0.127?).
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 03:08:48 PM
Yes, I cannot see the problems, I did it only how I memorized.

4. and 5. are very ambiguous for me. Couldn't solve them when I tried. I have the same dilemma you have. We could use some help here :-\.

For the integer, it seemed more logic to me to have e.g. 3 photons than 3.127 photons (what is that 0.127?).

An average, maybe?

I'll take a look at 2.3 onwards later, need to study a bit for my boards in 10 days now ...
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on May 03, 2013, 03:41:59 PM
That seems illogical. Like if you said, an atom has 3.5 electrons. How can a number of particles not be a whole number?
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 03:50:41 PM
That seems illogical. Like if you said, an atom has 3.5 electrons. How can a number of particles not be a whole number?

This is a pretty big discussion but light isn't a particle. In this case it maybe better to think of it as a stream of energy. So maybe it can be averaged, ΔGr° after all is a statistical average over 6.0221·1023 reactions and the amount of energy needed for each.

I'm not sure, perhaps someone else can clarify why a) we keep getting non-integer answers (I am not satisfied with saying 2.73=3, IChO does not leave things that far open) b) if it really has to be an integer in all these cases.

An example for you: what's the oxidation state of sulphur in S4O62-? Must be ((6*2)-2)/4=+2.5, right? Not that one of the sulphur atoms really gets 0.5 electrons ... it's an average! (Hope this example isn't too bad - I realize it doesn't relate directly to our case but the way I see it, seems possible that the number of photons wouldn't be discrete)

Or possibly it IS discrete and we just have to round up the number of photons, even if the minimum number of photons is calculated as 2.2 we'll still need 3 to provide enough energy, etc.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Corribus on May 03, 2013, 04:04:58 PM
Edit: The statement "green plants utilize 10% of the available solar energy" is unclear ... does it mean that, of all the photons that fall, green plants utilize 10% of them, or does it mean that of the photons which the green plants take in, 10% of their energy is absorbed? I'm guessing the former but seemed ambiguous to me.
Both, actually.  The sun puts out photons of all different energies and photons of different wavelengths are absorbed with different efficiency by the various pigments involved (otherwise, leaves wouldn't be green).  And not all of that energy is utilized efficiently.  There are always losses because transfer efficiency is never 100%.  For any photophysical process or photochemical process, we call this the quantum yield.  I would say most of the losses come from the fact that many photons are simply not absorbed.  But even if you neglect the energy that isn't absorbed, plants can't use all the absorbed energy with 100% efficiency.  I'm not sure what the actual percentage is off the top of my head, but you can probably look it up.

And photons are both particles AND waves. ;)
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 04:19:35 PM
Edit: The statement "green plants utilize 10% of the available solar energy" is unclear ... does it mean that, of all the photons that fall, green plants utilize 10% of them, or does it mean that of the photons which the green plants take in, 10% of their energy is absorbed? I'm guessing the former but seemed ambiguous to me.
Both, actually.  The sun puts out photons of all different energies and photons of different wavelengths are absorbed with different efficiency by the various pigments involved (otherwise, leaves wouldn't be green).  And not all of that energy is utilized efficiently.  There are always losses because transfer efficiency is never 100%.  For any photophysical process or photochemical process, we call this the quantum yield.  I would say most of the losses come from the fact that many photons are simply not absorbed.  But even if you neglect the energy that isn't absorbed, plants can't use all the absorbed energy with 100% efficiency.  I'm not sure what the actual percentage is off the top of my head, but you can probably look it up.

And photons are both particles AND waves. ;)

Thank God one of you guys still read this thread!

Can you help with this part?

2.1. Determine the minimum number of photons necessary to produce one molecule of oxygen.

The reaction is H2O + CO2  ::equil:: CH2O + O2. The ΔGr°, equivalent to the amount of energy required to make the reaction proceed (as Raderford said), is +480.53 kJ·mol-1. λ for green light (the only type plants can absorb, assumed) is 680 nm.

Our method was basically that ΔGr°=E[photon]·N[photons]=(hc/λ)·N[photons], solve for N[photons] and that's how many we need to make 1 mole of the reaction proceed. To produce 1 molecule of O2 we divide this by NA. How does this sound? And is 2.73 an acceptable and correct answer? (Given the potential hang-up that only integer numbers of photons can be correct.)
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Corribus on May 03, 2013, 04:32:13 PM
I haven't read the whole thing, just skimmed the last few posts.

So with that in mind, your logic seems reasonable, although since you can't have a fraction of a photon, I'd say the right answer is 3.

Also this answer is based only on the energy difference between reactants and products and neglects the fact that additional energy is required to surmound the activation barrier.  Also it assumes 100% absorption efficiency.  So in reality it would take more than 3 photons. 
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Borek on May 03, 2013, 05:17:17 PM
How many $1 coins do you need to pay if the price of the item is $2.7?
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 03, 2013, 05:45:17 PM
How many $1 coins do you need to pay if the price of the item is $2.7?

So then we have to round up :) 3 photons it is ... I'll get back to 2.3 at the next opportunity.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Sophia7X on May 03, 2013, 07:29:30 PM
Raderford google 2013 IChO Scribd and you should find the problems.


Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Sophia7X on May 03, 2013, 10:08:57 PM
OK I got 27.3% for problem 2 #3 and 4(a) I got 3.47*10^7 m^3 for O2, and 4.26*10^7 kg not sure if correct.... anyone attempt these ones yet?
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Rutherford on May 04, 2013, 04:22:46 AM
Thanks very much Sophia7X.
This problem becomes more and more strange. In 1. we need to calculate the minimum number of photons, but in 2. we find out that the Gibb's energy we used isn't correct.

If someone is interested in checking the answers for the first problem, I found a link few weeks ago: http://www.nanometer.ru/2013/02/06/13601765911974.html (it is in Russian >:D).
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 04, 2013, 07:50:55 AM
Thanks very much Sophia7X.
This problem becomes more and more strange. In 1. we need to calculate the minimum number of photons, but in 2. we find out that the Gibb's energy we used isn't correct.

If someone is interested in checking the answers for the first problem, I found a link few weeks ago: http://www.nanometer.ru/2013/02/06/13601765911974.html (it is in Russian >:D).

Not quite ... we calculate standard Gibbs' energy ΔG° in 2.1, then used that for the minimum number of photons. In 2.2 though we calculate Gibbs' energy (not standard) ΔG, calculation of which relies on having ΔG° as I calculated a few posts ago. ΔGr° is the energy needing to be provided for the reaction to proceed, not ΔGr.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 04, 2013, 07:51:55 AM
OK I got 27.3% for problem 2 #3 and 4(a) I got 3.47*10^7 m^3 for O2, and 4.26*10^7 kg not sure if correct.... anyone attempt these ones yet?

Yeah 27.30% for 2.3, how did you arrive at those for 2.4?  We are not given how much solar energy is available ...
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 04, 2013, 10:44:09 AM
OK I got 27.3% for problem 2 #3 and 4(a) I got 3.47*10^7 m^3 for O2, and 4.26*10^7 kg not sure if correct.... anyone attempt these ones yet?

OK so I just saw that actually we are given the solar energy available so we can calculate it. I don't think it's that vague.

2.4.a. N[photons]=8.53881·1033; m[CH2O]=4.2574·107 kg; V[O2]=3.46704·107 m3.
2.4.b. N[photons]=8.47896·1029; m[CH2O]=4,227.58 kg; V[O2]=3,442.7 m3.

Looks like it agrees completely with your calculations.

I can clarify any part of my method if someone wants.
Title: Re: International Olympiad preparation
Post by: Big-Daddy on May 04, 2013, 12:09:49 PM
Am I misinterpreting 2.5 or is it unexpectedly easy?

E(absorbed by plants)=E(available)*(1/10)
E(converted)=E(absorbed by plants)*0.272966
E(converted)=E(available)*(1/10)*0.272966

All this from 2.4. And now the question asks for E(converted)/E(available).

E(converted)/E(available)=E(available)*(1/10)*0.272966/E(available)
E(converted)/E(available)=(1/10)*0.272966=2.73%

Which appears to have no dependence on E(available).