mississippichem

Nothing much to add here other than I agree largely with your assessment. This guy clearly cares very little for daily polling numbers and characterizations of him as being this or that. He's playing a high stakes game where being unreadable and highly flexible are enormous advantages. I'm sure the Chinese and Russians are beside themselves with not being able to anticipate his next move. I'm a very results oriented person. I couldn't care less if he lied about this or that. At the end of eight years where does our country stand in the world and where is it headed? That is what I care about. I'm sure Donald Trump is a pompous ass and maybe even an intolerable person but I think his strategy is on point when you look at it through the lens of Sun Tzu or Machiavelli. I think we are dealing with a pragmatist here with right wing leanings rather than a rigid Republican ideologue. He did spend most of his life as a Democrat. I would consider a revision. In fact I've not been aware of this NIH data previously. I'm not yet willing to extend that to all funding but I see you may have a point and perhaps have proven one of my starting assumptions wrong. I still heir on the side of spending less though. Being over 20 trillion in debt with sluggish GDP growth (and abysmal GDP growth when you account for inflation and increases in debt) is hugely unnerving to me and many on the right. Your original question was a topic that was a determining factor for me (clearly) but I'll at least do some further reading and perhaps reconsider my opinion. I realize it is quite difficult (nigh impossible) to predict the impact of proposals before beginning work. I'm just not convinced that academia is doing things in a manner efficient enough to warrant additional funding. After beginning science in private industry the contrast between here and academia is very stark. Projects that do not deliver on the stated goal by the stated time under the stated budget are almost certain to be scrapped. With enough scrapped projects in a row you are soon looking for another job. As someone without a PhD I'm a bit hazy on the intimate details of the grant writing and funding process so I don't wish to pretend to have knowledge I don't but I remain skeptical that academia is the best avenue with which to tackle these large questions. I'm not quite sure how much I should distinguish between academia proper though and other government bodies such as NASA, the NIH or NOAA as I have limited to no experience with these agencies. I know all three of them both fund research within academia and also conduct their own in house. I'll read more about this. If there is no funding creep then it will be quite unique in the population of government expenditures that don't creep up over time! I should add that I'm a lot more tolerant of spending on hard science questions that later lead to greater quality of life in the population as opposed to the "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin and what is their racial/gender/economic make-up while doing so" social science surveys studies.

Claiming you have no interest in battling every comment (though a good tactic that I've used before) won't fly here with me. I conceded points where you were correct and I'd expect the same from you rather than glossing over the entirety of my rebuttals as "so you admit he lies?". I have most certainly acknowledged multiple lies or mistruths but I'd be willing to argue that they are not that far removed from the norm. "You can keep your doctor and your plan as well". "Iraq has weapons of mass destruction" etc. I'll admit the man clearly is not a precise orator and is a bit of an exaggerator but to paint him as a pathological liar and as some form of snake oil salesman I think is wholly disingenuous. His policy positions have been largely consistent from the 1980s until now as many interviews and writings detail at great length. This is neither irrelevant nor a red herring. You specifically cited filling up his cabinet with billionaires and Goldman Sachs employees as evidence that he had broken his promise to drain the swamp. You cited neither a specific billionaire nor a specific instance of swamp-like behavior. Establishing that billionaires and Goldman Sachs employees are not automatically part of "the swamp" is entirely within the scope of your claim. Fair. I stand corrected By what metric and whose authority? If you put forth CNN as an unbiased metric by which to judge whether or not a conservative candidate is lying or not then will you also allow me to cite Breitbart or Fox news in a similar situation (Even though I wouldn't)? I'm not even entirely sure how one determines what percent of the time someone is lying. Is this accessed sentence by sentence? Clause by clause? If you call my phone now and ask me what I'm doing and I say "nothing" does that count since I'm technically typing? We don't have to argue every point in your list to death but hand waving it all away when I even honestly conceded ground is a bit unfair. Touché though friend. You gave me a loaded question, I forced you to get specific. You forced me to play defense and I in turn concede some ground. You called me out on a fallacy and I called you out on fallacious assessment of a fallacy. I forgot that the debate here at SFN is fairly high quality when compared to the slums that comprise much of the internet. Glad to be back. Cheers

This is an issue on which I depart with the administration's attitude somewhat. I'm quite hard line against carbon taxes and carbon dioxide limiting regulations but I am not so much against researching into the heart of the matter. I think additional knowledge on such an important topic (whether you feel it is real, not real, important or unimportant I think everyone can agree we DO need to know) is never a bad thing. Any knowledge we gain can give us insights into whether or not to stop wasting money on climate change or spend additional money on climate change. As someone who blew through many dollars of the US Navy's money to develop a polymer resin system that likely never saw the light of day I do have a somewhat skeptical attitude toward government funding of science that can be accomplished by the private sector. It can, in my opinion, even be a way to give large corporations cooperate welfare by the public bearing the financial burden of high risk research which I find unfair to the taxpayer. In cases where the research is important to national interests and cannot in the near future be monetized I believe the government has a role here as the private sector simply doesn't handle these things well. This would include climate change, deep space, cosmology, high energy physics, vaccines and fundamental science questions. Ironically (for someone of my profession) I think the government funds too much chemistry and engineering though. The resin system I worked on wouldn't have been touched by a manufacturer for a variety of technical reasons and it should be that way seeing as how it didn't work all too well. Having the burden of showing profit to shareholders is an efficiency check when the technology or science can be capitalized on in the near future but is an impediment when you need fundamental questions answered. All that to say that I disagree with his general attitude toward government research funding but I see how it has merit in some cases that don't involve fundamental science or urgent national interest. Government spending always tend to rise with time though and having one administration trim it back doesn't seem so frightening as I have no doubt it will inevitably creep back up. Good question.

Good to hear you're doing well. I edited your response and added numbers to make this easier to follow (that and I've gotten lazy with all the quote tags). Part I 1) Fair enough he did. 2) Did he specify the time period for which he would keep the freeze in place? I was not aware he did. 3) Subtly matters here. He said precisely this: "Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!" which is distinct from "China is not a currency manipulator". And indeed why would he call China a currency manipulator while they are helping us address our foreign policy goals? Additionally China strengthened their currency in response to the election (http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/04/china-steps-in-to-support-yuan-again-as-trump-inauguration-nears.html ). In this case the threat of labelling them a currency manipulator is both a bargaining chip in itself and pressure to actually strengthen the currency. 4) I believe you are correct. I'm not knowledgeable enough in the particulars of the metrics used to argue for his number over yours. Though as many things are in economics you and I both know there is likely some reputable source out there who claims it is 200 billion or 1 trillion or any other value really. Trump may be wrong on the number but I believe the crux of his argument, that our trade deficit with the developing world is too large (and we are therefore leaving manufacturing dollars on the table), is sound. 5) I am not a fan of US monetary policy for the last long time. I too am disturbed by his flip flop on this issue. I suspect he is appeasing her to prevent a sudden rate hike. We should've had this rate hike in the last four years and I think it's convenient that it's only being discussed now with a Republican in the Whitehouse. 6) This is an accurate characterization of the scenario. Many of the arguments attached to it on the left and the general hysteria all these types of argumentsthey produce are non-productive (I thought the right wing criticism of Obama golf time was just as silly) but yes he did criticize Obama for that and did do the same thing if not even to a greater degree. Part II: 1) Everything you say is true but I think not necessarily damning to his claim to want to "drain the swamp". "Drain the swamp" is sufficiently vague as to be interpreted many different ways. If he installs congressional term limits, continues to resist cooperate campaign money, seriously reduces the administrative burden on small business and investigates corruption within intelligence agencies then I think he will have still gone quite some way to draining the swamp. Goldman Sachs is a sufficiently large organization that painting the entire company's workforce as part of "the swamp" required you to make value judgements on their actions where you are likely not privy to their career history. Being a billionaire is not equivalent to being corrupt. Gates, Soros and Buffet are all large contributors to left wing politics as the Koch brothers are to the right. Are you willing to characterize them as part of the swamp? 2) I wasn't aware he made the specific claim of intending to put it in a blind trust. I could be wrong here as this is a confusing issue considering the legal definitions of trusts and what constitutes "blind". I will concede that giving the company to your sons is hardly "blind". 3) He said he would share his tax returns after they were no longer under audit. They are still under audit. The fact that they may always be under audit makes this statement of his disingenuous perhaps but certainly not a lie. 4) I think this is early judgment at best. The deal was that he would construct a southern border wall during his presidency. Their will be a myriad of speculators and pontificators who will pretend to know what will happen between now and the time the wall gets built. Fact of the matter is the biding process is under way. My company has been receiving specification inquiries for the exterior coatings on the wall. We'll have to wait and see here. 5) Point conceded. He did put it in the executive order but there was already foreign steel ready to go to the jobsite. Promise broken here plain and simple. 6) Did he? But then what would you guys have to rage about? Seriously though I'd like to see this. I never heard this and I follow politics quite closely. 7) In context of the statements he made he was actually acknowledging his inconsistency here. Almost joking about it even. However, If you don't believe the stated value for jobless/unemployment (let's not conflate the two as many do) it does not necessarily follow that you don't believe the direction they are moving. He can think jobless rates are much higher than stated and still believe they are going down. 8) You got him there. This was inaccurate no matter how you slice it. 9) I think the jury is still out on this though I agree that the number will likely be much lower than 3 million. He got too greedy with this statement. Wrong here. 10) This depends on how you read the statement. With respect to online, TV and in-person viewers it was. If you take it to mean in-person attendance it was not. I believe the quote was that it was the most "watched" inauguration of all time. Keep me honest here though as my memory may not serve and I may be conflating his statement with Sean Spicer's. I'm willing to defend this. The topic of the thread is why I voted for/supported Donald Trump. Given the context I believe that pointing to dishonesty by other politicians is fair in the spirit of establishing a baseline for what a reasonable level of dishonesty is. Unless you wanted to waste a vote we were given two choices and I chose mine with full knowledge of the other alternative. The fact that I believe my candidate may or may not be more honest than the other I think is relevant. I feel many intelligent people fall into the trap of dismissing the notion of "alternative facts" out of hand. I think it is a subtle form of sexism against Ms. Conway. She fits the trope of a blonde ditz and as a result she is painted as an idiot when in fact she is the first female campaign manger to win a successful campaign. She is also an experienced pollster. We accept alternative facts all the time. Even in formal contexts. A court room a defense attorney may claim "He's a wonderful contributing member of society who loves his family." The prosecutor responds with alternative facts "We found him with the murder weapon fleeing the scene of the crime". Both of these sets of facts can be fully true simultaneously. One is merely "alternative" as it is presented from a different source with a different motivation for doing so. Another case in point is that there are several metrics for measuring thermodynamic quantities such as the enthalpy of a chemical reaction. Without the context of what technique was used and with what instrument you could have a scenario where two quantities contradict but are both fully valid in their respective domains. For example measuring the sublimation point of a solid with Differential Scanning Calorimetry versus Thermal Gravimetric analysis. You WILL get different results yet they can both be fully valid. Multiply this by about 10000000000 in a soft subject like politics. Well if they can conjure up about 20 other people to debate then it might be a fair fight /sarcasm. I just realized I didn't hash this out enough. His tendency to get numbers wrong can be annoying however I think the brunt of his argument is often sound and in many contexts the actual value in question is irrelevant. As a reality TV star he understands the value of optics. Notice how he makes a tall claim and provides no evidence at first "Obama wiretapped me. Sick guy. Sad!". The immediate narrative on main stream TV is "No he didn't you have no evidence". Then notice how it evolves to "Well there was surveillance but it wasn't a wiretap". In this way he draws attention to issues that are not covered. The ethics of it is questionable but the net effect is him accomplishing his goal of getting narratives out in the media that aren't covered. Now the narrative on the wiretap has evolved to justifying why the surveillance was necessary and other ways to defend Obama/Lynch/Rice. Fact of the matter is that a President from an opposing party surveilled the campaign of a major party candidate. This should be an outrage. I'm not yet willing to concede any major promises being broken. I do not see any official policy position that has been reversed. Yes some passing statements have been re-voiced under changing cicumstances but I truly believe he fully intends to see through to completion many of his major policy goals. He is not a candidate like any other. Everything he says seems to be part of a negotiation and I interpret accordingly in that light.

This was a good natured jab at iNow who I have a history of political debates with. If you'd like to give an example of a false statement by Trump I'd be glad to address it.

Sure. I guess that would prevent people shooting at moving targets. I'll start with a bit of background that shows where my viewpoints originate so my defense of policy can be interpreted in the correct light. I've always been of the opinion that the Republican party is composed of three primary factions, Evangelicals, Nationalists and Libertarians. As a staunch atheist I don't have much love for the Evangelical wing of the party (this includes certain facets of the Tea Party as well). I tend to lean Libertarian from a philosophical stand point but pragmatically I think Nationalism has much to offer. As far as Trump himself goes from my viewpoint: Pros: ​-Attitude: Ironically the thing that makes so many on the left cringe is precisely what has excites the right wing base. I was not a fan of Bush, McCain or Romney (No where near far right enough for my taste, statist, leftist and Neo-cons with Christian rhetoric if you ask me) but the left mercilessly characterized these candidates as evil, hateful, bigoted fascists. Trumps attitude and demeanor, in my opinion, accept the fact that the left will never be okay with any candidate who is right of Hillary Clinton. Mitt Romney, for all his faults, was not an evil man, a fascist or a bigot but that did not stop him being characterized as that anyway. I believe that Trump acknowledges this and in turn says things in an inflammatory manner to at least appear strong on an issue whereas other conservatives go on an apology tour across media networks. It's refreshing to see someone so steadfast in their believes that they really don't care much about how they are characterized. -Negotiation: I do not claim that Trump is a genius in any department except this one. His actions on foreign policy since Inauguration speak well to this. All throughout the campaign he ranted and raved about how China is "ripping us off" and is a currency manipulator. Shortly after inauguration he a had a phone call with the President of Taiwan which is a diplomatic slap in the face to the mainland Chinese regime. During his dinner with President Xi Trump was informed of our Tomahawk missile attack on Assad. All of this sets up a narrative in the Chinese leadership's mind that this new US president is decisive, bold and unafraid of diplomatic fallout in order to achieve his larger policy goals. Now we see the Chinese taking an aggressive stance against North Korea which is unheard of in recent US history. My hypothesis is that we are seeing the Chinese respond to a scenario where Trump has put pressure on them through other channels. In order to look strong the Chinese must respond to the North Koreans. It is this kind of savvy that impresses me. He seems to attack these types of problems in a very nonlinear way that is proving to be quite effective thus far in foreign policy. Also see his comments about NATO being obsolete. He has since backed down but not before receiving pledges to contribute additional funding from other nations and a refocus to the problem of Islamic terror in the west. -The Wall: Hungary built one and illegal border crossings went to almost zero (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_border_barrier the graph is quite illustrative). Similar happened in Israel. Many debate about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of said wall but for me it is more a message to the wider world that America has an inherent right to control its borders and other nations have an inherent responsibility to control theirs. Making Mexico pay for the wall is trivial considering all the trade that crosses our borders. We can tax remittances and level tariffs until the difference is evened out. I'd like to delve into this issue much further if anyone wants to press me on it. -Regulation: I'm simply of the opinion there is too much of it. I work in a sector where we sell polymer products to the US government and I personally witness thousands of dollars go out the door daily due to regulatory burden. I can go on for days on this one so I'll save it for the debate. -Trade: US manufacturing is a shell of what it used to be on the world stage. I'm very much in favor of bringing as many of these jobs back as we can as they primarily contribute to greater quality of life in the poor and working classes. I think this is also a backdoor key to solving many of our entitlement issues. Many argue that technology has taken these jobs rather than outsourcing. I believe the truth lies somewhere in between. However I certainly think that continuing to run an enormous trade deficit with the developing world is not the answer. -Military: I'm one for building it up. This is a core right wing issue and often not worth debating. I'll leave it at this: I think some power will always have dominance in the world and I'd much rather it be the United States rather than Russia or China for many reasons. -Militant Islam: As a good atheist am I'm against all faiths, but not all faiths equally. I will likely get a lot of flak for this comment but I feel as though Islam is in general a particularly violent ideology born out of racism, classism and ill repute for women. I take a hardline stance against these things as I find them antithetical to our way of life. I'm not for an all out Muslim ban but in light of my views on Trump's negotiation tactics I think this was a solid opening bid to get some sensible reforms with respect to high risk immigration. ​Cons: ​-He occasionally says a few things that are "facepalmworthy". I stand by Rosie O'Donald being disgusting though. She's objectively gross -As a fiscal conservative a one trillion dollar stimulus unnerves me a bit. -I am much further to the right than Trump on Healthcare. I would not repeal and replace Obamacare. I'd merely repeal and then open state lines for competition and then wish everyone good luck. I have philosophical issues with healthcare being a fundamental human right. I do feel he is largely on track with respect to foreign policy. I am concerned that some Neocon will talk him into full blown war in Syria which I think would be irresponsible. I'm fine with continued missile strikes wherever we need them as they cost almost no American lives. Him getting the Chinese to work with us on North Korea was enormously impressive to me. Healthcare and tax reform need to be addressed pronto. I will not accept the excuse of "congress wasn't helpful" in 2020. The roaring stock market and insane levels of consumer confidence have shown me how powerful rhetoric can be. I'm dreading paying capital gains on my abundant winnings next year. With respect to the EPA and deregulation I think these organizations are extremely bloated and are out of control. Scott Pruitt has spent a lifetime attempting to dismantle the EPA and as such I think he is an ideal candidate for the job. It is the very nature of organizations which are not profit driven to expand themselves the only way in my opinion to even keep an organization from expanding further is to actively downsize it. I understand the scientific consensus on climate change but fail to understand the sense of political urgency around it. Even at a 100% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions we still will have the developing world emitting for quite some time. I think the only solution is innovation in the energy sector. It is an established fact that one of the greatest predictors of quality of life is carbon footprint. I am unwilling to reduce the quality of American lives now in the hopes that the other 120 or so countries will simply play by the rules in good faith. Once an energy source becomes pound for pound or dollar for dollar more efficient than fossil fuels I believe the market will massively self correct as the only thing certain in life is that entities tend to act in their own self interest. In retrospect it appears I took your question about the EPA to refer to climate change. If not please forgive me. I think the above sums up my view on many of these issues fairly well though. Thanks for your interest in a good discussion How goes it iNow? Been a while. If you'd give me an example of a reneged promise I'll be glad to show you the error of your ways False statements? How about that time Hillary landed under sniper fire in Bosnia? It was intense no? Seriously though as written the question is too broad. Give me a few examples and I'm sure we'll take this to the mat if I remember your debate style at all.

So I've noticed our politics section is pretty staunchly anti-Trump (I haven't been active here in a while so correct me if this isn't the case) . I'll be frank. I voted for Donald Trump and continue to support most but not all of his policy initiatives. Seeing as how there doesn't seem to be much right wing representation here I'd like to open the floor for anyone to pick my brain as to why I would support such as horrible (insult Trump smear here). I'd like to keep it civil. I know this is an emotionally charged topic so as rational people let's debate as such. I could write a long diatribe about why I support but I think it'd be less boring and more engaging to allow others to pose questions about why I support any given position or quality. So. Let's hear it. What would you like to know, if anything, from a real life scientifically minded Trumpite who has all his teeth?

Yep. Most coatings contain gloss additives that are formulated to gives certain amounts of specular reflectance at various angles to the surface. The paint formulators for the automotive paint may have chosen, for some aesthetic reason, to make the black version more glossy than others. They would include enough gloss additives to where the reflective properties of the pigment matter very little.

Point taken but I think that's a bit far. Living here Washington's domestic policies do have an effect on people's daily lives other than defense related stuff. It's just not as noticeable until you do things like file taxes, purchase a home, or sell equities. I will agree that things like gun policy, vice laws, police procedure, and similar are often the territory of state government so a visiting traveler might in fact feel as though New Jersey, Kansas, and Oregon were three different countries.

Yes! It is a common source of confusion for people to draw up a mechanism and try to write down reactant orders. Kinetics on paper are easy to understand and neat. Kinetics in real solutions are always messy.

This. If you look at gun policy in the US with the intent of reducing gun violence you'll find there's no good argument to keep guns around. The idea that any armed militia of citizens wouldn't get immediately obliterated by the U.S. military is hilariously stupid. You can't justify the second amendment if saving lives is a moral requirement. I own guns and I just like them. I'm not politically active with respect to gun ownership. I don't try to convince anyone why I should have the right to own guns. I enjoy target shooting and I hunt occasionally. Guns are very important in our culture here in the US (as Moontanman has stated) and I think we should frankly stop comparing ourselves with the UK and Europe on this issue. Phi highlights that to allow unrestricted private ownership of guns you have to be willing to allow thousands to die every year. This is absolutely true. I'm just willing to allow that and I'm honest enough to state that explicitly.

Corrosion of commercial coatings and plastics is a highly complex chemical process, especially oxidative damage which is what ozone is likely to cause. Commercial plastics are very complicated mixtures of resin systems, additives, pigments, etc. There are entire fields and journals devoted to studying the corrosion of these materials. This answer may not be helpful as there are many different polymeric materials on the inside of your car and each will interact differently with ozone. I would not be surprised if some of those materials have begun to off-gas degradation products from ozone attack. No idea if any HCl gas would be present but there is always potential where there are chlorinated materials depending on what they're exposed to. If the problem is that bad I'd stop generating ozone in the car, ventilate it thoroughly, and get a new phone. Purchasing analytical lab work is expensive and REALLY expensive if you give them an open ended project like "my phone burns my face...why?".

Ways to make money as a chemist: 1) Be a people person and ascend to a managerial position. 2) go to med school 3) Use the Breaking Bad/Walter White method Source: I'm a professional chemist in the industrial polymer/materials/coatings world. I didn't have two pennies to bump together until I achieved a supervisor like position.

Oh alright. That's a large disparity. I can't see the "correction factor" in a hypothetical model for "the suspect is a cop" being able to account for that kind of difference between the probability of an indictment for a general suspect versus police suspect without it including some fairly strong grand jury bias. Thank you for your explanation and sorry for not reading the link. Thank you Ten oz as well.

If you care to know more the mechanism for acid catalyzed ester hydrolysis was actually proven through a classic experiment where one does the the reaction with 18-O labeled reagents IIRC. It turns out the tagged oxygen ends up in the products such that it proves the reaction proceeds through nucleophilic attack by water at the carbonyl carbon rather than direct protonation of the ester oxygen followed by elimination of ROH. This is beyond the scope of your question but chemistry threads here are resolved too quickly (actually a good thing) and I haven't posted in a while so I'll ramble a bit. Read about that experiment if you care to. It's one of those "classic" ones that seem to be instructive.

The ester is hydrolyzed by the acid. What do you know about the amide/ester/carboxylic acid/carbonyl halide functional group transformations? The ester hydrolysis proceeds through a tetrahedral intermediate around what was the carbonyl carbon. Basically the acid protonates the C=O oxygen so that water can then act as a nucleophile and attack the (now even more electron deficient through resonance) carbonyl carbon. Push some arrows and eliminate a molecule of MeOH and there is your product. EDIT: cross posted with my esteemed colleague above who never let's me answer an organic question

That is quite a striking statistic. What fraction of those cases would one expect to result in an indictment? I have no clue nor do I have a clue how one could even in theory arrive at such a number.

Are you just looking for a published prep?

Please provide a link to this experiment. If this is true then why don't solutions of electrolytes display this sort of behavior?

I love the yellow bullhead. They have a very catfish look like a channel cat, blue cat, or brown bullhead, but in my opinion the way they swim is very bass/sunfish like. How big do you expect that bullhead to get in that tank?

see statistical mechanics. If you study it hard enough you can see that, in principle, chemistry falls out of statistical mechanics. You can't really make predictions about individual molecules but you can make predictions about very large collections of molecules. What future "extremely complex unrealistic experiments" do you refer to? As our knowledge of biology and biochemistry expands we will be able to understand the mechanistic underpinnings behind life more and more. This is done in small incremental steps. The amount of work that goes into understanding the docking of one substrate to one enzyme alone is mind blowing and chemists still don't even fully understand the intimate details of many reactions that are much simpler than biological stuff.

I've always been taught that the anode is where the oxidation half-reaction occurs. End of story. If the reaction is reversed, the cathode is still the electrode where oxidation is occurring. That way it doesn't matter whether you think of an electric circuit in terms of electron flow or "hole flow". This definition doesn't care about which way you draw the current flowing.

I agree with studiot. Chlorates and perchlorates are best handled by those who know their chemistry. It's been my experience that chlorates can be a bit more unpredictable than perchlorates but I would still recommend that you find someone more experienced to help you with this. People who work with a lot of oxo-halogens are usually best identified by their number of fingers, which tends to be <10.

Blowing stuff up is in my job description. Even that can get old sometimes. I can't tell you how many times I've been over joyed to stop blowing things up and go do a boring titration, calculation or cure study (cure study: literally watching paint dry)!

You have it backwards OP. In order to find the limiting reagent you need to know the balanced reaction. Take a simple reaction as an example: [ce] 2Na + Cl_{2} \rightarrow 2NaCl [/ce] Once you've tallied the mass of your reagents into moles you can find the limiting reagent. If you have, say, 4 moles of Na but only 1 mole of Cl2 then how many moles of NaCl can you make?