While teaching a creative writing class in India, I was surprised at receiving stories from the students that were all set in distant places:
in the American West with cowboys and in Manhattan penthouses with clinking ice cubes. This was, till an eminent Caribbean writer
gave the writers in the once-colonised countries the confidence to see the shabby lives around them as worthy of being “told”.
The writer of this passage is surprised by the creative writing assignments of his students, because _____________.

The boiling point of halogens from F₂ to I₂ increases due to

For the reaction mechanism,
2X Y .For this step, assume K_eq = [Y]/[X]²
Y---------------> P .k: rate constant for this step
The rate law is _________.

A coordination complex Y upon reaction with AgNO₃ solution does NOT give any precipitation. Complex Y possesses two isomers, of which one has zero dipole moment. The crystal field stabilization energy of Y is either -0.8 Δ_o or -0.8 Δ_t. The magnetic moment for Y is found to be 3.9 Bohr Magneton. The coordination complex Y is

A protein in denatured state (D) is in equilibrium with native state (N). DN

At 360 K, both N and D states are equally populated. If the standard entropy change for the reaction at this temperature ΔS⁰ = -139 J K^-1 mol^-1
, then the corresponding standard enthalpy change ΔH⁰ for the reaction in kJ mol^-1 (rounded off to one decimal place) is________.

The pH of a 1.0 L buffer solution containing 0.2 mol of acetic acid (CH₃COOH) and 0.3 mol of sodium acetate (CH₃COONa) is 5.0.
The K_a of acetic acid is P × 10^-5, where the numerical value of P (rounded off to one decimal place) is ____

Based on molecular orbital theory, the number of paramagnetic species in the following list
N₂, N₂⁺, N₂^2-, O₂, O₂⁺, O₂^- and O₂^2- is ____
(assume that there is no change in energy of the orbitals upon addition/removal of electrons in a molecule)

Given the standard reduction potentials, E⁰_Cu+2/Cu = 0.34 V and E⁰_Ag+/Ag = 0.80 V, the standard free energy change (ΔG⁰) for the reaction

Cu (s) + 2Ag⁺ (aq) ----------> Cu⁺² (aq) + 2Ag (s)
in kJ mol^-1 (rounded off to one decimal place; F= 96500 C mol^-1), is ____