Musings of an Old Chemist

A Chemist's Perspective on the Habits and Skills STEM Students Need For Success

  • Step-by-Step Procedure for Personal Growth

    The key to a successful analysis or experiment is a detailed procedure to follow. First, it provides a list of all the key starting materials you need to gather, along with the quantities of each. Then step-by-step instructions on how to combine these materials. Then details regarding under what conditions the reaction mechanism drives the reaction process to its completion, resulting in the product or products you desire. A quality procedure also lists the byproducts that a reaction process may produce. And finally, a section on sources of error, a detailed description of possible errors that can be made, and the effect of these mistakes on the reaction process, and which products or byproducts are produced.

    I can attest to the fact that writing a quality procedure is a challenging task. I’ve drafted my share of procedures in my career, and I’ve found that it requires extensive hands-on experience performing the chemical reaction process and an in-depth understanding of how each step of the procedure contributes to the overall desired result. More importantly, I found that the sources of error section is the most difficult section to write. Luckily, I was blessed to have college professors whose primary focus was on the documentation of every possible source of error in every experiment we performed and on every lab report we prepared in our advanced chemistry and physics courses.

    Commentary

    So, how does this concept of a detailed procedure apply in our chemical reaction analogy of personal growth? I can honestly say there were points in my life that I had no idea what I was supposed to do, what decision to make, what path to follow.  I wished I had had a detailed procedure to follow, a document that told me what decisions I should make, and when, to obtain the goals, and the success I was seeking. A set of step-by-step instructions defining what skills and traits I needed to possess, and the decisions I needed to make. And more importantly, I could’ve used a sources of error section that identified what mistakes I might make, describing how to, if not avoid them, deal with them constructively and not get sidetracked on my journey. 

    But, as I have learned and become painfully aware of at times, there is no one universal set of instructions we can follow for personal success. While there are plenty of books written on the subject, not one is universally applicable to each of us, with our individual personality traits, gifts, dreams, and aspirations.

    Creating Your Procedure for Personal Growth

    You cannot find a procedure tailored personally for you in a blog, book, or video; you produce it. It’s not a set of instructions someone else has written for your life. Instead, you create it with a combination of self-assessment and a growth mindset, the understanding that there is always more you can learn.

    Step One: Self-assessment

    To begin, you need to develop an awareness of the starting materials component for your personal growth procedure through honest self-assessment –  identifying your strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and natural tendencies (how you react in different situations). This is the initial observation stage, much like in the Scientific Method. 

    Continue to ask yourself: “What have I done in the past that’s worked for me?”, “What approach or actions to address challenges or concerns feels natural to me?”, and “What habits, good and bad, do I tend to fall into?” This self-assessment ensures your approach is personalized and realistic.  Following a generic procedure that works for someone else might produce a result in you that leaves you feeling emotionally, mentally, or physically drained.

    Remember that this journey is yours, and yours alone.

    Step Two: Utilizing a Growth Mindset

    Once you’ve identified your core starting materials, turn your attention outward. See how others have achieved similar goals. Dive into books and articles about what you’re interested in. Find mentors who have already done what you want to do, ask for their input, seek their instruction. And, try to learn from their successes and failures. Figure out what works for them and then make it your own.

    Perfecting Your Procedure: The Scientific Method

    You don’t know what to do at the beginning; you discover it. Your procedure for personal growth is not something you are handed at the beginning of your journey. Instead, your initial procedure is a hypothesis – a best guess based on your self-awareness and research. Through the process of experimentation, analysis, and revision, you refine that hypothesis. The final, tested and proven procedure is the culmination of your observation and learning. It represents the wisdom and practical knowledge you’ve gained from the entire process.

    Your  “procedure”  is not a fixed set of instructions; it is dynamic and constantly changing. As you learn more about yourself and the world around you, your procedure must adapt to who you are and your unique situation at each stage of your personal growth. What works for you today may not be what you need a year from now. Your procedure adapts as you gain new insights, as your world changes, and as your goals evolve.

    This is the power of applying the scientific method to your life: you are constantly running small experiments, collecting data on your results, and refining your methods for the next reiteration. It’s a continuous, cyclical process of learning and adaptation. Your journey of personal growth is ever-evolving; each day brings with it new challenges. Personal growth dictates that who we are today is different than who we were yesterday, and hopefully, tomorrow we will be better than we are today.

  • Weekly Quotation: September 17, 2025: The Journey to Wisdom: Life Lessons at Sixty

    For your consideration:

    “The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

    – Muhammad Ali

    “The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing.”

    – Socrates

    Now in my sixties, I often reflect upon the knowledge I have retained, my life experiences – my successes and failures, and the mistakes I have made, wondering how it all fits together. What have I really learned? What has my life up to this moment really taught me? Am I gaining in wisdom or making the same mistakes I’ve made consistently throughout my life? 

    Wisdom can be defined as the ability to think and act based on knowledge, life experiences, self-awareness, common sense, and insight into the world. It involves making sound decisions and exercising good judgment, an area I personally strive to improve. Now as I grow older, I attempt to focus more on managing complex situations, especially within my family dynamics, and offering thoughtful, considerate advice. This requires actively listening, a skill that is critical in all situations, and only providing my opinion when asked. I also continue to make a conscious effort to learn from every mistake.

    For me, wisdom is also deeply connected to my faith. I pray for God’s wisdom, asking for help in being more self-aware, compassionate, and developing a sense of purpose that exceeds simply obtaining material things. Part of this process is the recognition that I am not there yet, there is so much more I need to learn, about myself and my life’s purpose. But I know I am a better person today than I was yesterday, and perhaps that is the beginning of wisdom.

  • Weekly Quotation: September 10, 2025: Humility and Gratitude

    For your consideration:

    Just knowing you don’t have the answers is a recipe for humility, openness, acceptance, forgiveness, and an eagerness to learn – and those are all good things.

     – Dick Van Dyke

    Learning to be humble, to express gratitude for what you have been given, opportunities you have been offered, and for everyone who supports you, emotionally and monetarily, is essential for our journey of personal growth. It requires self-awareness, recognizing what we do not know or understand, admitting our faults and weaknesses, as well as identifying our strengths. Waking up each day seeking to be a better person than you were the day before. And, when you make mistakes, be willing to take ownership of them, seeking forgiveness where needed, and taking the lessons you learned from them to heart, striving not to repeat the same mistakes.

  • Weekly Quotation, September 2, 2025: “Peeing” On That Proverbial Electric Fence

    For your consideration:

    “There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”

    – Will Rogers

    We’ve all been there. You dive into a new skill, armed with books, tutorials, and a healthy dose of optimism. Maybe it’s golf, maybe it’s fixing a leaky faucet, or in my case, trying to resurrect a stubborn lawnmower. You read the manuals, you watch the videos, and you start to feel… confident. Perhaps even a little too confident.

    My own journey began in my instrumental chemistry courses in college. Dr. John Walkup had the following advice when applying for a laboratory position – “If asked if you can operate a piece of instrumentation, just say ‘Yes.’ Once hired, you can take the instrument manual home and study it.” This fostered a sense of overconfidence in my abilities in me. Not realizing at the time that while a manual can certainly help you ask semi-intelligent questions and avoid appearing utterly clueless, it often serves as a dangerous enabler. Believing I knew more than I actually did, I’d inevitably encounter what Will Rogers affectionately calls the “electric fence moment,” proving my self-proclaimed expertise was, shall we say, premature.

    And here’s my confession, I honestly believe there’s a lot to be said for “peeing” on that proverbial “electric fence.” I’ve certainly had my share of “shocks.” And while the metaphor is a bit crude, for me, it perfectly summarizes the process of discovering all the ways something wouldn’t work.

    Making mistakes, and analyzing them, provides tremendous insight. It cultivates a deeper understanding and a firmer retention of knowledge than simply reading a book or passively watching countless YouTube videos ever could. The learning process can be painful, of course. No one enjoys making mistakes; it can wound our pride and occasionally make us feel utterly foolish. However, I would strongly argue that hands-on experience, complete with its inevitable missteps, is far superior to any amount of book learning.

    So, the next time you find yourself grappling with a new challenge, don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, to experiment, and yes, to even “pee” on that “electric fence” a few times. Those moments of “shock” might just be your most effective teachers.

  • The Chemistry of Personal Growth: A Campfire Analogy

    From my perspective, as a chemist, the process of personal growth is not all that different from the processes of a chemical reaction. And to understand personal growth through the analogy of a chemical reaction, it’s helpful to first examine the basic steps and components of a chemical reaction. I hope to simplify the steps in chemical reactions by focusing on energy: the energy required to initiate and sustain the reaction, and the energy released as products. This focus on energy is crucial because when we explore personal growth, we’ll similarly concentrate on the energy we invest in our own development.

    In its simplest form, a chemical reaction may be written as follows:

    Reactants  → (Reaction mechanism or process) →  Products

    For this discussion, I will use the example of a combustion reaction. Most of us should be familiar with building a campfire. Whether it is in our backyard firepit, or we are enjoying s’mores over a campfire. We can break down the individual components of this reaction as follows:

    The Reactants: These are the starting materials. When we build a campfire, our reactants are newspaper, twigs, branches, or logs, and the presence of oxygen. You may not consider oxygen when you think of your starting materials, but it is the necessary component in almost all types of combustion reactions.

    The Reaction Mechanism: It is the burning of the individual components – newspaper, twigs, larger branches, and logs, and the ignition pattern usually occurs in that order.

    The Products: Our campfire produces ashes, heat, light, carbon dioxide (CO2), and water vapor (H2O).

    Factors that affect the rate of the reaction, i.e., how fast our fire burns.

    The concentration of the reactants. Higher concentrations generally lead to faster reactions – for a campfire, the more newspaper and twigs you have, the faster the fire starts producing heat and light. However it is important to take note of the fact the rate of reaction for the newspaper and the twigs is much faster than that of the branches and logs. While the burning of the newspaper, for example, does produce some heat and light, it does not last very long. Its purpose is to be an intermediate step in the reaction process, solely to light the twigs and perhaps small branches. It would be very difficult to make s’mores on a fire whose only fuel was wads of newspaper.

    The activation energy associated with the reaction. This is the initial energy required to initiate a reaction. Think of it like the energy needed to start a snowball rolling downhill. In our example, the fuel, newspaper and wood, even in the presence of oxygen, won’t spontaneously combust. It needs an initial input of energy to start the reaction. This is the activation energy. You provide this energy by lighting a match or using a lighter. The heat from the match is what breaks the initial chemical bonds in a small amount of paper or wood, allowing the combustion process to begin.

    Sorry, spontaneous combustion only exists in comic books, the X-Files, and Harry Potter novels. 

    The presence of a catalyst. A catalyst lowers the activation energy, which speeds up the reaction. By definition, and this is an important qualification, catalysts are not consumed in a reaction. 

    My Dad would soak the firewood with lighter fluid or, heaven forbid, gasoline before tossing in the match. You would assume, as I did initially, that my Dad’s addition of lighter fluid to the pile of wood would act as a catalyst because it lowers the activation energy, making it easier for the combustion reaction to start. The wood ignites faster and releases heat and light more quickly. This is especially effective when the wood may be damp. But, since the lighter fluid is completely consumed in the burning process, it is not considered to be a catalyst. 

    In a campfire, metal ions within the embers act as catalysts. These embers, formed from burning wood, retain heat. When new wood is added, the stored heat from the embers lowers the activation energy, thereby accelerating the combustion reaction.

    Temperature: Increasing the temperature typically increases the reaction rate. The hotter the fire, the faster the fuel is consumed, requiring us to add more wood to keep the fire burning.

    Foundational Background Concepts

    Several critical concepts directly relate to chemical reactions. While these concepts aren’t part of the formal reaction process, they play an important role in the comparison between chemical reactions and personal growth.

    Chemical Change vs. Physical Change: In a reaction where there is a physical change, that reaction is reversible. Which means that the reagents can be recovered and do not undergo a permanent change in their chemical structure. As an example, dissolving salt in water. The salt undergoes a physical change. I can recover the salt granules by evaporating the water over a hotplate. As long as I don’t boil the water too vigorously, I can recovered the majority of the salt I added.

    The combustion reaction, our campfire, is an example of a chemical change. The chemical structure of our reagents, the newspaper and the wood, is permanently altered. This reaction is not reversible. I cannot take the ashes, reverse the reaction process and recreate the wood or newspaper.

    Chemical Potential Energy: All substances have stored energy due to their structure or position, which can be converted to another form of energy. In a combustion reaction, each of the reagents has “stored” chemical potential energy due to its structure, which is then “converted” during the combustion process into thermal (heat) and light energy.

    Qualitative vs. Quantitative Analysis: A qualitative analysis focuses on the presence of a product of a chemical analysis. In the example of the campfire, strictly whether the combustion process occurs, reaching an endpoint, the production of heat, or light. A quantitative analysis quantifies, measures the amount of reactants consumed and products produced. For example: “How much firewood was burned?”, “What was the temperature produced in the combustion process?” or “How bright was the light due to the flames?”.

    Use of an Indicator: Whereas one is not used in this example, an indicator is a substance that undergoes a visible change, typically a color change, to signal the current stage or the endpoint of a reaction. They must react sensitively to small changes in the surrounding environment. The color change should be clear and distinct, making it easy to identify a specific endpoint. Acid-base indicators, specifically phenolphthalein, are a good example. These change color depending on the pH of a solution, indicating whether it is acidic, basic, or neutral. 

    Exothermic versus Endothermic Reactions: An exothermic reaction is a chemical reaction that releases energy, typically in the form of heat, light, or sound. The word “exothermic” comes from the Greek roots (exo-) meaning “out,” and (-thermic) meaning “heat.” A common example is our combustion reaction, a campfire, where the energy released from the burning wood (heat and light) is much greater than the initial energy, from a match, needed to start the fire.

    An endothermic reaction is a chemical reaction that absorbs energy from its surroundings. In these reactions, the products have a higher total energy than the reactants, so energy must be continuously supplied for the reaction to proceed. The word “endothermic” comes from the Greek roots (endo-) meaning “in,” and (-thermic) meaning “heat.” A simple example is a cold pack. When you activate the pack, a reaction occurs that absorbs heat from the surrounding environment, making the pack feel cold to the touch. 

    Products versus By-products: Products are the primary and intended substances formed during a chemical reaction. They are the goal, what we expect to achieve in the reaction. In the practical, real-world context of a campfire, heat and light are the primary intended products. We don’t build a fire for the carbon dioxide and water vapor it creates; we do it for the warmth and illumination. So, in this specific case, the heat and light are the desired output, making them the main products.

    By-products are secondary, unintended, and often undesirable substances formed during a chemical reaction.  Unintended outcomes that represent the inefficiency of the chemical reaction, meaning that the reagents are not completely consumed, forming products. In the case of the campfire, the common by-products are: soot, this is unburned carbon that forms when the combustion reaction is not hot enough to convert all the carbon in the wood to carbon dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), a toxic gas that forms when there is not enough oxygen for a complete reaction, and ash. While each is a predictable part of the combustion process, they are byproducts, in that they are not the intended energy-releasing outputs of the combustion.

    In an upcoming post, I will explore the parallels between the constituents and steps of chemical reactions and the process of personal growth, including the role of our foundational concepts.

  • Weekly Quotation: August 26, 2025: The Smartest Person In The Room Complex

    For your consideration:

    “Just knowing you don’t have the answers is a recipe for humility, openness, acceptance, forgiveness, and an eagerness to learn—and those are all good things.”

    – Dick Van Dyke

    Over the years, I mistakenly believed I had all the answers and was the “smartest” person in the room. My arrogance was compounded by my eagerness to dominate conversations and express my views, which only highlighted my lack of knowledge. However, with age came the understanding that true intelligence involves actively listening to others’ opinions and perspectives. There is much to gain if I simply take the time to listen. By humbly acknowledging my shortcomings, refraining from imposing my opinions, and remaining open to alternative approaches, I can cultivate humility and grow in wisdom.

  • Using the Scientific Method to Overcome Adversity

    Every one of us, at some point in our lives, will face adversity and failure. Times when we fall short of expectations, whether it is the expectations others have for us or the expectations we have for ourselves. As students, it may be a poor exam grade, an incomplete or missed assignment, or even failing a course. You may fail to get the ACT score you need, or fail to be admitted to the college you desire. As adults, we may face setbacks like a failed job interview or missing out on a position we covet. A negative annual performance review could mean not getting the raise you feel like you deserve. Relationships and marriages can fail, and communication breakdowns can leave us questioning what went wrong. Life inevitably brings challenges: the loss of loved ones, health concerns, retirement, and the realization that we’re not as young as we used to be. The key lies in how we choose to confront these difficulties.

    The Scientific Method’s Role in Dealing With Adversity

    Most of us are familiar with the scientific method, a cornerstone of science education from middle school through college. For those who need a refresher, the scientific method consists of five steps or actions: Observation, Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, and Analysis/Conclusions.

    How Can I Use the Scientific Method to Deal With Adversity? 

    I would argue that the key step is observation, being able to separate yourself from the emotion and act as an outside viewer of the situation, watching without judgment. Observation combined with self-awareness, asking yourself, “What are my strengths?, “What are my weaknesses?”, and “What truly motivates me?” These are the essential principles in applying the scientific method to adversity. It’s the perspective that allows you to treat a challenge not as an attack on you, but as a problem to be solved. 

    Once you accept this attitude and put it into practice, the scientific method becomes a powerful tool for dealing with adversity, changing it from an emotional crisis into a manageable process of observation and experimentation.

    Real-life Example: You get a “D” on your chemistry assignment.

    Step One: Observation

    Adversity strikes, and your first step is to resist the emotional pull to react immediately. We often make the situation worse by reacting without thinking, responding in ways we’ll come to regret later. Not just in our words, but in our actions and decisions we make in the moment. We need to take a step back and become an objective viewer of the situation at hand. 

    First, you observe the situation without being judgmental or emotional, asking yourself:  

    “What are the facts of this situation?” 

    Break the situation down, make an objective, non-emotional analysis. The assignment was due three days ago, and I submitted it today, three days late. The classroom policy is that for every day an assignment is late, there is a letter grade penalty.

    “What are the emotions am I feeling?” 

    Angry, I worked really hard on this assignment. Embarrassed, all my friends got better grades than I did.

    “What thoughts are running through my  mind?” 

    My teacher is just being mean; he doesn’t like me, and he’s picking on me. And this policy is really unfair.

    “What are the other variables at play?”

    I spent my time playing a new video game I just got instead of working on the assignment. I struggle with procrastination, putting off all my assignments until the last minute.

    As you gather information, treat your emotions and thoughts as “data” points rather than truths to be acted upon.

    Step Two: Identify a Question

    From this place of calm observation, you formulate a specific, solvable question. Instead of asking, “Why is this happening to me?”, you ask, “What is the real problem I need to solve here?” This question must be objective and actionable, similar to a chemist asking, “What are the souces of error causing this reaction to fail?”

    For this situation, your core problem you need to solve is that you procrastinate.

    Step Three: Create a Hypothesis

    Next, you develop a theory about how to approach the problem. This is your educated guess about a potential solution. Your hypothesis is a path forward, a specific action you will take to test your theory. It might sound like this: “If I communicate my feelings calmly and clearly, then I can find a resolution to this conflict.” Or, “If I study more, then I will do better on my exam.”

    Because you struggle with procrastination, you may decide to start on an assignment the day it is assigned, or do your work at the dining room table, not in your room where you’re easily distracted. Maybe ask your parents to help or ask a friend to be a “study buddy” to help keep you accountable.

    Step Four: Perform an Experiment

    This is where you put your hypothesis into action. You take a deliberate, measured step to test your theory. The experiment isn’t a rash decision; it’s a controlled action designed to provide data. You act or change your behavior, and you carefully observe the results.

    For example, for the next assignment, you decide to test your hypothesis by starting the day it is assigned and doing your work at your kitchen table, not in your room.

    Step Five: Analysis & Conclusion

    After the experiment, you analyze the results. Did your new approach work? Did the situation improve, or did your emotions shift in a positive way?

    Based on the analysis, you draw a conclusion. If your hypothesis was correct, you’ve found a new, effective way to handle that specific type of adversity. If it wasn’t, you haven’t failed; you’ve simply gathered new information. That new information allows you to formulate a new hypothesis and start the cycle over again.

    While it is not always easy, assuming responsibility for our failures and admitting our shortcomings never is, by applying this systematic, analytical approach, you may find that adversity is no longer a personal attack. It becomes a solvable problem, and you become the master architect who learns from every challenge and uses that knowledge to become a stronger, more resilient you.

  • Weekly Quotation: August 20, 2025: Awe And Wonder

    He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
    – Albert Einstein

    Awe is a powerful emotion defined as a feeling that what we are witnessing is beyond our current understanding. But our perception of awe and wonder evolves throughout our lifetimes. For example:

    As children, our curiosity and wonder are fueled by the pure joy of discovery. A messy papier-mache volcano built on the kitchen table, or a curious question about the stars, is enough to stimulate our search for answers.

    As we get older, our perspective shifts. The world begins to measure us, and we, in turn, begin to measure ourselves. Our sense of worth becomes tied to external rewards—such as grades, test scores, titles, and salaries. The process of learning and discovery becomes a means to an end, rather than a joy in itself.

    We get so engrossed in our daily routine—rushing to appointments, ticking off to-do lists, and worrying over expectations—that we overlook the wonder in the world around us. Consider how often you’re in such a hurry while driving that you fail to notice your surroundings. Do you recall the turns you made, the roads you took, or anything that happened during your commute? 

    Now in my sixties, I consciously strive to appreciate life’s beauty and complexity, taking the time to marvel at nature. This includes the intricate details of plants and flowers in my garden, as well as observing Jupiter’s inner moons or the Pleiades constellation through my telescope on a clear night. This past Friday, at 5 a.m., while walking our dog, I noticed the stunning alignment of Venus and Jupiter on the eastern horizon. This sight filled me with such awe and reminded me of the insignificance of my daily concerns—what I needed to do that morning or what I hadn’t accomplished the day before. It reaffirmed my faith in God and highlighted my small place within these mysteries.

  • Weekly Quotation August 13, 2025: Being Comfortable In Silence

    It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

    – Mark Twain

    Truer words have never been said. Learning to be an active listener, and be comfortable in our silence is a valuable skill that most of us, myself included, need to practice daily.

  • Weekly Quotation: August, 6, 2025: Rethinking Education to Prioritize Personal Growth

    “We are a culture that worships the winning result: the league championship, the high test score. Coaches are paid to win, teachers are valued for getting students into the best colleges. Less glamorous gains made a long the way – learning, wisdom, growth, confidence, dealing with failure – aren’t given the same respect because they can’t be given a grade.”

    – William Zinnser (On Writing Well, 30th edition) (pg. 253)

    I wonder if the same can be said about the process of personal growth. I am absolutely certain that there are teachers whose passion lies in seeing they’re students grow as people of substance, encouraging their passion for learning, challenging students with inquiry-based lessons. I know this because I have worked alongside many of them. However, the pressure to meet state and federal established testing benchmarks by which schools are judged and state curriculum standards leaves little time for creativity and discussion in the classroom. So many feel like they are fighting a losing battle. And it not only these restrictions that affect the development of our students’ personal growth in the classroom.

    I have also experienced a paradigm shift in the STEM students I work with. While there are still some who are open to new ideas and are willing to explore and develop the foundations of personal growth: curiosity, a passion for solving problems, and a passion for learning. There is a growing majority of students whose primary interest is in just getting the grade, whose focus is on getting the highest ACT score possible, not through learning the baseline knowledge to support the score, but only in the quick techniques to “cheat” the test with the least amount of effort. And, with minimum ACT test score standards being implemented in school systems as graduation requirements, schools now offer courses teaching these methods. ” Memorize and forget” is now the status quo for many of our students.

    We are doing a disservice to our students. For when they get to college, and especially when they graduate and join the workforce without a solid foundation in knowing how to deal with failure, learn from their mistakes, develop a strong support network, to be resilient and to persevere – essential skills and traits that cannot be given a grade – I guarantee you they will struggle.