Welcome to another episode of Lex Education. It's the gloriously 2025 podcast
Ron: Foreign.
Laura: Hello. Happy New Year and welcome to another episode of Lex Education. It's the gloriously 2025 podcast where comedian me, Laura Lex, tries to learn science from her.
Ron: Huh.
Laura: Non comedian, but equally 2025 brother Ron.
Ron: Wow. Starting off mid in the new year.
Laura: Do you know what the problem is, Ron? Is, as I was setting up and getting ready for today, I thought, wouldn't it be cool to call you ronjelina Jolie at some point today? That's cute, right? And then through the whole of that intro, I was trying to work out where to slide Ronjelina Jolie into the conversation and it never panned out. This is why some people script stuff, but I just like our flying by the seat of the pants, Lucy Goosey.
Ron: Ah, you could. Maybe I could be Ron Voight. Um.
Laura: Oh.
Ron: Ah, and then I guess you'd be Angelora. Basically. No agony John Voight.
Laura: You're not helpful in any way, Ron.
Ron: Um, no.
Laura: We should do another agony dad episode.
Ron: Yeah, we should.
Laura: Apologies for my dying, by the way. I, uh, will edit out the coughing, but the nose cannot be stopped. Um, ill illnesses. It is in the Lex household. Um, so is barking. I've done one of the most Laura things I've ever done. It's annoying.
Ron: Tom, did you spend an exorbitant amount of money on, um. I don't know. Is it some kind of cream for your elbows?
Laura: No, I got loads of those in my advent calendar. And actually I've got an oil for my elbows now and you can barely tell that they're elbows. The skin on my elbows is just like any other skin. It's. Why?
Ron: Show me.
Laura: Oh, yeah, look at, uh, that. There's nothing there. I just. I'm just. If it wasn't for the bone, you wouldn't even know it was my elbow.
Ron: Sometimes I get.
Laura: Not that the skin is the main feature of your elbow, but there's a.
Ron: Word for the skin on your elbow that's funny. It's called like a Jingus or something. Hang on.
Laura: Well, we're not sponsored by them, but the Aveeno body oil that I got in my, uh, Aus this year, it's good.
Ron: It's called your weenus.
Laura: Well, my weenus is supple and smooth and barely feels like a testicle. No, I'll tell you what I've done wrong is we got a new calendar. 2025. It's currently the 2nd of January when we're recording this. And, um, now. Now that I'm a grown up mother with a family, we've got One of those ones with columns for everybody, you know? And so I gave Mackie a column, and then Tom was like, why have you done this? She doesn't have any plans. So I've written plans for Mackie on every day of the month. Most of them are, uh, barking, but some of them are cuddles were sniffing. It's one of the stupidest things I've ever spent 15 minutes doing. And I've done this for, like, four years.
Ron: Did you, um. Did you start out, uh, like the first week of January? It's like barking, cuddling walkies, taking a poop. And then about the 12th of Jan, then you're just barking, barking, barking. Yeah.
Laura: There's a long stretch because when we stay overnight, we like where we're going or whatever, and then just do an arrow across whatever days we're away. So I have done barking for, like, a week solid down near the bottom. It's pretty good.
Ron: Pretty good.
Laura: Tom has suggested that in future months, we, um, put the babysitters that we have, you know, rotating. That would be a more sensible use of the fourth column. Well, I like Mackie to be involved.
Ron: Yeah, she just needs to contribute.
Laura: Yeah, she does need to contribute. She's so cute. Uh, saw the bag of bones over New Year, too.
Ron: Oh, I missed the bag of bones.
Laura: New dog of the podcast. We looked after somebody's dog over Christmas.
Ron: We looked after the small ghost of a horse, and I loved it.
Laura: Lil Whippet, man, she's amazing.
Ron was playing a board game about Jesus and his apostles yesterday
How are you, Ron? Where are you?
Ron: I'm in Brussels at the moment. Um, came back to Brussels after Christmas because it was a friend's 30th birthday, so he threw a New Year's party, which was very, very lovely. Cooked some nice food, and was like, 12. 12 of us or something. Pretty cash.
Laura: Like the apostles.
Ron: Yeah. Um, and then yesterday.
Laura: No.
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Laura: 4 apostles, 12 disciples.
Ron: Oh, don't start on this. They're all there are. There were 11 apostles, 12 disciples. They're the same people, apart from. Not Judas. Oh.
Laura: Uh, who were the four then that wrote the Gospels?
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Are they special in any way?
Ron: They were just really good disciples, I think.
Laura: Oh, okay, fine.
Ron: This is a tangent, but, um, Judith's.
Laura: The whole podcast is a tangent.
Ron: Judith's parents have this game called Jerusalem Classic big board game. And basically the whole thing, um, in there is to. You have to try and get lads into the last Supper, and the closer they are to Jesus or the apostles. You get more points at the end of the game.
Laura: I don't want to meet the people that made up this game.
Ron: No. Um, but then I was playing this and then we had this exact discussion about the difference between disciples and apostles and stuff. So then I just started reading the Wikipedia page on Jesus Christ and it turns out I do fuck all. Did you know he had brothers?
Laura: Oh, no, I always just assumed he.
Ron: Was an only child. No, he just.
Laura: Half brothers though. Well, yeah, kind of, because he wasn't Joseph's kid, so. Uh.
Ron: He wasn't. He wasn't.
Laura: No, he wasn't, Ron, because. For Virgin Mary. Yeah, virgin birth.
Ron: But, um, one of his brothers was called Judas, but not that one. Yeah, yeah. Um, I learnt loads. I've forgotten it all now. Um.
Laura: Cause he potentially had kids. That's what the Da Vinci Codes is all about, isn't it? Yeah, he had banging time with Mary Magdalene because didn't he like, didn't really get up to anything until his 30s. Because there is some speculation. Wasn't there? I vaguely remember half reading and then forgetting and misremembering, but there's some speculation that he travelled to India potentially and that m mooching a bit of Buddhism in with um, Judaism is how he ended up at the Christianity. Because like the, the New Testament is so much more like chill and forgivey than the Old Testament and it's potentially like influenced by different religions.
Ron: Yeah, that makes sense. So I guess people from there might have gone to him.
Laura: Yeah, like. But nobody really knows what he was up to for the first 20 odd years. 25 years.
Ron: There are quite a lot of stories of that.
Laura: Of what?
Ron: Of his life. Ah, as a boy.
Laura: Uh, lovely.
Ron: Yeah. Um, stuff like. There's, uh. Yeah, but well, I mean, the thing is, how much can you believe any of this? Because it's all obviously propaganda and stories about him, like as a young kid going into temples and debating the um, I guess rabbis and stuff that were the Pharisees. Yeah, but as a kid and understanding it all. Well, but why? Anyway, but then, yeah, um, then it was New Year's Day yesterday. Um, we watched Love island while I got over my hangover and then we went to a spa.
Laura: Wait, does your new computer still lock itself every five minutes?
Ron: This is my old computer because I have to work.
Laura: Rooooo.
Ron: Next. Well, not the next record because we're recording tomorrow when I'm home. We'll be recording my. I'm not going to carry two laptops around with me.
Laura: Oh, then carry the good one, you idiot.
Ron: No, because I need to work.
Laura: Do you? Um.
Ready for chemistry results, everybody
Right, so go off and enjoy Chemistry results, everybody yeah, this is an interesting. Ooh, dear, she's dying again. Go do it before I have this coughing fit. See you afterwards. Bye. I revved my butt. Ready for chemistry.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: Laura, can you please. Can you please send me the thing again?
Ron: What thing?
Laura: The paper, so I can have a look at the paper.
Ron: Sure.
Laura: Got nothing in my brain.
How do you think it went, thinking back to it
Ron: All right, this is chemistry. High to here. How do you think it went, thinking back to it? Do you think you got better or worse than biology?
Laura: Um, I. Ah. Sorry, I pressed a button. I think.
Ron: It's not professional, Laura.
Laura: It's not professional. Um, I think worse. I think. I think I've got around 40%.
Ron: Okay. Okay.
You were asked which two substances have intermolecular forces between particles
Well, so we start off with a question about structure and bonding. You were asked which two substances have intermolecular forces between particles. The first one you went for was sodium chloride. So we were straight in with a whiff. Um,
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sodium chloride. Clearly ionic. Um, one of them's a metal.
Laura: Clearly ionic.
Ron: One of them's a metal. Sodium.
Laura: Didn't I change these answers? Because. Didn't you say that at the time? And I changed it.
Ron: No, I suppose.
Laura: You sure? I did.
Ron: No, it's not written down. So straight in with a whiff. And then the second one you went for was water. Um, which was correct. But instead of sodium chloride, which we've talked so much about that being ionically bonded.
Laura: Put my headphones out. I'm sure we changed that in the moment.
Ron: Well, it's not written down.
Laura: Have you not edited it yet? Have you not listened?
Ron: No, I haven't.
Laura: I think. Give me the mark for. Was it polyethylene?
Ron: It was polyethylene.
Laura: Yeah. I think we changed that, uh, in the moment.
Ron: No. Was that not when you were like, oh, just tell me now. It won't. It doesn't have to change the mark. I just want to know.
Laura: No, I'm sure you, like, huffled and puffled at me at the time.
Ron: No, it would have been changed in here.
Are you ordering rennet and pastry brushes through our Amazon
Um, so then question number two was, basically, you had to compare the structure and bonding between carbon dioxide, magnesium oxide, and silicon dioxide for 6 marks. Laura.
Laura: Sorry. Bear with me a second. Ron, are you ordering rennet and pastry brushes through our Amazon?
Ron: Um, I hadn't actually ordered them.
Laura: There's a load of rennet and pastry brushes in our shopping basket on Amazon.
Ron: Yes, they're in the shopping basket, but I haven't ordered them. I do want them.
Laura: No, that is wrong. Why are they in our basket?
Ron: Because you guys have prime.
Laura: Can you buy. Uh, hang on, M. What's Tom saying I think he can you just buy them.
Ron: Nice. Add to a later order. There's a button for that.
Laura: Ron says add to later. Uh, order. Sorry. He is horrid.
Ron: I'm learning how to make cheese. I thought you guys would be happy about this.
Laura: Why do you need a.
Ron: Did you.
Laura: Have you taught child of the podcast about pizza ovens?
Ron: No.
Laura: She won't stop banging on about pizza ovens, and I don't even know how she knows what pizza oven is.
Ron: No, that was not me. I don't talk about pizza ovens, to be honest.
Laura: Okay, right, anyway, sorry.
Question one compares the structure of carbon dioxide, magnesium oxide and silicon dioxide
Back to the exam.
Ron: Yeah. Why have I started a timer? That's what we need for the exam, not for the results. Um, yeah, so we're comparing the structure of carbon dioxide, magnesium oxide and silicon dioxide. You said magnesium oxide has ionic bonds where the other two compounds have covalent bonds.
Laura: Correct?
Ron: That is correct. This makes the bonding in the magnesium oxide the strongest of the three. Wrong.
Laura: That's not true. That's. That's the weakest.
Ron: Ionic is weaker than covalent carbon dioxide.
Laura: It's like having a different brain.
Ron: Carbon dioxide and silicon dioxide both have conveyant. Carbon dioxide is a more stable structure than silicon dioxide because there are no spare bonds. That's nonsense. Silicon dioxide has a more erratic structure of bonds.
Laura: Correct.
Ron: No, I gave you one out of six.
Laura: Oh, fuck off.
Ron: Because you said one thing that was correct.
Laura: What else should I have said?
Ron: Um, carbon, uh, dioxide and silicon dioxide are made up of atoms, but magnesium oxide is made up of ions. Silicon dioxide and magnesium oxide are giant structures, but carbon dioxide is small molecules with weak intermolecular forces. All three compounds have strong bonds. Carbon dioxide and silicon dioxide are formed between two non metals. So bonds formed are. Covalent electron pairs are shared between atoms. But magnesium oxide is formed with a metal and a nonmetal. So. So the bonds are ionic. Electrons are transferred from magnesium to oxygens. Two electrons are transferred. Bonds in silicon and dioxide are single bonds where each silicon forms four bonds each oxygen forms two bonds. In carbon dioxide, the bonds are double bonds where carbons form two double bonds and oxygen forms one double bond.
Laura: Well, I didn't know any of that.
Ron: Well, uh, you should have. So that's question one done. Um, question one was short and bitter.
Laura: Um, so what did I get? 2 out of 8?
Ron: 2 out of 8.
Laura: Oh, my 40 is looking unrealistic.
Ron: You then correctly identified that.
Laura: Um, well, question that's 25.
Ron: Question two is about metals and the reactivity series. And you correctly identified that, uh, two properties of Transition metals
00:15:00
Ron: are, uh, that they have different charges. Um. Sorry, they form ions with different charges and that, uh, they have high melting points. So that was two marks for that.
Laura: Great. Well done, me. Sounds like I was very clever that day.
Ron: Now, here's. Here's one where. This is where the wording starts getting really weird.
Laura: So this is the thing though, Ron. As soon as you see all these lines on the page where I just have to talk into the space provided, that's where it goes wrong.
Ron: Yeah, that's where the bulk of the marks are.
Laura: Uh, yeah. And that's why higher tier is much harder. But it's just odd because I need. It's a bit like I'm a really good bowler when I've got the barriers out. Whereas if you just give me too much space, I'll get erratic and end up in a gutter. And that's how I feel about exams.
Ron: Yeah. Uh, because easier things are easier.
Laura: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Student added copper metal to colourless silver nitrate solution
Ron: So. So the question was, a student added copper metal to colourless silver nitrate solution and they observed pale grey crystals forming and the solution turning blue. Explain.
Laura: I felt like I'd made some good guesses in this.
Ron: Yeah, yeah. And, um, spoiler alert. But you got all three marks. But I was very generous with the words you said about it. Um, the question was, explain how these observations show that silver is less reactive than copper. You said, quote, the copper reacted with the nitrate, stealing it from the silver. And.
Laura: Don'T put emphasis on it like that.
Ron: And, um, the silver was not reactive enough to hold on to the nitrate. We know this because of the observations the student saw the pale grey crystals show the silver going back to being single silver and the solution turning blue, the signature colour of copper nitrate.
Laura: Is that right?
Ron: So, yeah, like I said, you got. You did. I gave you all three marks and I'll, uh, put my hands in the air. I don't know if a proper marker would have given you all three, but you definitely have gotten some. But. So that's what you wrote for this. Right, here's how it's written. In the mark scheme, the grey crystals are silver mark. The copper ions produced a blue mark because copper displaces silver mark.
Laura: Well, it's much less entertaining, isn't it?
Ron: It is, yeah. That would be a boring.
Laura: I. I am, um, the Hemingway of the GCSE world.
Ron: Explain. Because I don't think you know enough about Hemingway to pull this off.
Laura: It's.
Ron: We should read Hemingway for book club. I've never read any Hemingway.
Laura: Um, I was actually thinking of An Orwell.
Ron: As long as it's not.
Laura: It's my choice.
Ron: Animal Farm.
Laura: I've never read 1984.
Ron: How long is it though? Because we've got a 300 page maximum now after the fucking.
Laura: No, we have.
Ron: We do after the thousand pager.
Laura: Ah. And, um, Nobody read the thousand pager. Ah.
Ron: Yeah, because it was a thousand pages long, Laura.
Laura: But then don't be in a book club if you don't want to read pages.
Ron: No, it's very common to have a page limit for book clubs.
Laura: But not 300 pages. That limits it massively.
Ron: 400.
Laura: No. Stop pulling numbers out of your stupid wet bar.
Ron: What would you have? 2,000.
Laura: How many pages is 1984? Uh, why does it. 328 pages in the original publication, first printing in 1949.
Ron: Probably allow that plus or minus 10% on the 300. Ugh.
Laura: Uh, there's just nothing wrong with a thousand pager book, Ron.
Ron: For a book club. It's too long. It's a great book.
Laura: It's just more of what you're enjoying.
Ron: It was a bad book.
Laura: It wasn't a bad book. You didn't read it.
Ron: I didn't like it.
Laura: Because you didn't read it.
Ron: You didn't read it either.
Laura: I listened to it twice.
Ron: Anywho. A student.
Laura: Anyway, my point is children's shoes, never worn half price.
Ron: Yeah, very laconic, Hemingway.
Laura: Uh, three points.
Ron: Whereas you are the opposite. You're the anti. Hemingway.
Laura: No, Hemingway wrote Gatsby, didn't he?
Ron: No, that was F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Laura: Oh, uh, okay. Maybe I'm the F. Scott Fitzgerald of GC.
Ron: Maybe you are.
Laura: What did Hemingway write?
Ron: Old man and the sea.
Laura: Best of times, worst of times.
Ron: For whom the bell tolls.
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Laura: No, that was the Bee Gees.
Ron: The best of times, worst of times. Is that not the first line of like Great Expectations or something?
Laura: I don't know. Let's read that.
Ron: Not Dickens.
Laura: Have you ever tried to read Dickens?
A student is given three metals to identify
It's incorrect.
Ron: Yeah, I don't want to read Dickens anyway. 2.3. A student is suck my Dickens. Not good enough. A student is given three metals, X, Y and Z, to identify. The metals are magnesium.
Laura: I've identified them. They're X, Y and Z.
Ron: Well, the next sentence is.
Laura: Wish I'd said that.
Ron: Metals are magnesium, iron and copper.
Laura: I think I did well on this one.
Ron: Do you?
Laura: I remember thinking about it a lot.
Ron: Do you want to hear what you said? You had to plan an investigation. Basically, quote, get three beakers and put 100 mil of hydrochloric Acid in each, get out some goggles.
Laura: Sounds good so far. One more.
Ron: Put some goggles on, get some tweezers, get some of metal X and pop it in the first beaker. See if it fizzes, see if there's a fire, see if it changes colour. It does. If it does, that's magnesium. Put some Y in the next beaker. Have a look. If it goes blue, that's copper. Iron is the other one. Once you've identified two, you'll know what that is. Save yourself a beaker, stir it, take goggles off, go home.
Laura: Pretty good. Did it get any marks?
Ron: Um, no. Aww.
Laura: Ah.
Ron: I couldn't in good conscience give you any marks for that. My only comment was really bad.
Laura: I don't know how to do that one, Ron.
Ron: No, it was really funny that you thought you did really well because you got cross and gave up.
Laura: Um, I didn't give up.
Ron: Do you not think that once you've identified two, you'll know what that is? Save yourself a beaker. Does that not sound like giving up?
Laura: I think it sounds like logic. I think that sounds smart. Scientific thinking doesn't.
Ron: Um, 2.4. You had to calculate the relative atomic mass of metal. M. I'll save everyone going through the maths. You got that right. So a seven. Seven for nine on question two.
Laura: Laura, Hello. Seven out of nine. Okay, so where are we now? On aggregate, we're on nine out of 17, which is just over the 50% mark.
Ron: Question three is about silver iodide.
Laura: Oh, hang on a minute. Let's just. M. Let's just roll around on page seven, which is a Do not write on this pager.
Ron: Answer the spaces provided. Um, yeah, it's all about silver iodide. I don't remember what happened in 3.1 because I've just written two marks. Dash, big help. But you apparently got two marks for that one. Um.
Laura: Oh, this one was all about the mass. Ron and I spent a while.
Ron: Oh, you couldn't work out that the fucking beaker weighed something?
Laura: I did work it out, though. You Little prince.
Ron: Eventually, with big help.
Laura: Yeah, you're meant to have been big help throughout this entire show.
Ron: How?
Laura: Um, Maybe if you'd been more help. Early doors, I wouldn't need so much help now.
Ron: Maybe we should have done a one of these beforehand and then we could have seen your improvement. But two and a half years too late now.
Laura: Maybe we should do that with a level.
Ron: But that's going to be like six months of exams back to back. Oh, Christ, Laura, focus Up.
Laura: Oh, God. Yeah, I'm focused.
Ron: You're not. You're on your phone.
Laura: I know. I've bought a sparkly jacket on vinted and I'm very excited for it to arrive.
Ron: That's very nice. See, I can't believe I'm getting for, uh, buying rennet and pastry brushes.
Laura: Yeah, but I'm doing it on my own account.
Ron: Yeah, I'm doing on your account. Our account.
Laura: Um, if my husband ever leaves me, it will be because of you.
Ron: Yeah, but if your husband ever leaves you, he'll come and hang with me and we'll play magic the gathering and watch sirens take the island.
Laura: Yeah, that's true.
3.2 suggests how the student could separate insoluble silver iodide
Ron: Anyway, 3.2 suggests how the student, uh, could separate insoluble silver iodide you correctly identified. They could philtre it.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: Now you're gonna be cross about this next one, Laura.
Laura: Well, then why. Why make me cross so?
Ron: Oh, it's not me making you cross. Um, so it's 3.3 suggests one impurity
00:25:00
Ron: that could be removed by rinsing with water from the experiment in. Earlier on in the question, you said nitrate solution. The answers were sodium nitrate or silver nitrate or sodium iodide. And you also would have been allowed nitrate ions. But I couldn't in good conscience give you nitrate solution.
Laura: But you were fine.
Ron: You were around it. Um, and then, um. Yeah, you correctly suggested that they would warm it to dry it out and get rid of water. Water.
Laura: Your hair looks mad right now. Oh, yeah, you look like a real dork in an office.
Ron: Um, then you worked out the percentage atom economy for it.
Laura: Um, I've got written in block in this atom economy.
Ron: I've got it written in block capitals. Lots of help on this one.
Laura: No, lots of help from my big old brain.
Ron: But you did, um, you did get four marks because you got it correct. So well done there.
Laura: I think that was another one I came back to, wasn't it?
Ron: And, uh, I've got the ones that you came back to in orange. We'll talk about those later.
Laura: Oh, okay.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Um, I just smashed that one out.
Ron: The park at the beginning, then with in block capitals. Lots of help.
Laura: You don't know. I might have been having help moving house while I was answering that question.
Ron: I was there.
Laura: I wrote this M. But memory is not infallible, Ron.
Ron: Mine is.
Laura: Nope.
Give one reason why reactions with high atom economy are used in industry
Ron: Question 3.6. Give one reason why reactions with high atom economy are used in industry. Now, I really wasn't sure how to mark this one. You said it is more cost effective. The answers that were allowed were for sustainable development, for economic reasons or to produce a higher percentage of useful product. So I gave you that.
Laura: Well, that's economic reasons. Yeah, yeah, because that's economic reasons.
Ron: Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. It's just, I. I don't know. I'm. M not trained. I'm doing this, weirdly, as a hobby. I'm.
Laura: Hey, Ron. Yeah, we understand. I'm not trained in science either.
Yeah, um, so then we came on to the question that was about electronics
Ron: Yeah, um, so then we came on to the question that was about electronics.
Laura: So hang on, what did I get for question three then?
Ron: Nine out of ten.
Laura: Hey, Laura. Bloody hell.
Ron: Removing all suspense from the end by adding these up as we go along.
Laura: Well, I'm interested. I mean, I'm involved. Isn't that okay, Ron, why don't we do it this way for this one, and we'll see what people think, and then if they don't like it, I shan't do it for physics.
Ron: Okay. Okay, that's fine.
Question four is about electrolysis. Name the product at each electrode when electrolyzed
Um, all right, question four is about electrolysis. Um, you are asked to exchange why the colour of the liquid changed to the different electrodes. Um, and you got two marks on that. Um, you said the positive electrode attracted the chromate ions. They gathered at that electrode due to their negative charge being attracted to the positive charge of the electrode.
Laura: I tried to say specific things there. I tried to mention positive electrode.
Ron: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And to be fair, um, the. Yeah, the mark was. Chromate ions move to the positive electrode because opposite charges attract. So I gave you two marks.
Laura: Hey, do you think there's a political science joke, Something about, um, uh, why are, uh, wire.
Ron: Uh, it would have to be quicker than this in its delivery.
Laura: Ah, why are, ah, hydroxide ions attracted to Donald Trump? Because he's a negative elected chode. A negative electrode, something. Come on.
Ron: No, okay, don't worry, you'd have to. I don't know what the setup would have to be.
Laura: Um, or the audience.
Ron: Um, the gas producer.
Laura: I'll send it to Kamala Harris and see if she wants it for her, um, after dinner speaking tour.
Ron: Um, you had to name the substance in the solution that provides hydroxide ions. And you said water, which was correct.
Laura: Bangin.
Ron: Um, okay. Then you had to describe why a solid forms of the negative electrode. Again, you got the mark for that one again, Laura.
Laura: Yes, all three of them.
Ron: No, you got one out of three. Uh, because you did not talk about copper ions gaining electrons. You suffered now for a few, for a while. Because
00:30:00
Ron: you don't know what oxidation and reduction reactions are.
Laura: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I find that it goes worse when I don't understand it.
Ron: Yeah. So you said the positive copper ions are attracted to the negative electrode, and when they get there, they form magnetic bonds with each other and solidify into copper pieces. No such thing as a magnetic bond.
Laura: I think I meant metallic.
Ron: Yeah, but you didn't say that. And even worse, I actually wrote down magentic. Um.
Laura: Yeah, nice pink bond.
Ron: Um. You then had a stab at what was getting produced to the different electrodes. You said potassium at, uh, the negative electrode. No potassium involved in. In this question.
Laura: Potassium iodide solution.
Ron: Where does it say that?
Laura: The student repeated the investigation using potassium iodide solution instead of copper chromate solution.
Ron: Oh, sorry.
Laura: Name the product at each electrode when potassium iodide solution is electrolyzed.
Ron: Sorry, you're right, you're right. But it still wasn't potassium. It was hydrogen. Um, but you did get the positive one right, by chance, probably. And, um, you said iodine. Well done. Five out of eight.
Laura: Not by chance, Ron. I just took the two things involved and wrote one at each electrode. Five out of eight. Okay. All right, all right, all right. Let's not get scared, though.
Three other differences between the nuclear model of the atom and the plum pudding model
All right.
Ron: 5.1. Laura was about the development of scientific theory.
Laura: You asked me this was a lot of logicing.
Ron: Now, you've run into a pitfall on this one and you haven't done great. Um, so describe the different. The three other differences between the nuclear model of the atom and the plum pudding model. And the mistake that you've made in Macon, made here is like, um, what we think now isn't the nuclear model. The nuclear model is kind of like the first iteration of that that's then been refined over the years. So you said plum pudding does not have any space in the atom, whereas the nuclear model, there is space between the electrons and the nucleus. You got a mark for that. That was good. Um, you then said there were no protons in the plum pudding model. The positive charge is the atom itself. So while that is true, the nuclear model doesn't know about protons either. They hadn't been discovered when the nuclear model was.
Laura: Ah.
Ron: What, like the nuclear model? Think of it. Less of what we've got now and more like the plum pudding model. But instead of the negative plums being in the pudding, the negative plums are around the pudding, Right?
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: And we still think of the pudding as a thing. Um, and then similarly, you said, in the nuclear model, we understand the electrons to be in shells around the nucleus in a specific structure. Again, true, but that's a development that came later. So one out of three there.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Um. So Niels, uh, Bohr adapted the nuclear model, described the change that Bohr made to the nuclear model. You said he put the protons inside the nucleus.
Laura: Yeah, but do you not see that.
Ron: As a weird thing to say? He put them there. It's very. And on the fifth day of it.
Laura: In his theory of it.
Ron: But, um, no. And that's not what he did, I'm afraid. He. It's. He's the one that, um. Uh, electrons orbiting the nucleus in the specific distances.
Laura: Oh, well done, Ball. That's quite a big deal.
Ron: Yeah.
You worked out why Mendeleev wasn't arranging things in atomic number
Um, so the next one, this was genuine brain power from you, Mendeleev. Um, uh, basically working out why Mendeleev wasn't arranging things in atomic number. Um, you said. And this is the first one where I've actually written down. I said. You phrase things like a fucking insane person. Because you said Mendeleyev worked this out before protons were discovered. And you need to know the number of protons to know the atomic number. It's all just written like a wily sphinx by the side of a road. It's very weird, but it did get you two marks. Um, for the fourth one, I remember us talking this through, so I just wrote, correct. Help. Um, but you did get a mark for that. So you're four for eight in that one, Laura.
00:35:00
Laura: Okay. All right. 50% still. Okay.
Question six was about displacement reactions. You got four marks for that one
Ron: Question six was about displacement reactions.
Laura: Yes. Okay. I think I got this activation energy question right, though, didn't I?
Ron: You did.
Laura: That's the amount of energies required to start a reaction.
Ron: That's the exact words you used before. And it was correct then and it's correct now. Yeah.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: Um, the next one, um, it just says 4 marks. Help.
Laura: Was this a comeback C. No. Oh, no, this is. This is.
Ron: I'll show that aluminium is the limiting reactant.
Laura: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember this one. Yeah. It was working out that the aluminium would run out first.
Ron: Yes. Um, and we talked about it for a long time, but you did get there in the end and therefore you got four marks. Um, you then completed the ionic equation for magnesium reacting with zinc ions and you got magnesium ions and, um, zinc. Um, you then, um.
Laura: We're asked to explain there's oxidation and reduction in this question and I famously don't know what those are.
Ron: No. You asked to explain why the reaction between magnesium ions and zinc ions is both oxidation and reduction. Do you know what you said?
Laura: Nope.
Ron: No, because you said, I don't know what Oxidation means?
Laura: No, actually I didn't say that. I was still thinking and you said. I'm just going to write down I don't know what oxidation oxidation means.
Ron: Can you tell me what oxidation is?
Laura: No, because I thought it was when oxygen mixes with something and you said it wasn't.
Ron: It's not.
Laura: Well, there we go then.
Ron: Um, and then we move on to question.
Laura: So what is it? You can't just leave us.
Ron: What's what? Oxidation.
Laura: Oxidation.
Ron: Gaining electrons. That's, uh, it.
Laura: Why is it called oxidation?
Ron: Because oxygen has lots of electrons. So when oxygen reacts with stuff, like when rust oxidises, it is getting oxygen, but those oxygens, uh, are bringing electrons. And then it's kind of just appropriated that name for reactions that give electrons to stuff because oxygen is a really common source of those electrons.
Laura: Right. Well, that's good to know.
Ron: It's good knowledge. Hold on to it.
Laura: Alright, so six was pretty good. That was a lot of points. What did I get there?
Ron: Six? You got seven out of nine.
Laura: Oh, uh, that's high.
Ron: M. Right. Question seven. The reaction between oxygen and hydrogen releases energy. And you had to work out two errors with the reaction profile shown in this graph.
Laura: Now, again, uh, yeah, I don't think I did well here. I think if this one had been early in the exam, I'd have done better. Uh, but I think I was on.
Ron: Fizzlehead by now maybe because, yeah, this one was rough for you and if you hadn't come back to one later on, it would have been really rough.
Overall energy change should go from the first line right up to the peak
Um, so we got. And again, weird wording, Laura. Overall energy change.
Laura: I'm a poet, Ron.
Ron: Overall energy change ought to go from the first line right up to the peak Activation ought to be where the line starts to go up.
Laura: Why are you acting like saying ought is weird?
Ron: That is weird.
Laura: It's not weird.
Ron: Uh, it's weird. It's a weird.
Laura: What would you say?
Ron: Should.
Laura: Oh, those are the same.
Ron: Yeah, but one's weird and one's normal.
Laura: No, it's not.
Ron: Anyway, um, so you got zero for this one. Um, because overall energy change is correct. Because you see how it starts where it starts and finishes where it finishes. So that's the overall change.
Laura: You are a sanctimonious little prick sometimes.
Ron: Um, and then the activation. Um, what you could have said is, um, so then the other. Yeah, um, the activation energy should cover the whole peak is one where only goes half is, um, one error.
Laura: Yeah, I said that.
Ron: No, you didn't. You said activation ought to be where the line starts to Go up as. That's where activation starts.
Laura: Yeah, the whole peak.
Ron: That's not what you said.
Laura: That's. That is the same thing said in two languages.
Ron: No, you ought to have said that, but you
00:40:00
Ron: didn't. You talked about where it should have started rather than it covering the whole peak. And, um, then the other thing that's wrong with it is that it says in the top of the question that, um, this reaction releases energy, but in the graph, the products at the end have a higher energy state than the reactants at the beginning, so it's gained energy rather than losing it.
Laura: Oh, well, I can't be expected to understand that.
Ron: Maybe not.
This was about comparing hydrogen fuel cells and rechargeable cells for electric cars
Um, so then seven. Um, point two. Again, a big whiff from you. Um, you went. Now, I don't know, you were a bit unlucky with this one. So this was about comparing hydrogen fuel cells and rechargeable cells for electric, um, cars or whatever. And you said byproducts from hydrogen fuels is just water rather than CO2, which is bad for the environment. You got zero for this one because rechargeable fuel cells could be powered by renewables, so that doesn't necessarily release CO2. So, yeah, okay, bit of a whiff. Um, the second one I do think you were just unlucky on because it says, you said rechargeable cells require lithium, which has catastrophic mining implications. Um, but unfortunately, just the environmental plea doesn't really come up in the answers I've got, apart from no toxic chemicals to dispose at the end of the cell's life. Um, so zero on this one. Um, I think if you hadn't named lithium by name, maybe if I was a proper marker, I'd have been tempted to give you.
Laura: So I know too much is what you're saying.
Ron: Well, no, because they don't all have to contain lithium.
Laura: I know too much is what you're saying.
Ron: It's not what I'm saying. You got zero marks, Laura.
Laura: Too knowledgeable to score. I hear you, Ron, loud and clear.
Ron: All right, you take that.
Write a half equation for a hydrogen fuel cell reaction
Um, the next question was question seven.
Laura: I am eating dirt.
Ron: Write a half equation for a hydrogen fuel cell reaction. You just put H, ah plus arrow, negative electron. Um, which was not correct.
Laura: I don't know what a half equation is.
Ron: Um, um, so I don't know. There were four there. A half equation is basically when, rather than giving both reactants, um, you kind of just talk about what happens to one of them. So the hydrogen one would have been hydrogen gas. H2 goes to 2. H + +2 E +E + being electrons. So in an actual reaction, those electrons are going to somewhere else, but you just talk about half of it and a half of equation. Question 7.4, though. Laura, you got one mark out to joke about.
Laura: There you go. Oh, that's good.
Ron: Yeah. But again, just really weirdly written. Simple particle model is not pairs. Um, but I did give you the point for that. So it was three states. A matter can be, um. The three states of matter can be represented by a simple particle model. And you had to give two limitations of that. Um, I was a bit generous with this one maybe, um, because it was any two from hydrogen is not shown as H2 molecules, particles are shown as spheres. Particles are shown as solid. Does not show the weak forces between particles does not show the movement speed of particles is only two dimensional. You said simple. Simple particle model is not pairs. But I, I did give you hydrogen is not shown as H2 because I think you've shown the understanding there. You've just written it like a genie. Um, uh, next one was hydrogen gas needed to power a car would occupy a large volume. How could you reduce that? You said have it in liquid form and that was absolutely right. So you got a mark for that one.
Laura: Yeah. Three whole marks.
Ron: We're at two marks so far.
Laura: No.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Didn't I just get two for that dice question?
Ron: One for the dice question out of two. Uh, you thought you were getting two marks for simple particle modellers, not pairs.
Laura: Yeah. And, um. And a hydrogen thing. You said that was the next.
Ron: Yes. You've had two.
Laura: Two limitations. Did I not get two marks for that?
Ron: You only gave one.
Laura: It's not in a pair.
Ron: Yes, that's what you said. Simple particle model is not pairs. You did not name another one. Why would you get two marks for that?
Laura: Sorry, I think I drifted off for a bit. And you were, uh, you were reading the
00:45:00
Laura: other possible answers and I thought they were answers I'd given. My mistake. I misunderst.
Ron: You know, that was the mark.
Laura: I think that's what's happened there.
Ron: You did not just rattle off eight different correct answers.
Laura: It sounded very like me, that's all. Okay, I understand now.
Ron: 7.6 was your first go back, sir. Laura. And you correctly calculated the volume of hydrogen gas at room temperature needed for a car to travel 100 kilometres and it was 4800 DM cubed. And you got four marks for that, which was great because you. You got 6 out of 12 for question 7.
Laura: Or as it would have been 2.
Ron: Out of 12 if you hadn't come back.
Laura: Yeah, okay.
Question eight was about the halogens. Explain trend in boiling points of halogens
Ron: Uh, okay, so then question eight was about the halogens. Um, you had to work out the state of bromine at freezing point and boiling point. And that was liquid, I guess. 8.2. Explain the trend in boiling points of the halogen. Shown in table 5 for 4 marks. Boiling point gets higher with fluorines the lowest and bromines the highest because it has more electrons and because it has stronger bond between.
Laura: So what you saying, Ron?
Ron: So I gave you one out of four. Uh, you got a mark for boiling point going up. You didn't talk about the mass of the molecules or the size of the molecules. Um, you didn't talk about intermolecular forces or the energy that takes to overcome them. So it's one out of four for that one. Next one. Maybe the weirdest wording so far. You can't boil a molecule. Uh, why is it, why is it not correct to say that the boiling point of a single bromine molecule is 59 degrees? You can't boil a molecule because atoms are always, never alone. The connection between the molecule defines the state. But you took a mark for that. That was correct.
You had to explain why reactivity of halogens decreases going down group
Um, next one we were talking about why, ah, an experiment where you pass a halogen gas over iron with heat in a glass.
Laura: I remember being annoyed with this drawing.
Ron: It's a bit shit, isn't it? I don't like that the iron is at a different resolution to the rest of it.
Laura: It's just been a bit scribbled, hasn't it?
Ron: Yeah, they were giving up by this point. Um, so this one I think you'll be cross about. Um, so let's give one reason why this experiment should be done in a fume cupboard. You said halogen is dangerous to breathe. Um.
Laura: Mhm.
Ron: So the available answers were the gas slash halogen as toxic.
Laura: Yes, that's the same.
Ron: It also says allow the gas allergen as poisonous, harmful, allow to prevent inhalation of the gas.
Laura: Synonyms ignore.
Ron: Deadly, lethal, inhalation.
Laura: Yeah, didn't do those. Get a mark for that, you reckon?
Ron: I really wasn't sure.
Laura: Yeah, because they're saying respiration and inhale harmful and I've said dangerous to breathe. Those are synonyms.
Ron: All right, I'll give it to you. Yes, but I wasn't sure. Um, uh, then you had to explain why the reactivity of halogens decreases going down the group.
Laura: Oh, I think I pulled this one out the bag though. I remember thinking very hard about this one.
Ron: Halogens have very full outer shells and are Attracting electrons to them. So as you go down the group, each element has more shells of electrons and so the space they have to available to attract an electron is further away from the protons that are the attractive for any electrons they could potentially gain. Which I did give three marks for. Um, the outer shell written in the mark scheme, it goes, the outer shell become further away from the nucleus, so the nucleus has less attraction for the outer electrons. So an electron is gained less easily.
Laura: You cannot even see the difference between my answer and theirs basically there, can you?
Ron: No. Basically, word for word, um, 8.6, um, was a comebacker. And this is the one that you ended on. This is the one that you ended on. So you did not finish it. Um, but you did get one mark. Um, it was working out masses of
00:50:00
Ron: iron and glass tubes and chloride and stuff. And you worked out how much iron and how much chloride there was, but you didn't get further than that. That's fine. M. Um.
Laura: Moles just keep tripping me up.
Ron: Yeah, you don't get moles and I don't know why.
Laura: No, we need to recover that.
Ron: I think it's just a number, like a dozen.
Laura: It's not though, is it because it's ethereal?
Ron: No, it's not ethereal. It's a number. It's the number.
Laura: What number is it?
Ron: It is the number of carbon 12 atoms in 12 grammes of carbon 12.
Laura: But that's not a number.
Ron: That is a number. It's the number of that.
Laura: So what is that number?
Ron: It's like 6.023 times 10 to the 23.
Laura: Let's just call it that then.
Ron: Let's just call it a mole.
Laura: So one mark there. Okay, so that's the end of question eight. That felt alright. That felt pretty good until the end. And that was a time run out, see?
Ron: Yeah. Um, so that was eight out of.
Laura: What did I get for eight then?
Ron: Eight out of 16.
Laura: Oh, it felt better than that.
Ron: Where is that?
Laura: Including the extra one you gave me.
Ron: You lost five marks on the last one. Yeah, that is including, um, that one. Um. Yeah, you lost five marks on the last question. The trend in boiling points. 1. You lost three marks there. You haemorrhaged marks across.
Laura: Yeah. All right, all right, all right.
You didn't answer question 9.1. It was marked to come back to
Ron: Um, question 9.1. You didn't answer. It was marked to come back to, but you didn't seem to have time. It was, um, identifying why there might be an anomalous point.
Laura: Oh yeah. I had no idea.
Ron: No. And the answer in this is didn't Stir, uh, the solution. Enough.
Laura: Fucking hell.
Ron: Yeah, which I feel is the kind of bullshit answer that you could have given but you didn't. Yeah, yeah, sorry mate.
Laura: I think I specifically wrote stir it in an earlier question. You did and got laughed at for it.
You should use data from Figure 6 in your answer. The solution begins at just shy of 17 degrees
Ron: Um, so the next one, explain um, the shape of the graph in terms of energy transfers taking place. You should use data from Figure 6 in your answer. The solution begins at just shy of 17 degrees. The temperature of the solution decreases and till there is 1.5 grammes of citric acid in the solution. This is because citric acid and hydrogen carbonate solution have an endothermic reaction up till this quantity. Above the 1.5 mass, the citric acid, the temperature begins to increase, suggesting that the citric acid and the hydrogen carbonate are now emitting energy from their reaction.
Laura: This sounds great. Well, is this great? Sounds great.
Ron: You'd locked yourself into two marks out of three because you did not understand what was happening. It's not that, uh, up to a certain point the um, the reaction does one thing or it does another. It was up until that point. It's doing the reaction and then one of the reactants is all used up. So then it just starts warming. So it has an endothermic reaction taking in energy. You correctly identified that. And then after it's all used up, then it's not doing that reaction anymore. So then it just heats up in the room. M. I feel like you still don't understand. I don't think you're listening. I think that donuts worn off.
Laura: It has, it has. Ron.
Ron: Um, okay, but you did get two marks. Um, the next one I just wrote three marks. I'm sorry, I don't.
Laura: Yeah, yeah.
Ron: Question 9.4 and 9.5 you skipped, um, because.
Laura: Oh, that's because it was a drawing. A graft one on 9.3 Ron. And we just get those.
Ron: Oh yeah, you're right. But 9.4 and 9.5. Yeah, you just skipped because they are about moles and titrations and stuff which scare you deeply.
Laura: Um, I don't know what titration is.
Ron: It's a experiment that you do.
Laura: Oh yeah. Now it's barrette time.
Ron: Titrations where you use a barrette. M. So you give two reasons why a barrette is used for this citric acid solution. Um, you said because it evaporates at room temperature. So you need it in a closed transport system.
Laura: Mhm.
Ron: Nonsense does. Burettes aren't even closed. Um, then the other answer you gave was for precise Measurements which was correct. So you got one mark for
00:55:00
Ron: that. And then you just didn't answer question 9.7 either. So we're done. Oh.
Laura: Ah, yeah, got tricky.
So you got 54, Laura. So that's 108 on the mark. So 54 times 2 is 108
All right, what did I get at the end there?
Ron: Six out of 18.
Laura: Woof. Oh, stanky. Okay, so if I've done my maths correct, then I've got 55 out of 89. Is that what you've got?
Ron: Um, no.
Laura: Oh, uh, what have you got?
Ron: 54. It should be out of a hundred. Yes, it's out. It's out of a hundred.
Laura: Mackie, be quiet.
Ron: So you got 54, Laura. So you actually did better than this, than biology.
Laura: 54. So that's 108 on the mark. Scheme.
Ron: Let's get the marker up.
Laura: Let's have a look. Chemistry, higher tier. 108. Oh, that's just short of a seven. So that's a high six, which Ron, I think is an A.
Ron: No, six out of ten is an A.
Laura: Well, a, uh, six, if you look at the new grading structure. Hang on, I'll send you this link. And obviously they don't match up. So it's not like six is, you know, just equates totally. They're a little bit blushy over each other. And I'm literally four points off a seven. And a seven is definitely an A. So a high six, if not a very, very high B, it's an A.
Ron: But where did you get that 54 is a 6?
Laura: Because if you look at this here, uh.
Ron: Uh.
Laura: Which is what we used before and then we doubled it because these should be two papers. That's right, isn't it?
Ron: I think so, yeah.
Laura: Because maximum mark 200, whereas my maximum mark is 100. So 54 times 2 is 108, which is. It's a 90 for a 6 and 112 for a 7.
Ron: That feels mad that you could. Yeah, I, um. I guess, yeah. Um.
Laura: So it's a high six, so it's a B. Slight argument. It's a high B.
Ron: There's literally a line in between them.
Laura: Oh, but we. Look, we talked about this before, Ron. About how if the numbers just fully matched up to each other, they would never have even bothered to change.
Ron: But there's literally a line like.
Laura: See how 6, 5 and 4 are both there?
Ron: 6, 5 and 4 apply to the B and C area. That's denoted by lines.
Laura: And it's a little bit 9, 8 and 7, a little bit squashy.
Ron: 9, 8 and 7 apply to A. And a star, again denoted by a line yeah.
Laura: So I'm very, very close to an A.
Ron: You're very close to an A. Uh, yes, but close to an A.
Laura: On the B side of things interpreted as an A.
Ron: No. It even says in the text there, the bottom of a grade 7 is comparable to the bottom of the old Grade A.
Laura: And I'm four marks off that wrong.
Ron: Yes, you're close to it, but you did not get there.
Laura: Why can't you ever let me have anything?
Ron: You can't have things that you don't have. You got a B. That's good, isn't it? Oh, uh.
Laura: If I just had time to go back, I could have got an A.
Ron: If you knew what oxidation was, you might have gotten an A. Yeah, if.
Laura: You taught me what oxidation was, or titration.
Ron: Now, we went through both of those.
Laura: Things probably if I hadn't said lithium. Still, I did better on that than biology then. So so far we're on the same pattern.
Ron: Yeah. So we'll see how you do for physics, which is. Oh, God, there's gonna be so much maths.
Laura: Yeah. All right. Okay, Ron.
Ron: Yeah. Anywho, enjoy your day off.
Laura: If I'm totally honest, Ron, I can't remember what I got in chemistry. It was pretty much the same, wasn't it?
Ron: As it was a number which we don't know how to interpret.
Laura: Listen, it's too New Yearish over here for us to have actually listened back to the episode, but you just heard it, so there you go.
Ron: We're a level legends now. We don't need. We're leaving this GCSE shite in the past.
Next week we're about to record the physics results
Laura: Well, I'm m very excited because we're about to record the physics results and I'm quite excited about that. No spoilers. But next week physics starts. Um, so just to give you a little rundown of what's coming up, we have got physics coming up.
Ron: Sorry, before you get into that, why are you excited for these results?
Laura: For physics? Yeah, I thought it went well.
Ron: Okay.
01:00:00
Laura: Okay, well, enjoy the next two weeks of my false optimism then. Um, so we've got chemistry results. You just heard. You got physics coming up for the next three weeks, split over two episodes, and then the results. Obviously, in the midst of that, you've got a tentron coming out about aeroplanes. Um, then we're gonna be doing something special. Uh, which we will announce in a couple of weeks.
Ron: Next week? No, if we record it in tomorrow.
Laura: Next week, we'll be announcing next week. And, uh, and then there'll be a Valentine's episode on 10 February. Naturally, we want to talk about some animals banging. And then a level will begin on the 17th of February. Who can believe we're there? Not I said the wolf. Anything else to add, Ron?
Ron: No.
Laura: No. Um. Okay, well, go about your lives, everybody. Um. We love you. I just got a sudden panic that the Patreon episode last night didn't go out. Oh, Ron, we need to do some birthdays. Wait there while I get my phone. Everybody in the Discord's been asking about birthdays. Bear with me.
Ron: I forgot we even did that.
Laura: Uh. Oh, thank you, mystic, for making a list super tidy so I don't have to scroll through this whole thing. Legend. So, Happy birthday to Ksar. Neil. I'm pretty sure your name's Neil. Uh, January 1st. He's got a birthday on New Year's Day. Ron.
Ron: Nice. Always as old as the year to lock people in.
Laura: So, happy birthday. Happy bloody birthday. And if you want to have your birthday shout out on the podcast, then join the Patreon. Patreon.com lexeducation um, and for the measly price of 3 pounds a month, you can access all of our bonus extra episodes such as Boy and C3, which just went out. Ron.
Ron: Yes, it's. It's a. It's a very good value. Three pounds.
Laura: Agreed.
Ron: Hours of content on there. And if, if you like our, uh, brand of nonsense, we dial it up on the Patreon.
Laura: We sure, sure do. I'm worried that the new latest. Anyway, I'm going to do this off. Thank you very much for listening. We'll see you next week. We love you.
Ron: Bye. Pencils.
01:02:42
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