Oops!

Note to self: Should you ever wish to point out the depreciation in examination standards in recent years, the poor show made by modern students with their modern, flashy GCSEs (not a patch on the traditional, solid, O-levels of years gone by), then please note the following:

You really, really don't help your argument by, oh yes, making multiple mistakes in your answer sheet.

Should you be interested:

A titration can be used to find the concentration of a solution. In a titration, 22.0 cm³ of hydrochloric acid is required to neutralise 25.0 cm³ of calcium hydroxide solution. The concentration of the hydrochloric acid is 0.001 mol/dm³.
The equation for the reaction is: Ca(OH)₂ + 2HCl → CaCl₂ + 2H₂O
(Relative atomic masses: H = 1; O = 16; Ca = 40)

How many moles of hydrochloric acid are present in 22.0 cm³ of the acid solution? (Answer to 2 sig. fig.)
Given and correct answer: 2.2E-5 mol/dm³
With how many moles of calcium hydroxide will 22.0 cm³ of this acid solution react? (Answer to 2 sig. fig.)
Given and correct answer: 1.1E-5 mols
What is the concentration of the calcium hydroxide solution? (Answer in mol/dm³ to 2 sig. fig.)
Given and correct answer: 4.4E-4 mol/dm³
What is the concentration of the calcium hydroxide solution? (Answer in g/dm³ to 2 sig. fig.)
Given answer: 0.33 g/dm³
Correct answer: 0.033 g/dm³


Nitrogen can be obtained by heating solid ammonium dichromate(VI), (NH₄)2Cr₂O₇. Chromium (III) oxide (Cr₂O₃) and steam are the only other products of this reaction.
(i) Construct the equation, including state symbols, for the action of heat on ammonium dichromate(VI).
Given answer: 2(NH₄)₂Cr₂O₇(s) --> 2Cr₂O₃(s) + H₂O(g) + N₂(g)
Correct answer: (NH₄)₂Cr₂O₇(s) --> Cr₂O₃(s) + 4H₂O(g) + N₂(g)
Their version doesn't even balance! We lose 2 N atoms, 14 H atoms, and 7 O atoms!!


One of the hydrocarbons in petrol is octane. This equation shows the combustion of octane: 2C₈H₁₈ + 25O₂ → 16CO₂ + 18H₂O
What mass of carbon dioxide is produced for every tonne of octane burned in this reaction? (Relative atomic masses: H = 1; C = 12; O = 16) (Answer in tonnes to 2 sig. fig.)
Given answer: 3.1 tonnes
Correct answer: 3.4 tonnes

Basically, unimpressive. I got bored after Question B4, so there might be errors in the answers after that point too. I'll update this if I get that far.

William Wilberforce on "In Our Time"

Did you manage to catch "In Our Time" on BBC Radio 4 this morning? If not, you missed a treat. I knew nothing about him, but hearing the story of William Wilberforce was inspirational.

Wilberforce was born in Hull in 1759. He attended St John's College, Cambridge where, basically, he partied hard, and left with a degree without honours. Becoming a politician aged 21, he experienced anew his semi-forgotten religious conviction, joined the Clapham Sect (a leading evangelical Anglican group) and was influenced by a number of people including Thomas Clarkson who encouraged him to take up a "mission" in life, and that of the abolition of the laws in England legalising the slave trade eventually became his overriding passion. It took him two decades in the face of stiff opposition from those who made their fortunes from the slave trade, but eventually an act of parliament was passed prohibiting the slave trade.*

It's hard to belive that many politicians of this age would stand firm in the face of such opposition to support a largely unpopular cause over 20 years. But wouldn't it be great if they did. Let's not allow the truth the be glossed over, either: what Wilberforce did was right, and maybe would have eventually occurred witout his input, but his motivation and the source of his conviction was unquestionably his Christian faith. He was a man who didn't only listen, but also acted.

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* Source - mainly from the BBC

And my licence fee goes on this...?

I used to run a computer with the operating system Windows Millenium Edition. Don't worry about what that means if you're not sure (although for those of you are thinking "so do I!", you have my condolences). Windows ME had one major distinguishing feature. No, not System Restore. And not the slightly modified icons from Windows '98. Not at all.

In fact, the major thing that distinguished Windows ME from all previous versions of Windows (and most of the subsequent ones) was its ability to struggle like anything if asked to perform any simple task. No, seriously, it could, and usually did, crash when you turned the computer on. Or off. Or, if you by chance managed to get the machine up and running, when you tried to open a programme - even one that came with it, like Internet Explorer. Like all sulky teenagers, ME had an attitude problem. It simply didn't do what you wanted it to. Pleading, threats and even physical violence had no effect. It was, pure and simple, awful.

The main thing that used to haunt my waking thoughts was why? I mean, how did the conversation go?

"Have you tested the new operating system, Bob?"

"Yes, sir, Mr Gates, sir."

"And...?"

"Um... well, sir, I say tested, but in the end I had to be restrained by my colleagues to stop me throwing my machine out of the window. And you know we're on the 8th floor up here..."

"Excellent. Release it next week."

Actually, that may be dangerously close to the truth. But you get my point.

It's the same with so many things. Just becuase you can doesn't mean you should. And nothing exemplifies my point quite so well as BBC1's primetime offering from 7 'till 8 pm. Robin Hood. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...

To say the script was bad would be to slight Australian soap operas of all time.

"What do you mean, Darleen - Jason didn't get killed by Darren, and he's now with Melissa? And Jody's going to have his child, except he thinks that she's with Micky?"

Genius, pure genius. Compared, that is, with the utter drivel spouted by M. Hood, Little John et al. And for sublety, it makes Ali G look like Jane Austen. Did you know that there were parallels to be drawn between an 12th century bloke in a forest and a 21st century war against suicide bombers? I didn't.

Oh, and before I forget, clocks which go "tick tock tick tock" didn't exist in the 12th century. They really didn't. It's like watching the Sheriff arrive in a Ford Mustang.

Please, please, BBC, stop wasting our licence fees on men in tights. Speed on the return of Top Gear, and let's all sit down and watch some caravans getting trashed. What could be better family entertainment than that?