A chemical quiz item
Keith S. Taber
I would like to pose a simple quiz question. I think (?) the answer may be obvious to many science teachers, and advanced chemistry learners – but I wonder…
Consider the table below:
| List 1 | List 2 |
| acid | alcohol |
| alkane | ether |
| metal | salt |
| protein | sugar |
The table contains some terms used in science, and especially in chemistry. But I have separated them into two lists, and I would suggest that there is a valid reason to class them into two separate categories in this way.
The ordering in the list is simply alphabetical – they are not intended to be paired (acid-alcohol, etc.): just in two categories.
This is not intended as a comprehensive classification – there are other examples (alkali, alkene, etc.) that could be added to the table.
The question is simple – what is the basis for this discrimination; what is different about the items in list 1, compared with those in list 2?
Too easy?
(As a bonus question: one of the entries, in one of the lists, might be considered to reflect the quality associated with the entries in that list in a more extreme form. Can you spot which item this is?)
I will post my reasoning in due course. But perhaps I will not need to (if you think you know the answer, please comment below).
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