CHM 1025C/MAC 1105: Critical Thinking Exercise

Cognitive scientist define “critical thinking” as mental activity associated with these types of thinking:
a. applying reasoning
b. making decisions
c. problem solving

In the CHM 1025C Corwin textbook used at Florida State College @ Jacksonville , critical thinking is introduced within the context of chemical principles. In CHM 1025C and the Corwin text critical thinking is undertaken specifically in the chapter vignette and end-of-chapter self-tests, and generally in unit analysis problem solving.

Assignment #1:

Read section 3.8: Temperature

The above images demonstrate equivalent temperatures on the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales with ice water and boiling water. The third thermometer compares to Kelvin Temperatures to Fahrenheit and Celsius temperatures.

Go to the temperature conversion web site:

http://www.lsua.info/mathworkshop1/frametemp2.html

1. Setup the Student’s theoretical temperature scale with the following parameters:
a. The Freezing Point of water is Your Age or Your desired Age. (Prof taylor 50^oT)(Ms Sweet 30^oS)
b. The Boiling Point of water is your body weight or desired body weight (Prof Taylor 250^oT)(Sweet 120^oS)

c. Fill in the table below with your parameters to make ^oX (Student): (Professor Taylor’s normal body temperature is the normal 98.6 ^oF, Professor Bessman 96.8 ^oF, and Ms Sweet 97.3 ^oF. If your normal body temperature is not 98.6 then fill in you Fahrenheit temperature and calculate the blanks across the line of the table.))

Temperature ^oF	Temp. ^oC	Temp. K	Temp. ^oT	Temp. ^oS	Temp. ^oX
(Fahrenheit)	(Celsius)	(Kevin)	(Taylor)	(Sweet)	(Student)
250	121	394	298	139.0
212	100	373	250	120.0
158	70	343	190	93.0
104	40	313	130	66.0
98.6	37.0	310.0	124.0	63.3
97.3	36.3	309.3	122.6	62.7
96.8	36.0	309.0	122	62.4
81	27	300	104	54.5
77	25	298	100	52.5
75	24	297	98	51.5
68	20	293	90	48.0
50	10	283	70	39.0
32	0	273	50	30.0
14	-10	263	10	21.0
0	-18	255	1	14.0
-4	-20	253	-2	12.0
-22	-30	243	-14	3.0
-28	-33.3	240	-17	0.0
-40	-40	233	-26	-6.0
-58	-50	223	-33	-15.0
-76	-60	213	-50	-24.0
-130	-90	183	-86	-51.0
-148	-100	173	-98	-60.0

2. Using a rectangular piece of graph paper, set up a graph plotting Fahrenheit versus Celsius so that vertical axis is Fahrenheit ranging from 250 down to -150 and the horizontal axis is -100 on the left and 125 on the right.
a. Describe the line or curve generated by this data:

b. If the plot is a line, then what is the slope of the line and the Y intercept and the X intercept. Write the equation for the line.(Do you remember the equation of a straight line from algebra?)

c. If the plot is a curve, can you write the equation of the curve?

3. Now plot Celsius versus Kelvin on a rectangular coordinate graph. If Kelvin is the y axis and Celsius is the x axis, what is the y axis intercept? What is the slope of the line?

Is there an easier way to find the slope of the line by looking at the data?

At what temperature Celsius would Kelvin equal zero?

In the Corwin textbook on page 62 we refer to temperature on the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales as degree F (^oF) and degree C (^oC), but in Kelvin temperature, temperatures are referred as Kelvin units? Why?

4. Now plot Celsius versus Student and Fahrenheit versus Student using separate graphs. On the ^oC vs ^oF graph, examining the data do you notice that: -40 ^oF = -40 ^oC. On your two Student graph plots is there a temperature where ^oS = ^oC or ^oS = ^oF?

5. Algebraically is there away to determine if there is a temperature on the Taylor Scale, the Sweet Scale, or the Student Scale when that temperature equals a temperature on either the Celsius or Fahrenheit scale?

6. Fahrenheit, Celsius, Taylor, and Sweet temperatures are listed in degrees, while Kevin and Rankin temperatures are given in straight units not degrees. Why?