An old Puzzle

This is an old puzzle that I always enjoyed reasoning for. Do not be fooled by its simplicity for simple things often have complexions not seen.

PRE-REQUISITES: Chemistry Education (analytical or basic chemistry I & II) OR a very intelligent person

QUESTION:

Six chemists were seated around a table. Each was a specialist in a major field of chemistry; Josuha555, NewGuy, Lucy, Sonia, Earnhardt, and Nick were each (not respectivly and not necessarily in the listed order), an organic chemist, an analytical chemist, and inorganic chemist, a physical chemist, a biochemichemist, and a polymer chemist.

Each chemist had in front of him or her a sealed jar of a chemical whose molecular weight was identical to taht chemist's age. IDENTIFY THE NAME, FIELD OF SPECIALITY, AND AGE OF EACH CHEMIST.

CLUES:

1.The analytical chemist noted that the chemical in front of NewGuy had a rate of effusion twice as slow as methane.

2. The biochemist, a woman had a compound whose empirical and molecular formula were identical and was compose of 81.82% C, and 18.18% H by weight.

3.The woman sitting on Joshua555's right had a liquid whose vapor pressure was lowered 4% when 0.1mol of sugar was dissolved into 84g of the liquid.

4.Nick, the polymer chemist, was 5 years older than Sonia . When 4g of Nick's chemical (non-electrolyte) was dissolved in 20g of H2O , the solution boiled at 102.6 degree celsius (Kbp. for H2O=0.52)

5.The Inorganic chemist, Earnhardt, noted that Joshua555 was a physical chemist, and Joshua555 was 2 years older than the analytical chemist; 0.2368 g of Joshua555's chemical (a solid monoprotic acid) was able to neutralize 8 mL of 0.40M Ca(OH)2.

6. Earnhardt, the youngest had a 2-carbon hydrocarbon. When a portion of it was burned in oxygen, 52.8 g of CO2, and 10.8 gram of H2O was produced.


7. Joshua, Nick, Earnhardt, Newguy are males.
8.Lucy & Sonia are females.


So think you can solve this ?

[to rpenner: lets see if you can solve this ]

Despite what this puzzle suggests, I don't know my a$$ from a hole in the ground when it comes to chemistry. Before I waste too much time, tell me, do I have to know anything about the science in order to solve the puzzle?

"PRE-REQUISITES: Chemistry Education (analytical or basic chemistry I & II) OR a very intelligent person"

That would suggest yes.

I'll have a go, but while I'm familiar with some terms/concepts, I don't know how to handle stuff like vapour pressure ... I therefore most likely won't get the answers. Still, worth a shot, right?

I guess, then, I'm neither.

Drude,

Can you make it a little bit easier so everyone could relate??

I'm a loser in chemistry...

This is a bit fiendish, I will get us started:

No 2. appears to be C3H8 or propane.

No 6. looks like ethyne, C2H2 (and my calculator is broken )

I will need lots more time for the rest, so maybe someone else can have a stab.
I also have no clue what to do about their ages so thinking hats on eh?

I've just found my PC's calculator so am going to press on.

In No 5, it seems we want to neutralise 8/1000 * 0.4 = 3.2 e-3 moles of base (but probably requires 2 H+ for each). Anyway, we suspect that the mass of other acid divided by this number of moles will give us MM (or 2*MM more likely) and 0.2368/3.2e-3 = 74g/M. This is the upper MM of the acid so precludes HBr, HI. It is far too heavy for HF and is not close to one or two times HNO3, HClO4. This really only leaves us with HCl which has MM 36.5 so 2*MM=73 which is pretty close.
PM me quick if this is all erroneous .

No. 1 should have a molar mass of 64g/mol

Moseley and amac BULLS EYES! but you have yet to give me the entire age profession and name of these chemists.

for those who might not know what chemistry is or have forgotten a refreshment of the following concepts would help:

Boiling Point elevation formula

Raoult's law

Graham's Law (as used by amac )

Stoichiometry (ably used by Moseley)

Basic logic

SEXES!! (hint: women seem to have the biochemical edge!)

Here's what I get:

• Sonia is 35 and an Analytical Chemist
• Lucy is 44 and a Biochemist.
• Joshua555 is 37 and a Physical Chemist
• Earnhardt is 26 and an Inorganic Chemist
• Nick is 40 and a Polymer Chemist
• Newguy is 64 and an Organic Chemist

yes to some perhaps haha. There are mistakes in there obviously since you contradict with amac and Moseley but there are true ones in there too.

Drude,

I don't see how I contradict with Mosely and amac.

amac said that No.1 has a molar mass of about 64 which corresponds to the chemical in front of newguy and should be equal to his age.

Mosely said that the chemical in front of Joshua555 (the physical chemist) was probably HCl which has a molar mass of 36.5 (rounds off to 37) which should be equal to his age.

Earlier, Mosely said that No.2 looks like propane (which has a molar mass of about 44g/mol) and so the biochemist should be 44

Also, he said No.6 looks like C2H2 which has a molar mass of about 26g/mol and so Earnhardt should be 26.

A little clarification on my mistakes would be appreciated.

Oh, oops. I think I found my mistake...I'll edit my original post to coorect for it.

I can't solve numbers 3 or 6, but the one's I did solve, my numbers match with gabba gabba hey's. I haven't tried matching the names yet.

Very cool puzzle, Drude! I hope you post how to reach the solutions once it is solved - I'd be interested in seeing how to solve them.

"Women seem to have the biochemical edge!" The Organic Chemist is female? I got nothin'.