Chem Awards Banquet - Spring 2025

In the Road Runner cartoons, Wile E. Coyote often tries to blow the road runner up with TNT. What does TNT stand for?

What is the molecular geometry of ammonia?

In a redox reaction, the species that is oxidized:

You just spilled 50mL of pyridine in the lab and James now smells like rancid fish. What’s the best way to handle this?

In SN2 reactions, which of the following substrates will react the fastest with a strong nucleophile?

What year did Dr. Tsai graduate from UCSD with his B.S. in Bioengineering? (Extra credit if you were already born)

Which of the following quantum numbers determines the shape of an atomic orbital?​

What’s a chemist’s favorite type of dog? (Bonus points for proper PPE)

For a pure substance the partial derivative of G with respect to P at constant T is equal to:

What is the name of this compound?

Which gas law explains the relationship between pressure and volume at constant temperature?

Which chemical causes the burning sensation one gets while eating chilies?

Which of these publications is co-authored by Dr. Nalbandian? (Note: All of these papers are by CBU chem professors)

What element is number 101 on the periodic table?

The functional group R-O-R represents?

In infrared (IR) spectroscopy, which group typically appears in the region around 1700 cm⁻¹?​

Søren Sørensen created the pH scale in 1909 to measure hydrogen ion concentration. What does “pH” actually stand for?

Which of the following elements has the highest electronegativity?

In a potentiometric titration, the inflection point on the titration curve corresponds to:

Is the CBU Chemistry Dept. the best department ever?!