Is wood a compound, element, or mixture?

A material can be classified as either an element, compound or mixture. An element is composed of identical atoms bound together. A compound is composed of two or more elements in a certain ratio and can be broken into individual elements by breaking the bonds between them. Mixtures contain two or more elements in non-specific ratios and can be easily separated into individual elements.

Wood is composed of a number of compounds such as lignin, cellulose, water, hemicellulose, etc. The relative composition of wood varies from plant to plant. Unlike a compound, wood does not have a fixed chemical formula. Hence, wood is a mixture. In fact, wood is a heterogeneous mixture, since these constituent compounds are mixed unevenly in a given wood sample.

Hope this helps. 

What historical, philosophical and religious paradigms influenced T.S. Eliot to write "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock?

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot was first published in June 1915 issue of Poetry magazine. Although the narrative is that of a middle-aged man worried about whether he should begin an affair with a woman, it responds more generally to what Eliot would have considered the problems of the modern, secular world.

Prufrock is not just an individual adrift, but rather emblematic of a period and generation. He is a moderately wealthy and successful member of the upper middle classes who is imbued with the social conventions of his time and period, and is inordinately concerned about how he appears to others. His obsession with how he appears and how people react to him signal the absence of an internal compass. He seems to care about conventions but to lack certain values. Politeness has become a substitute for morality. 

Several great certainties had been undermined. First, the social class system was shifting, leaving class identity uncertain and the bourgeois in particular undermined by Marxism, no longer secure and assured in their position. Next, Darwin had undermined the notion of humanity as somehow special and separate from nature. Freud had undermined the notion that we can know our own motives and desires, suggesting instead that much of our acts and beliefs are grounded in the unconscious mind. Higher Criticism had undermined the old certainties of religion. 

As modernity undermined the great certainties of the Victorian age, Eliot worried that it has not created anything that could substitute for them. The manners which were once grounded in a complete belief system seem to Eliot to have lost their ideological grounds and become empty and the people like Prufrock without purpose. Prufrock states:

I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter;

I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,

And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,

And in short, I was afraid.

In other words, the lack of grand, prophetic certainties leaves people adrift and afraid. For Eliot, the eventual answer to this was a return to the Anglican Church and literary tradition. 

In Cofer's "American History," what is Mr. Depalma's way of having kids exercise?

Elena is the protagonist in Cofer's short story "American History." Her Physical Education teacher is Mr. DePalma at Public School Number 13 in Paterson, New Jersey in 1963. The majority of the students are African American and they enjoy playing double-dutch jump rope or basketball. The majority of the female students would rather jump rope, so that includes Elena. Since double-dutch jump rope requires the use of two ropes being twirled in opposite directions while one or more jumpers maneuver in between them, it requires a lot of energy and strength.

The setting takes place in November, so it is very cold outside. Mr. DePalma doesn't seem to care about the students being out in the cold, though, because he makes them "keep moving" by requiring them to play outside while he stays warm in the school building. He says that he will "keep an eye" on the students in order to motivate them to exercise continually, but Elena doesn't seem to see him from her place outside.

In the Cyclopes, how many men go ashore with Odysseus?

In Book 9 of the Odyssey, protagonist Odysseus relates to the Phaeacians his encounter with Polyphemus the Cyclops. He took twelve men ashore with him to the land of the Cyclopes and told the rest to remain on the boat. As he relates to his listeners:

"I told my men to draw the ship ashore, and stay where they were, all but the twelve best among them, who were to go along with myself.

Polyphemus discovers Odysseus and his men hiding in his cave; he eats two of them and imprisons the rest. Odysseus uses cunning to intoxicate Polyphemus with wine and then stab him in the eye, rendering him blind. Moreover, Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name is "Nobody," so the giant's neighbors are not alarmed when he yells "Nobody is killing me!"

Odysseus and his men escape on their ship, but Odysseus' pride gets the best of him. As he leaves, he tells Polyphemus his real name. Polyphemus tells his father--the god Poseidon--how Odysseus treated him, and the god responds by shipwrecking Odysseus.

In Macbeth, what are the three prophecies from the witches?

In Macbeth, the witches offer three prophecies to Macbeth at the beginning of the play.  In Act 1 Scene 3, Macbeth and Banquo are returning from battle, and they meet the three witches on the road.  The witches tell Macbeth that 1) he is the Thane of Glamis, 2) he will be the Thane of Cawdor, and 3) he will be king hereafter.  Technically, however, the witches give four prophecies because they also offer Banquo a prophecy.  They tell Banquo that he will be lesser than Macbeth but greater, and that although he will not be king, he will be father to a line of kings.  Both Macbeth and Banquo leave the witches joking about the prophecies because they do not put great stock in those events coming true—but later as the prophecies start to come true, they reassess their position.

I need two quotes that are significant from chapter 9 of "Lord of the Flies" and can you please give me an explanation for them?

The main things that happen in chapter 9 are Simon's death and Jack's emergence as a leader. The first quote is the boy’s chant of "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!" The boys are yielding to their baser instinct of savagery and when Simon stumbles into the center of the horseshoe arrangement he conveniently becomes the beast and is murdered. We are told that he was on his knees with his arms folded over his face. The second quote is when Jack says "We shan't hear it" in reference to Ralph's blowing the conch. Jack is refusing to acknowledge the conch as a symbol of authority and is challenging Ralph to leadership of the clan of boys.

What is the conflict that starts the story The Outsiders?

The conflict that is shown in the beginning of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is one between members of the "Socs" standing for "the Socials" and described as "the jet set, the West-side rich kids" (Hinton P2), and the story's main character Ponyboy, a fourteen year old member of the "Greasers" which is used to describe all the boys from "the East Side" (Hinton P2). At the beginning of the story, Ponyboy goes on to describe further the differences between the Socs, who have "editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next" (Hinton P3), and the Greasers, which he describes as "almost like hoods;we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations" (Hinton P3). The conflict between the groups occurs early in the opening pages of the story when a group of five Socs attack and jump Ponyboy as he walks home alone from the movies. This early attack sets up a larger theme of class conflict between the groups that is continually developed through out the rest of the story. Hope this helps!