For this exercise, ignore this possibility. Develop a simple system for recording in your notebook each separate structure that you and your group create. Continue until you are reasonably confident that you have all of the possible structures recorded in your notebook. Avoid multiple listing of identical molecules by using your model set to build and compare all molecules you draw. Chemists looking at the problem in Task 1 notice that the oxygen can be connected either to two carbons or to one carbon and one hydrogen.
Chemists call the first category ethers and the second category alcohols.
Show all four categories in a table and the molecules that fit in each category. If you find additional molecules, add them to one of your four groups. Discuss with others whether you feel more confident that you have found all possible molecules as a result of dividing the possibilities into four groups. Use this discussion to write a short, general paragraph explaining how classification schemes can be useful in organizing thoughts on a problem that requires consideration of a series of items. Task 4 Now that you have some practice in a systematic search for ways to arrange a molecule.