Professor Michael J. Knapp
Teaching interests: transition metals; relating chemical technologies to civilization.
Research interests: Chemistry as applied to biological systems; hypoxia (O2) sensing enzymes; enzymology; bionanotechnology.
office: 512 Lederle Grad. Tower
Office Hours: Thursday, 1-3, CRC
For all teaching matters: Please contact me through the OWL system, or post things to the website.
If that fails, try my professional email: mknapp@chem.umass.edu
Hi SHerwood,
If there is an error in your lab grade, please send a query to Prof. Whelan.
who do i talk to about my lab grade…
Molecular polarity is due to the way that the polar bonds are arranged in the molecule. It is not necessarily true that ‘trans is nonpolar’.
No, because the practice exam came from last year and a different professor who had a slightly different coverage for his exam.
On the practice with polarity that is posted on the site, the last two problems happen to be tran and cis isomers and for the tran isomer the polarity was nonpolar and for the cis the polarity was polar is this just the case for that particular problem or is this likely to happen most of the time?
Hey Professor, I’ve studied chapters 8 and 9 but when i reviewed the practice exam there was things on the practice exam that were not in chapters 8 and 9. Should i be worried?
Thanks,
Sherwood
Casey,
Professor Knapp is not teaching 112 I have already asked him!
Hello, I was curious to now whether or not the last chem exam was scaled. I know you mentioned that you let us know in class, but I don’t remember if you mentioned it already. Thanks.
Hi Professor Knapp,
I was wondering whether you would be teaching Chemistry 112 next semester and if so what times you would be teaching it?
Hello Professor Knapp,
I was wondering if you would consider giving some type of extra credit this semester.
Nick,
I had a change of heart on Monday morning. This was announced early during class on Monday – I thought for sure that it would spread…
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hello Professor Knapp,
On Friday you said that we would have class today and on Moday I heard nothing to indeicate that had changed; but today I found that I was only one of five people to show up… Four students and the court stenogropher.
Giulia,
look for the link “Course Grades” on the left menu in OWL. CLicking that will take you to the gradebook.
Hello, I am unsure if I just can’t see it, but I can’t seem to find the grades for the last exam. Where would they be? Thank you.
Hi Adam,
Sorry for the delay in responding to this question. But most molecular compounds are not electrolytes – most molecular compounds that are soluble in water retain their molecular structure. A small fraction of molecular compounds, such as acetic acid, a weak electrolytes. These molecular compounds ionize, and generally form H+ and an anion in water. An even smaller fraction of molecular compounds, such as HCl, are strong electrolytes. And water-soluble ionic compounds are strong electrolytes. So the answer to Q9 from exam 1B is correct: all three statements offered are true.
Professor Knapp,
I had a question about the first exam regarding question number 9 on the answer key. The question asked if “Some molecular compounds, such as acetic acid, are weak electrolytes” is a true statement. I said that it is not a true statement because most molecular compounds are weak electrolytes. However, on the contrary, the answer key says that that statement is true. When I originally emailed you, you had asked me to post my question on the blog and wait for an answer. Kristine Hughes has recently answered my comment and confirmed that it was stated in class that most molecular compounds are weak electrolytes (http://websites.umass.edu/chem111-mjknapp/2009/10/23/21-monday-october-26-2009/#comments). The course textbook also confirms this. Is the answer key correct, or was there a mistake? Thanks for your time.
Prof Knapp – Nevermind, my roommate helped me figure it out, thanks anyways.
-Derek
Prof. Knapp,
I have an issue. In the most recent OWLs, due tonight, from end of chapter question 7.36, or problem #3 from the HW with 22 problems…It is saying that Seaborgium is Sb where it is for sure Sg! And it won’t accept my answer, which I thought to be: [Rn] 5f^14^6d^4^7s^2^ … Do we need a space after noble gas notation!? I tried both ways, ans messed around with it, cant figure it out. could you please help me, thanks!
Cheers, Derek Melzar!
Will there be questions on bomb calorimeters on the exam?
Hi Melissa,
yup!
just the blog participation. The SI session should be so helpful that you would be willing to give up credit just to go – but I won’t hold you that level of interest!
Hi Professor
Can we review Redox reactions in class or in the review session tonight? that would be extra helpful.
Katie.
Prof. Knapp,
Are you having class on the wednesday that we leave for Thanksgiving?
Thanks,
Melissa
Prof. Knapp,
Does attending the SI session count as extra credit? Or is it just these blog comments?
HI Melissa,
I do not have anybody take notes for class. But lectures are online, so you can definitely look at the screen-capture, and hear me speaking!
Prof. knap,
I believe I’ve heard you mentione that you have someone who takes notes for the class in case someone misses something. I have missed a few things and would like to know if thats true and if so how do i contact that person?
Thanks,
Melissa
PS. I hope the answer isn’t obvious.
I’m posting my profound comment onto your blog. Nice photo.
Prof. Knapp,
I just saw and read your comments on your blog about the extra point on the exam and PRS if mechanical faulures occur, so you can ignore my email. Thank you. I was also just wondering if you are giving us another point on the 2nd exam if we comment?
Cheers, Derek Melzar
Professor Knapp,
I just noticed that on my grades for my PRS, there are five that are displayed as zero’s. I’ve been to every class and answered all the PRS questions, except for the day that there was lots of collisions. Im confused, and is there a way we can fix this?
Hi Brittany,
there is still a 24 hour grace period on every assignment, no matter what the due-date. So the Chapter 2 OWLs from last night can be completed (as ‘past due’ assignments) today, and they will eventually earn you full credit because they are within the grace period.
Hello Prof Knapp,
My computer was acting up last night and I was unable to finish all my home work for Thursday night. I am wondering if you took away the 24 hour grace period because you emailed me that some owls have been pushed back but not all of them. I tried to work on them this morning but they did not show. I was wondering if you took the grace period away.
Thanks,
Brittany Bausch
Prof Knapp,
I had a busy weekend with club baseball and i wasn’t able to complete my HW for sunday night. Isn’t there a 24 hour grace period to complete it because when i tried to work on it this morning it says its not counting towards completing it.
thanks,
Alex Salvaggio
Hi Derek,
This has led to some confusion. You don’t need SPARK to access OWL for my class. I did it this way because I was not going to use any other functionalities, and felt that SPARK just added one more thing for you to navigate. As for the second part of your question: I can’t add a link to SPARK, unless I were to go back in time.
Hi Sherwood,
the study group coordinator is somebody who takes on a small responsibility in exchange for 5 PRS points (out of the 20 total), and contributor status on the course blog.
Rationale: Chemistry can be a challenging subject, as so many skills are needed to succeed, including quantitative reasoning and geometric visualization. Because of the many skills needed, student learning can be enhanced by integrating peer-led methods into the course. The problem is: how to create such opportunities?
Solution: Create voluntary study groups. The study group coordinator gathers several friends or dorm-mates together to study, perhaps once per week. Each member teaches the whole group how to solve one of the HW problems from the back of the book. By teaching, the presenter will need to really understand the problem – because explaining demands greater insight than just doing.
The study group coordinator also gets special status on the course blog, to allow them to notify other students about solutions, or to ask for other help.
Many students volunteered – but there is still room for a few more!
What exactly does the student group leader entail?
Prof. Knapp,
First off, I tried to stay and ask you this after lecture, but I had somewhere to be; the line was too long. My problem is that I don’t have a Chem-111 link on my Spark page; I don’t know if this is what is supposed to be the case. So, I didn’t originally have the link for labs – I later realized this can be found on your blog. So, should I have a Chem link on Spark – and if so, who do I see about getting it put on there; thank you.
Cheers, Derek Melzar.
Hi Mike,
Are we supposed to have an account on spark for chem 111? I know we’re using owl, but just curious because I don’t have Chem on my spark page.
Thank you,
Ariana
Hi Adam,
You definitely should do that. The best way to set up an appointment is through the OWL messaging program – It will get to me for sure, and I’ll be certain to respond in 1 business-day or less (sometimes I have fun on the weekends!). So setting an appointment is easy. Another great way to get help is to go to the CRC and speak with another faculty member, contact your TA (Nag), or one of the SI leaders.
CRC: The CRC schedule is not yet online, but I assure you that a fully qualified faculty member will be present during weekday afternoons – I would start checking the door for a schedule on Monday.
TA: Nag’s contact info is listed on the TA page – but please note that he pretty much can only help you just before or just after class (pretty limited, I know).
SI: The SI schedule is not yet set, so this is hard to imagine – but there are three people who will provide SI help for Chem 111 (one person per each section). Any one of them will be able to help you master the material.
If your office hours aren’t jiving with our schedules, is it okay if we send you and email a few days in advance to set up some form of meeting for extra help?
Hi Derek,
Yeah, that was pretty silly of me… My office hours are Thursday 1-3 in the CRC. I will be there at that time for the rest of the semester. But there are other helpers in the CRC (even other faculty) during most afternoons 12-5.
Prof. Knapp,
I am just curious as to whether your office hours are on Tuesday or Thursday, as you were trying to remember during your Chem-111 lecture yesterday (Wednesday) in ISB#135 at 1:25pm(-2:15pm).
Cheers, Derek Melzar.