CapitalO: (1. Dez 2007 22:32)

In the US, people generally graduate high school when they are 18 (In Britain, 11th year is the equivalent to 10th grade here and we don't have sixth form college like Britain). Then, if you choose to go on to college (same as 'university'), its 4 years (in most cases) to get an undergraduate degree. 2 more years to get a masters degree, another 2 years to get a doctorate. So, I'm in the 3rd year of getting my undergraduate degree.

I was assuming your British, am I right?

We use the term diploma for the certificate you receive when you complete high school or additional higher education.

ps. Its actually phosphate, but the structure is almost identical to permanganate, so I guess it could be either ;)

Necturus: (3. Dez 2007 19:59)

Hey capital,
im actualy german.
As for the phosphate, does the international color code for chemical elements not use magenta for Mn? And what are the structural differences?
Always glad to pick up some extra knowledge.
Necturus

CapitalO: (4. Dez 2007 02:26)

Necturus- I didn't know that there was an official color code for elements; several popular chemistry drawing software will assign different colors for each element depending on the program.

As for the structure: the geometry for permanganate and phosphate ions are the same (both tetrahedral). The biggest difference is in the bonding, the phosphate ion having resonance between one double bond and three single bonds. The permanganate having resonance between 3 double bonds and one single bond.

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