The cache is located within two miles of the published coordinates!
Do you love science? Well I do! In this cache, your skills of learning and applying scientific methodology will be put to the test, along with my skills of thoroughly explaining. In this case, through Chemistry. This is the first of (what I hope to be) a series of chemistry-based caches. The topics covered in the future caches will rely on your knowlege obtained from this one. Enjoy!
Althogh many concepts will be covered, it is highly reccomended to watch chemistry videos to supplement knowlege. Many youtube videos can provide this with a quick search of "Crash Course Chemistry". Also, a periodic table is principle to this lesson. Please note that many explanations will be simplified, but still accurate.
N 42°AB.CGH W 071° BF.DEJ
If you have the old coordinates (pre 11-18-2022), subtract 0.045 from Latatude, and add 0.039 to Longatude.
Section one: Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons
Protons, neutrons, and electrons are the building blocks of all atoms. A proton is a particle located inside the nucleus (center) of an atom. The proton has a charge of +1, which can be thought of as a magnetic charge . An electron is a particle not located in the nucleus of an atom, but "orbiting" the nucleus. The electron has a charge of -1, which is why it is orbiting the nucleus, as it is attracted to the positive charge of the proton. Neutrons have no charge, but are also found inside the nucleus of an atom, helping the atom to maintain a stable state.
The number of protons in an atom determines which element it is. For example, Cu, copper, element 29, will always have 29 protons. Protons and neutrons have the same weight, which we will call 1 amu (amu = Atomic mass unit, equal to the weight of a proton, or neutron. helpful, I know). The weight of an electron does NOT contribute to the mass of an atom, as it is negligible. Therefor, the weight of a molecule is determined by the number of protons + the number of neutrons. Here are some examples:
A Sodium atom with an amu of 23 has 11 protons. How many neutrons does it have? (23-11 = 12, therefor 12 neutrons).
What is the atomic weight in amu of element 5 on the periodic table if it has 6 neutrons? (5+6 = 11, therefor 11amu).
At this point, it is time to learn how to read the periodic table, a useful tool for the information on elements. This diagram should help:
The number of neutrons in an atom are not fixed to a specific amount per element. Above, Oxygen is shown to have an amu of 15.999. This does not mean that all Oxygen atoms have this exact weight (remember, the weight of atoms can only be a whole number), but it means the average Oxygen atom has this weight. Most oxygen atoms have a weight of 16 amu. (how many neutrons does it have then?).
Probelm Set One:
For the sake of these problems, assume that the amu of the given element is equal to the nearest whole number of the amu listed on the periodic table. (ex: if it is listed as 62.919 amu, assume it is 63 amu).
The number of netruons Be, Berrylium has is equal to D
The number of neutrons N, Nitrogen has is equal to F
The number of neutrons H, Hydrogen has is equal to B
Section two: Balancing Chemical Formulas
Atoms are not alone. Often times they are joined by another atom, or multiple other atoms. This is called a molecule. molecules are expressed as an amalgamation of the various Atomic symbols written out. For example:
H2O is 2 Hydrogen atoms bonded together with one Oxygen atom. The subscript refers to how many of those atoms there are in that molecule.
CH4 is 4 Hydrogen atoms bonded together with one Carbon atom.
O2 is 2 Oygen atoms bonded together.
Molecules also react with other molecules. This means the two (or more!) molecules who are reacting will break apart into their individual atoms, and reform in a different way. One example of this is the synthesis of water from Hydrogen and Oxygen:
H2 + O2 --> H2O
Why H2 and O2, and not H and O? Because Oxygen will naturally react with itself to form O2, and Hydrogen will also naturally form H2. BUT WAIT! did you notice a problem with the chemical formula? Count how many molecules of Hydrogen and Oygen are on each side. We cannot create molecules out of nothing, and we cannot make molecules dissapear. Therefor, we need to adjust this formula. We can do this by adding more Hydrogen to the right side, and adjusting the left side to account for the conservation of mass:
2H2 + O2 --- > 2H2O
Now count the number of molecules on each side. The coefficients here mean two molocules of hydrogen are reacting with one molecule of Oxygen to form two molecules of water. I should also note here to beware of confusing text: Atoms either have 1 or two letter abbreviations.In the case of two letters, the first letter is capital, the second is lowercase (example, Si = Silicon, not Sulfur and Iodine, that would be SI) Try balancing for yourself:
_H2O2 ---> _H2O + _O2 (Balanced: 2H2O2 ---> 2H2O + 1O2
_KClO3 --> _KCl + _O2 (Cl is chlorine, one atom. Balanced: 2KClO3 --> 2KCl + 3O2
Problem Set Two:
In this case, the bold letters are not compounds, but are coefficients and solutions to the cache location.
_Si2H2 + _O2 ---> HSiO2 + _H2O
_P + EO2 ---> _P2O5
Section three: Electrons, and chemical bonds
An ion, is a (magnetically) charged particle. the reason why an atom may be an ion is because of an imbalance between the number of protons, and electrons. Protons have a charge of +1; electrons, -1. A normal atom thus has the same number of protons and electrons to balance the charge out. The charge of an atom is equal to the number of protons minus the number of electrons (because positive +1 charge and negative -1 charge balance out). Before we can dive any deeper, we must understand valent electrons. Electrons aren't floating around an atom completely randomly. There are different "shells" of electrons which an atom have, which, only when the previous shell is filled up, the next one can be filled.
Follow along in the periodic table. The first shell has 2 electrons, this corresponds to Hydrogen, 1 electron, and Helium, 2 electrons. The first shell has now been filled up. Every new line on the periodic table is a new shell of electrons. The next shell of electrons has 8 spots, which corresponds to 8 elements on that line. The next line after that also has 8 spots (The the lines further down get a little more tricky, but we will not have to cover them for this cache). The main thing which determines the reactivity of an atom is the atom's outermost electron shell. otherwise known as its Valent Electrons. And how do you determine how many electrons are in the valent shell? You simply count starting at one, from left to right a given row. example:
Carbon has 4 valent electrons (it is fourth from the left)
Argon has 8 valent electrons (it is eighth from the left)
Try for yourself: How many valent electrons does Magnesium have? (Answer: 2)
Electrons pair up with another electron in all of their shells; therefor, there are 4 electron pairs in a shell (aside from the first shell, where there is one pair. If confused, look at the periodic table). When going from left to right on a row of the periodic table and adding one electron at a time, the first four electrons will NOT group up, and will instead be alone. Only when you get to the 5th element from the left will you start adding electrons to the one existing electrons in each "pair". This diagram below should help. Each dot represents an electron:
An element is most stable when its valent electron shell has eight electrons / is full. Because electrons alone cannot easily be added to an element, atoms resolve to share their outermost electrons to achieve a full 8-electron shell. This is called the octet rule: the preferance of atoms to have eight electrons in their valance shell. Examples:
Molecule LiF- Lithium Floride obeys the octet rule because Lithium contributes seven electrons to the valence shell and Flourine contributes one.
Molecule CH4 obeys the octet rule because Carbon contributes four valence electrons, and each hydrogen atom contributes one.
Problem Set Three:
The number of valence electrons in Carbon (C) plus the number of valence electrons in Magnesium (Mg) will equal C
The subscript of sodium (Na) in the following bond will equal G: NaxClx
The subscript of Be (Berrylium) in the following bond will equal A: BexCx
Thesubscript of K (Potassium) in the following bond will equal J: KxPx
Cache container is also a little hard to find once given the coords, but you can spot it just by looking. Please beware of muggles, it is a busy area. Don't try to get into anywhere where I cleary couldn't have gotten permission to hide it. Message me for any hints about the puzzle, or cache. A small prize for the FTF is ATTACHED to the cache, please make sure to take it off and keep it.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
GeoChecker.com