chemistry

Melvin Lorrel Nichols

Melvin Lorrel Nichols is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Melvin Lorrel Nichols rather than just read about it. In short: Melvin Lorrel "Pete" Nichols (November 30, 1894 – March 29, 1981) was an American chemistry professor and author. Early life Nichols was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Joseph Wiseman Nichols, a cabinetmaker, and Sarah Rebecca Heidelbaugh.

Key takeaways

Melvin Lorrel Nichols belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Melvin Lorrel Nichols to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Melvin Lorrel Nichols from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Melvin Lorrel "Pete" Nichols (November 30, 1894 – March 29, 1981) was an American chemistry professor and author.

Early life Nichols was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Joseph Wiseman Nichols, a cabinetmaker, and Sarah Rebecca Heidelbaugh. He was the youngest of six children.

Career Nichols was awarded his PhD from Cornell University in 1922. His thesis was “Dinitrosoresorcinol as a reagent for the quantitative determination of cobalt in the presence of nickel and other metals of the third group”. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Chemistry in 1929. Nichols was on the faculty at Cornell University from 1923 to 1962, rising to become Emeritus Professor of Chemistry. “Pete” Nichols' wrote two textbooks on analytical chemistry, Gas Analysis, co-authored with L.M. Dennis, and Laboratory Manual of Analytical Chemistry. In 1950, Pete Nichols agreed to become executive director of Cornell's Chemistry Department, a new position which involved supervision of the support facilities and the non-academic staff of what had become a large and complex establishment. He held this position until his retirement in 1962. He died in California on March 29, 1981.

Personal life He married Mary N Bancroft in 1926. They had one daughter, Sarah, "Sally".

References [1] Cornell University [2] Genealogy [3] Obituary

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Melvin Lorrel Nichols

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Melvin Lorrel Nichols claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Melvin Lorrel Nichols before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Melvin Lorrel Nichols ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Melvin Lorrel Nichols

In research: Melvin Lorrel Nichols appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Melvin Lorrel Nichols in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Melvin Lorrel Nichols is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1894 births, 1981 deaths, 20th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Melvin Lorrel Nichols outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Melvin Lorrel Nichols in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Melvin Lorrel Nichols means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Melvin Lorrel Nichols in simple terms?

Melvin Lorrel "Pete" Nichols (November 30, 1894 – March 29, 1981) was an American chemistry professor and author. Early life Nichols was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Joseph Wiseman Nichols, a cabinetmaker, and Sarah Rebecca Heidelbaugh.

Why does Melvin Lorrel Nichols matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Melvin Lorrel Nichols?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Melvin Lorrel Nichols.