The eNotes Blog A Decade of eNotes Happy Birthday toUs!

A Decade of Happy Birthday toUs! As they say: time flies when youre having fun.  This December marks the tenth year that has been helping students and teachers,  and we can hardly believe  it. It seems like just yesterday we were all asking Jeeves lifes great questions  (and definitely NOT  on our flip phones). Were cracking opening the   photo album to take a peek back through a decade of education and site transformation. 2005 With a love of learning and literature, our co-founders Alex and Brad officially launched in 2005.  We were both fans of Shakespeare, who is difficult to understand for studentswe felt we could help students by putting the text of his plays alongside commentary from an expert, says Brad. So, to better help students, the  first iteration was a complete  site  that helpfully  aggregated content from a wide variety of sources and bringing it to the World Wide Web  for the first time ever.   2010 For several years succeeded in making professional, academic study materials more easily accessible to the general publicwhich to this day is still our driving force. To expound upon that idea, and create a more interactive environment, launched a QA community where knowledge-seekers could easily connect with educators to learn in a more helpful,  one-on-one capacity. 2015 Tens of millions of students and teachers later, we are still driven by passion for education, and a penchant for classic literature. Today, is an even more bustling and thriving community of like-minded learners. As a fully digital company, weve been through several website designs, trends, and ideas. Our suite of tools is now complete with more than 30,000 literature study guides, 300,000 homework questions, 10,000 teacher documents, and qualitative essay review. Were excited for what the next decade brings us. Maybe will meet you  on your Apple watches, your Google glasses, or some type of (hopefully benevolent) in-home robot helper. Whatever the future may bring, were excited to continue the journey of learning and knowledge with you.

Reader Piqued By French Mutilations

Reader Piqued By French Mutilations Reader Piqued By French Mutilations Reader Piqued By French Mutilations By Maeve Maddox Mari, one of our readers, writes: Perhapsyou could address a problem that seems to have reached epidemic proportions: the difference between pique, peek and peak. Recently I have been inundated with people giving sneak peaks and having their curiosity peeked. I pointed out the peak for peek spelling myself in an earlier article. Its an easy mistake to make since ee and ea are alternate English spellings for the long e sound. Misspelling the French word pique is a shame since it looks so cool. And theres not much excuse for doing so. English writers dont seem to have any trouble with the word unique which is spelled according to the same pattern. Mari is also troubled by the cutesy spelling of French Voil as Walla. while youre at it, perhaps you would add Voila I might be forced to blind myself if I see Walla again. I suppose that people who write Voil as walla may feel its closer to the French pronunciation, but even if it were, which it isnt that much, the weird spelling walla is confusing. It makes me think of wallah as in laundry wallah. When I googled walla, I discovered that the word actually has meanings. Walla is radio broadcasting jargon for a sound effect imitating the murmur of a crowd in the background. The word walla is a way of swearing by God in Arabic. Walla! is an Israeli internet news portal, search engine, and email service provider. While were on the subject of mutilations of French expressions, heres one that gets me. chaise longue a chair that holds up the sitters legs; a deck chair Americans long ago changed the longue, meaning long, to lounge, since that is what one does on such a chair. Chaise lounge no longer bothers me, but I do have expectations regarding the pronunciation of chaise, My preferred pronunciation is /shez/, but Ill even settle for /chaiz/. The fingernail scraped the blackboard, however, when I watched a Wal-mart television ad for lawn furniture the other evening. The cheery salesman wanted to sell his customer a chase lounge. Here are a few other French words and expressions that should be written or spoken with care. chic /sheek/ stylish coup de grà ¢ce /ku dÉ™ grahs/ (literally mercy blow) killing a wounded creature to end its suffering. dà ©j vu /day jah voo/ (literally, already seen) the feeling that one is experiencing an event that has happened previously. It is NOT amusing when people say dà ©j vu all over again. faux /foe/ (false) jewelers often advertise faux pearls. Copywriters must take care not to write ads offering genuine faux pearls. fiancà © /fee ahn say/ man engaged to be married fiancà ©e /fee ahn say/ woman engaged to be married hors doeuvre /or derve/ (literally out of or apart from the work, i.e., the main course) Thought: People who write walla for voil probably say /hors duvers/ for hors doeuvres. risquà © /ris kay/ off-color, naughty, as in a risquà © joke. RSVP (abbreviation for Rà ©pondez sil vous plaà ®t, Reply if it pleases you) Added to invitations for which the host wishes to know if the guest is coming or not. Please RSVP is redundant, but common. visvis /vee zah vee/ (literally face to face) The French meaning was once more common in English than it is now. Dancers were said to dance visvis. There was a style of horse-drawn coach called a visvis in which passengers sat facing one another. Now, however, visvis is used more often to mean in relation to as in these headlines: Senior Citizens vis a- vis the Indian Society Vietnam vis a vis Iraq in Congressional DebateLessons Learned? Or Biases Deeply Ingrained? NATION-STATES VIS-A-VIS ETHNOCULTURAL MINORITIES The headlines also illustrate the various ways that visvis is written in English. Voil! /vwah lah/ (There it is!) If you decide to eschew the walla spelling, take a close look at the vowels and the direction of the accent mark. Dont write voil or viol. voir dire /vwar deer/ (literally to see to say) a legal term youve probably heard on Law and Order. It refers to jury selection. So, spice up your speech and writing with French words and expressions. Just dont mutilate them when you do. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Fly, Flew, (has) FlownFlied?60 Synonyms for â€Å"Trip†9 Forms of the Past Tense

Male and female psychology ( similarities and differencess between Essay

Male and female psychology ( similarities and differencess between them ) - Essay Example For example, it is often maintained that the females are more perceptive than males and they can understands social situations much better that what males can. Therefore, the psychological differences between men and women offer a significant area of analysis and understanding the various similarities and differences between male and female psychology can help one in developing successful relationship with the opposite sex. This paper makes a reflective exploration of the similarities and differences between male and female psychology in order determine some of the basic aspects in the psychological construction of each sex. Male and female psychology has various elements in common, although the differences between these gender identities are often stressed. Gender identity is fundamentally created by the difference between male and female psychology and biological aspects. In comparison with males, the females have a greater ability to pick up on social cues and they understand social situations better. An understanding of the communication styles of both the sexes reveals the difference between the emotional aspects of the two groups. â€Å"In course of socialization, communication and relationships become more important for women, as compared to men. Gender differences in the amount of communication and stronger orientation of women towards interpersonal communication have been described. Girls are reported to be more relaxed in their communication with boys than vice versa. Moreover, they communicate more passively, but tend to be more friendly and selective.† (Vasyura, 2008). Therefore, the emotional aspects of men and women differ greatly and the gender identity of each sex is determined also by these psychological differences. In conclusion, a reflective exploration of the similarities and differences between male and female psychology confirms that the differences result in the gender identity of each sex. An understanding of these similarities and

The future of water Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The future of water - Research Paper Example The creator was aware of the importance of water on human life and he gave us great oceans, rivers, streams etc. Moreover he has kept a large stock of water at the underground also. But, unwise human activities and exploitation has spoiled water resources and the world is currently facing drinking water shortages. According to former UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, â€Å"access to safe water is a fundamental human need and therefore, a basic human right. Contaminated water jeopardizes both the physical and social health of all people. It is an affront to human dignity† (Water as a human right). The shortage of drinking water is big problem all over the world. Most of the drinking water resources were contaminated because of heavy industrialization and the usage of powerful chemicals and fertilizers for maximizing agricultural yields. Many people believe that another world war is on card for controlling the fresh water sources. Even the recent Iraq war also suspected as a deliberate attempt by US to exploit the fresh water resources of Iraq rather than the publicly declared objectives. Water pollution affects not only the humans, but also the plants and organisms living in water, land and air. This paper analyses the future of water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that approximately 45 percent of assessed waters nationwide do not fully meet water quality standards. This means these water bodies do not meet the basic goal of the Clean Water Act – that they be safe for uses like swimming, fishing, or as a drinking water source. The EPA projects that $388 billion will be needed from 2000 to 2019 to address the nation’s clean water infrastructure problems (All Dried Up, How Clean Water is Threatened by Budget Cuts p.2). The above statistics clearly outlines the severity of the drinking water scarcity problem facing by United Sates at present. The problem with respect to drinking

Personal Responsibility and College Success Essay Example for Free

Personal Responsibility and College Success Essay What is personal responsibility and how does it relate to college success? To me personal responsibility is to be accountable for oneself and the people around you, in most any situation, there is no other person to hold accountable for your life than yourself. Everything we do is a direct reflection of your personality and the decisions you make. Morals are something you learn from your parents growing up. They teach you to always do the right thing and try not to make bad decisions. As you get older you’re going to start making important decisions that could affect your future. By doing this your growing into a responsible adult. Being personally responsible also means being able to take responsibility for your actions. What I mean by this is if you do something wrong don’t point the finger at someone else and say they did it. Be a responsible adult and be accountable for yourself and the things you do. When going to college you need to be accountable for your actions and the responsibility to turn in your homework, show up to class on time, get good grades, and study for tests. When going to college identify past problems that could set you back and overcome them in the future. In example if your not good at math go to a book store and buy a math tutor book and read it and it can help you focus on solutions and overcome barriers that you might have. When finding solutions to overcome your barriers don’t make excuses and tell yourself you cant do it. Make a system of checks and balances to help alleviate some stress. So if your studying for a long period of time take a break and do something else for a while then come back and finish. Never tell yourself you can’t do it. By doing this your going to feel better about yourself knowing that you did it and you took your time out of your day and learned something new. When going to college you need to make goals, a goal that is beneficial to your overall success. Your goal must be attainable, taking into consideration your personal resources and abilities. Be persistent when trying to reach your goals and never give up.

The Time Machine - Analysis :: essays research papers

There are numerous people in society who lack certain skills that they need for survival. These people may lack intelligence and depend on other human beings to help them get through life. However, most of the time, it is there fault that they lack these necessities. In â€Å"The Time Machine† by H.G Wells, the Eloi had this problem. They were victims of their own weaknesses because they didn’t understand that learning these important skills was necessary for them to survive. When he arrived in the future, The Time Traveller, after seeing and hearing the Eloi, concluded that they had an extremely low intelligence compared to the people that lived in his time. They were often described as and compared to little children. â€Å"Then one of them asked me a question that showed him to be on the intellectual level of one of our five year old children.†(39) He was very shocked about this weakness that the Eloi possessed. The fact that the Time Traveller lived 800,00 years in the past led him to believe that over time, the generations got less and less intelligent and more involved with having fun compared to the world where he lived. The Time Traveller also realized that the Eloi were very dependent on other people for many of there resources. He mentioned that the Eloi had houses and clothing but he didn’t see any machinery or anything that could possibly produce these items. â€Å"There were no shops, no workshops, no sign of importations among them.† (65) This led him the believe that there had to be someone or something that was making these items for them. Since the Time Traveller had already know about the low intelligence of the Eloi, this didn’t come as surprize to him. He was able to come to the conclusion that the Eloi cannot do very much for themselves. Another fact that the Time Traveler came across was that the Eloi spent all day playing games and doing nothing of importance. He didn't understand how they could get things done and survive in their world. "They spent all day of their time in playing gently, in bathing in the river, in making love in a half-playful fashion, in eating fruit and sleeping. I could not see how things were kept going." (65) He thought that the Eloi acted just like little children. The thing that puzzled him was how the society could function properly when no one took anything seriously. He never saw an Eloi doing work or anything of value. As a result, the Time Traveller didn't understand how the Eloi stayed alive.

Determining Ka by the half-titration of a weak acid Essay

To get the Ka of acetic acid, HC2H3O2 I will react it with sodium hydroxide. The point when our reaction is half-titrated can be used to determine the pKa. As I have added half as many moles of acetic , as NaOH, Thus, OH- will have reacted with only half of the acetic acid leaving a solution with equal moles of HC2H3O2 and C2H3O2-. Then I will use the Henderson-Hasselblach equation to get pKa. CH3COOH + NaOH H2O + NaCH3COO Results: Below is a table that summarizes our results for the reaction of 1M of acetic acid with 1Molar of NaOH which 50cm3 was used. The table shows the PH record at  ½ equivalence and at equivalence. We also recorded the observations we saw during the reaction. PH  ±0.1 Qualitative observations At  ½ equivalence 5.0 When I recorded this, as we slowly added NaOH to the acid, there was a change of color from colorless to a very slight pink as the Phenolphthalein indicator changed color. At equivalence 8.9 As I added the acetic acid to 250 cm3 of reaction mixture, there was no color change. Also as we measured the PH, the PH changed slowly but then changed very quickly at the solution approached equivalence. At this time, the indicator turned pink, when equivalence was reached Calculating the PKa To calculate PKa, we will use the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation. Hence the calculations below show how using this we can calculate the PKa = PKa + But at the half equivalence, the concentration of acetic acid and its salt ion are the same. Thus, we get: = PKa + = PKa Now the PH was, so PKa= 5.0  ±0.1 = 5.0  ± 2% 5.0  ±2% = = 10-5  ±2% Titration curve: To get error we are going to sketch a titration curve, and from this measure the PH at half equivalence. To do this: PH of acetic acid (1M): Ka = = 10-4.76 = √(1Ãâ€"10-4.76) So PH of acetic acid= 2.38 Now PH of NaOH, (1M) Now concentration of NaOH, was 1M So = 1 = -log(1) = 0 ±0.2% So PH= 14 ±0.2% Thus with these results we can plot this: Volume of NaOH (0.2%) PH of solution ( ±0.2) 0 2.38 45 14 48 14 50 14 We know that at volume of NaOH of 45 and 48, the PH will still be 14 as it’s in excess by far, thus getting to the PH of NaOH as the PH measured The PH of the solution has uncertainty of  ±0.2, as this is the smallest division of our y-axis in our titration sketch. Now after plotting our titration results, we can see that the equivalence point the volume was at a volume was at 28cm3 as it has the steepest gradient. Thus, the half-equivalence is at half a volume, 14cm3. At this volume the PH is 4.8  ±0.2 Using this value, as = PKa + = PKa PKa= 4.8  ±0.2 4.8 ±4.2% = = 10-4.8  ±4.2% Conclusion: I have concluded that the of acetic acid is -5 ±2% just using the data recorded (method 1). However from using that data and calculating the pH of acetic acid and NaOH, and then plotting a titration curve (method 2), we got a of 4.8 ±0.2%. As I calculated both I can calculate the % error of both comparing it with the actual value, -4.76.[1] % error of method 1= = 100  ±5% % error of method 2= = 100  ±0.84% The data I have concluded and summarized above is backed up by the data produced in the experiment and trends seen. We conclude that method 2 is more accurate as the % error is less and that our oringal method had  ±5% error. This is clearly backed up in our %errors as 4.8 is much closer to the actual value 4.76. The data that supports our % errors is the graph. It clearly shows a trend that as the volume of NaOH increased the PH rose, and the higher gradient signaling the equivalence point was at 28 cm3. Thus the graph clearly showed a half-equivalence point of 4.8 PH. Also the graph bolster that the PH at half-equivalence had to be less than 6, thus supporting the PH obtained by method 1, and hence the PKa obtained. Finally as for method 1, we simply recorded two results; we know that the datum that determined our percentage error was 5.0, and hence this data is what supports our %error. Finally the confidence level for my conclusion is good. I got the results expected, as method 2 will always be more accurate than method 1 as the latter depends too much on qualitative and subjective recordings. Thus my confidence level for such conclusion is good. Also my confidence levels on the %error and PKa for method 1, is high as 5% error was small. Thus due to this low %error, my confidence level of the experiment done for method 1 is high. Even more the PKa obtained by method 2, has a higher confidence level as the % error was barely 0.84%. Thus method 2, has excellent confident level for its extremely low %error. However the first factor that affects my confidence level is uncertainties. From the %error of PH, we got the %uncertainty of the PKa for method 1. Thus, we know, that from the total % error of 5%, 2% was made by systematic errors i.e uncertainties in this case. Thus the other 3% was caused by random error. Similarly, for method 2, we got % uncertainties for the PH by the volume measure of NaOH. This %error was 4.2%, meaning 4.2% of the total error was caused by systematic error of the graph. Clearly this is bigger than the total %error of 0.84%. Thus this means that actually, even if our graph has on the y-axis an uncertainty of  ±0.4, this is an over-estimate. This is since, while we can read a value off with this uncertainty, it can still be very close to the actual half-equivalence PH. Thus this increases my confidence level, as it shows, that the systematic error of the graph y-axis uncertainty is very limited. Thus the biggest error is random error. This occurs when estimating the equivalence point from the titration graph, which is random error as it’s an estimate of the steepest point and hence has no uncertainty. Thus as we could underestimate or overestimate this value, it creates error, as we calculated the half equivalence from it. In this case, clearly we overestimated it as; the PKa from this method is higher than the actual one. Hence this error is directly reflected in our results limiting confidence levels. Thus now we know what caused the % error for our methods. Hence, now my confidence level will increase as I know what type of error must be targeted to reduce most error. The random errors and systematic errors that constitute these percentages will be explained below, in the evaluation. Evaluation: From the results it is clear error was limited for method 1, 5%. We calculated that uncertainties make up at least 2% of that error. Thus systematic error only makes 2% of the error while random error makes 3% of the error. Thus the significant error is random errors. This was due to the subjectiveness at seeing the half-titration points. As we relied on the fact that the phenolphatlein made the solution light pink, it was difficult to see such color change. Thus it was very easy to keep adding base, when there was already a color change. Hence our error was that we could overshoot the titration. As we added to much NaOH the color change seen was too much. So when we added the acetic acid, the PH at half-equivalence is higher so we overestimated the PKa. This was reflected directly on our results. Finally another less important random error was that pipettes leaked. Thus more NaOH was added. This while small also explains why we overestimated the PKa, as we overshooted the titration even more. Finally our less significant errors were systematic error. They only make 2% of our errors. They were mainly caused by inaccuracy of our apparatus. The main systematic error caused was by the PH probe. The PH probe, first of all has great inaccuracy recording PH with a  ±0.1 uncertainty. Thus as the PH recorded was small, the %uncertainty calculated is much bigger than it would be with a higher PH. The other uncertainty was caused by the inaccuracy of pipettes. When we measured the volume of the acetic acid, there was a systematic error as Burets have uncertainties of,  ±0.10 cm3. Thus at a volume we measured of acetic acid at 25cm3, we had 0.4% error caused. We can also analyze improvements for method 2. We used this method and generated it from data we had form method 1. However, the titration sketch clearly was much more accurate than method 1, as it yields 0.84% error of which 0.2% was caused by uncertainties. Thus as we got the results for the titration curve from method 1, the error that caused the systematic errors were the same. However the main cause of error is the random error. At calculating the equivalence point, we had to estimate the point with the maximum gradient. As this is subjective, there is human error. Hence, when we then halved that volume, we could overestimate or underestimate the error since we estimated the point with maximum gradient. Improvements: To reduce the random error firstly we must do more trials. Just by doing this, we will reduce the random error. Finally as the problem with the color change was that it was a qualitative observation. To improve this we can get a quantitative measurement. To do this we use a colorimeter. This is a device we will put behind the solution. This measures the exact absorbance or transmission of light. Thus as the light absorbance changes when there is a color change, when the colorimeter states such we know that the color change has occurred. Hence we know exactly the equivalence points. The significance of this improvement is that it would enable us to get qualitative results. Thus if the colorimeter very accurate we can decrease random error, as there is no human error. Also, as the colorimeter is accurate, systematic error will also be limited. Another way we can improve is in the systematic errors. The first problem was measuring accurately volumes. As the pipettes had big uncertainties, the volume recorded had high %uncertainties. If we however use micropipettes, which have  ±0.01 cm3 uncertainties, our volumes will be extremely accurate. Hence %uncertainties will be minimal. Also micropipettes allow much easier for drops of base to be dropped. Thus the significance of this improvement is that when we measure volumes, the equivalence point will occur, more exactly as we will be less likely to overshoot the solution. Finally to solve the inaccurate measurements of PH we can get a PH sensor and data logger. These do real-time measurements and will state the PH with less uncertainty. It will also provide an alternative method for calculating the half-point. As the data logger draws the graph of the titration done, it can calculate the point with the highest gradient. Thus this will be the equivalence point. Hence we can calculate the PH at half the equivalence point of the graph as this is half the volume of base at equivalence. Thus clearly calculating a very accurate PH from the curve. The significance of this will be that it is a major improvement on method 2 and 1 as it is not qualitative. Thus it does not allow for human error. Hence as the sensor is also very accurate systematic error will also be limited as well as random error. Thus this method will get a very accurate PKa with low systematic and random errors.