Teacher vs Student. Who's Right?

Question

"Chemistry is one of the oldest forms of science, dating back to the Babylonian period. Chemistry deals with the behavior resulting from the combination of different elements.
. This may seem like a study that would be kept behind closed laboratory doors, but chemistry deals with everyday life on an elemental level.
. Chemistry is divided into two main branches of study: Organic and inorganic. Organic chemistry focuses on carbon compounds while inorganic chemistry focuses on all of the other elements and compounds that you can find on the Periodic Table. In this table, created by Dmitri Mendeleev, elements are classified into groups, periods and families, with each element being assigned its own letter symbol."

How would you best explain the study of Chemistry?

I choose: It is a study that deals with the combination of chemicals
Right Answer: It is a study that deals with everyday life
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If I am wrong, I will admit it, but I want to believe, not accept.
Thanks.

Answer 1

I think you are omitting (or forgetting) the point of the exercise. The point is not just to produce a correct statement (which you did) ... but to draw a conclusion *from the given text*.

The disagreement you are having with your teacher is not over the answer ... but the WHAT DOES THE QUESTION MEAN?

The questions says "How would you best explain the study of Chemistry?"

You thought this means "What is Chemistry?"

But apparently it means "Why do we study Chemistry?"

The text gives the answer: "This may seem like a study that would be kept behind closed laboratory doors, but chemistry deals with everyday life on an elemental level." In other words, that's why we study it in school, rather than leave it behind closed laboratory doors.

I really don't like this question. It is getting into very subtle parsing of the English language, which is turning "science" into a language game. That word "explain" is very confusing. It is a useful scientific lesson to learn how to read a passage and derive logical conclusions. But I think this particular question is a bit nitpicky.

But I think that's why you got the answer wrong.

Answer 2

The answer is directly in the text:
"This may seem like a study that would be kept behind closed laboratory doors, but chemistry deals with everyday life on an elemental level"

Your answer, on the other hand, is NEVER stated in the text; the closest is:
"Chemistry deals with the behavior resulting from the combination of different elements"

Note that it says "behavior resulting from," not "deals with the combination of chemicals." That is, chemistry studies the end result of the process, not the process itself.

Answer 3

Chemistry is the branch of Physics that deals with the interaction, at the electron level, of atoms among themselves and of atoms with the rest of the universe (my own definition -- not more official than yours).

What you have quoted as the "Right Answer" is very close to the slogan of a giant chemical company (and also of a North American association of chemical producers) used a few decades ago.

I find your answer a bit unsatisfactory, since it includes a word that can only be defined by chemistry (meaning: you have to define chemistry before you can define chemicals). Maybe mine is not better since it includes atoms and electrons (however, they can be defined in physics or, stretching a point, in cosmology).

BTW: I do not remember "compounds" in the table of elements, certainly not in the one first drawn by Dmitri Ivanovitch (son of Ivan) Mendeleeff.


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Having re-read the text and the answers from the others, I realise that this is not a test in chemistry. It is a test in finding answers in a text. Like second-language tests where one is given a text, then asked a question where the answer is understood to be in the text.

In such tests, one does not make up answers, one must quote the proper sentence of the text to show one understands the words of the text.

If that is the case, then "Right Answer" is right. It is the only paragraph that defines "study". In such tests, the quality of the answer is not the object.

Answer 4

If the question dropped the word "study" you would be 100% correct. That said, I have to agree that the so called correct answer is far to vague and does not explain the study of chemistry. Put it this way, if this were a quiz and the question was "what form of study deals with everyday life?" - who in the world would answer chemistry? It's ridiculous. Try putting it that way to your teacher. You have a good attitude so you'll go far despite this teacher.

Answer 5

I don't think either answer by itself is complete.

Its more than the combination of chemicals.
Its the study of chemicals in isolation and in combination and their effects on the world (inorganic and organic).

And its more than a study that deals with everyday life Economics, sociology, psychology, biology, and others all deal with everyday life as well.

Answer 6

Both answers are correct.
The combination of chemicals is surprisingly very important to everyday life. To the air you breathe, to the gas that drives fuels your car, to the water to drink, and just about everything involves chemical reactions.

So yes chemistry is the study of "the combination of chemicals" and also "everyday life".

Answer 7

I'm with you on the answer. I think the "right answer" is a bit of a cop out. Surely all science deals with studying everyday life - i.e .the behaviour of the Universe. Chemistry is more specific than this. It is specifically to do with the characteristics of atoms and molecules and how they interact with one another.
Ask your teacher to justify their answer, then justify yours and ask why, specifically, your answer is less valid.

Answer 8

I really liked no 1 until the Babylonian period part. I think that it has been studies everyday.

Answer 9

All sciences are studies that deal with every day life.

Chemistry is the science that deals with chemicals, their attributes, and their reactions with each other.

You're both right.

Answer 10

It says right in the third sentence that chemisty deals with everyday life. Obviously that was what they were looking for. It's the most general description of chemistry in the text.