How to Improve Your Reading Speed

How to Improve Your Reading Speed Sometimes, it can be a pleasure to read slowly, taking the time to pause on an extraordinary sentence or revisiting a passage on a previous page. But this type of reading is a luxury. As we all know, we can often benefit from reading certain documents more quickly. An average reading speed can range from 200 to 350 words per minute, but that rate can vary depending on the material and your reading experience. Its also important to understand what you are reading- even when you improve your speed. Here are a few tips to help you improve your reading speed. Reading Speed Tips Preview the material youre going to read. Look at main headings, chapter divisions, and other relevant material to develop clues about the structure of the work.Adjust your reading speed as you read the material. Slow down when you need to be sure that you comprehend a section of material. Speed up if you are already familiar with (or dont need to know) other sections.Readers can dramatically improve their reading speeds by taking in several words in the line of text at one time (instead of sounding out each word or focusing on each letter of the word). Computer programs like Ace Reader or Rapid Reader  are designed to help readers improve reading speeds with flashing letters and words. You may also want to learn more about other techniques.Another way to improve your reading speed is to focus on the key words in the sentences. A significant amount of reading time is wasted on conjunctions, prepositions, or articles (i.e. a, an, the, but, and, or, nor, but, etc.).Use a pacer like a pen or your finger- as a focal point to draw your eye across the line or down the page. A pacer can help you increase your speed and reduce re-reading. A pacer can also help you to keep track of what you are reading. Talk about what youve read. Some readers find that by talking about their reading with friends or fellow students, they are able to effectively synthesize the material.Determine a reading schedule that works for you. You may find that you cant concentrate on the material for more than an hour (or a half hour). Also, select a time of the day when you are alert and ready to read.Find a reading spot where interruptions or distractions will not disturb your reading.Practice. Practice. Practice. The best way to improve your reading speed is to practice reading. Try out some of these techniques, and then perfect the strategies that work best for you. Other Things to Consider Get your eyes checked. Reading glasses may help.Read everything. Dont miss out on vital information in your pursuit of speed.Dont re-read right away; it will slow you down. If you absolutely dont understand part of the reading selection, go back and review the material later.

Plastic Sulfur - Simple Sulfur Polymer Demo

Plastic Sulfur - Simple Sulfur Polymer Demo Did you know that you can make a polymer from an element? Turn ordinary sulfur into rubbery plastic sulfur and then back into its brittle crystalline form. Plastic Sulfur Materials 50 g sulfur  test tube (25 mm x 200 mm)burnertest tube clampbeaker of water (500 mL or so)tongs Procedure To Polymerize Sulfur Youll melt the sulfur, which changes from a yellow powder into a blood-red liquid. When the molten sulfur is poured into the beaker of water, it forms a rubbery mass, which remains in polymer form for a variable length of time, but eventually crystallizes into a brittle form. Fill the test tube with pure sulfur powder or pieces until it is within a couple of centimeters of the top of the tube.Using a test tube clamp to hold the tube, place the tube in a burner flame to melt the sulfur. The yellow sulfur will turn into a red liquid as it melts. The sulfur may ignite in the flame. This is fine. If ignition occurs, expect a blue flame at the mouth of the test tube.Pour the molten sulfur into a beaker of water. If the sulfur is burning, youll get a spectacular burning stream from the tube into the water! The sulfur forms a golden-brown string as it hits the water.You can use tongs to remove the mass of polymer sulfur from the water and examine it. This rubbery form will last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours before reverting to the usual yellow brittle rhomic crystalline form. How It Works Usually sulfur occurs in orthorhomic form as eight-membered cyclic rings of monomeric S8. The rhomic form melts at 113 °C. When it is heated over 160deg;C, sulfur forms high molecular weight linear polymers. The polymer form is brown and consists of polymer chains containing about a million atoms per chain. However, the polymer form is not stable at room temperature, so the chains eventually break and reform the S8 rings. Safety The sulfur is safe to recycle or dispose in any waste container.Use care when handling the plastic sulfur, as it may still be hot/molten for several minutes.Its best to perform this project under a hood or outdoors, since sulfur dioxide (SO2) will be released if the sulfur ignites. Sulfur dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which is irritating and toxic. Source: B. Z. Shakhashiri, 1985, Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook for Teachers of Chemistry, vol. 1, pp. 243-244. Related Projects You can use sulfur from this project to make both a mixture and a compound with sulfur and iron. If the polymer aspect of the project interested you, other simple polymers you can make include natural plastic from milk or a polymer bouncy ball. Feel free to play with the ratio of ingredients in polymer and plastic recipes to see they affect the final project.