Week 26

This week in chemistry we did a lot of practicing. We talked about the material first and then got worksheets to practice which I really liked.
We did a lot of work on ionic and molecular compounds. We worked on naming them, writing formulas, and balancing them. We learned that if an element has a 2- charge, to balance out the compound the other element would have a 2+ charge. We also learned that is the compound had oxygen in it then when naming the compound the second element would have -ate on the end. There were also nine compounds that we had to memorize in time for ur assessment on Friday. Once I got my assessment on Friday I made sure to write them on the top of the paper just so I wouldn't forget. The nine were:
Sulfate: SO4 with a charge of 2-
Cyanide: CN with a charge of 1-
Acetate: C2H3O2 with a charge of 1-
Phosphate: PO4 with a charge of 3-
ammonium: NH4 with a charge of 1+
Hydroxide: OH with a charge of 1-
Nitrate: NO3 with a charge of 1-
Chlorate: ClO3 with a charge of 1-
Carbonate: CO3 with a charge of 2-
We didn't use all of them in the assessment but it will be good in the long run to know them. I feel pretty good about the assessment I think it went good except for a few here and there. I don't think I would have understood the concepts as well if she didn't do the worksheets, they really helped.
Alittle disappointed we didn't get to do a lab this week but I'm sure we will next week so its something to look forward to. All in all another great week in honors chemistry.

Week Nineteen

This week in chemistry was only a four day week because we had a snow day on Friday. We did two labs this week that were both really cool to me. The first one we got to mix hydrogen chloride with zinc and see what it resulted in. To collect the gas that the mixture produced we used the tubs. For this experiment safety was important since the hydrogen chloride could be dangerous if it came in contact with skin so we had to make sure we were wearing goggles at the times. After getting the acid and the zinc we put them both in the same container and then connected it with the tub. The first time we did this my group found that our cork was too small for out container so the gas was being released. This meant that we had to start over. After making sure everything fix right we combined the acid and zinc again and attached it to the tub and observed. As the mixture started to react it looked like it was fizzing and started to produce a gas. The gas the then went into the jar in the tub and we waiting for it to be filled. Once it was filled we wanted to see if it was combustible to find out what gas it was so we put a match under the jar and it made a popping sound meaning that it was combustible. After looking online to see the properties of hydrogen gas we determined that was what it was. The second experiment was when we heated magnesium. Mr. Abud told us that we wouldn't be able to look right at it because it would hurt our eyes, I didn't really know what he was talking about. When he actually heated it, it got really bright. I don't really understand why it got so bright though.

Week Eighteen

First week into the new semester. The year is going by fast.We started off the new semester with an online lab which I thought was pretty cool. The website explained the experiment and gave us some background information on it and then allowed us to carry on the experiment while taking notes of the masses and volumes of the substances as we went. The next few days of the week we spent talking about and trying to understand the lab. We started to talk about proportions and ratios, which is ironic because that is what we are doing in my geometry class at the moment. When we first got introduced to the ratio problems they confused me alot. Then then next day came and we discovered the rule that made it all make senes to me. That both sides had to be the same ratio, whether is was 1 to 2 or 2 to 1. Once I started to understand it the problems kinda became fun for me to figure out. I'm a big math person so I was pretty happy we were combining science with math concepts. We only delt with diatomic elements with the examples we did in class so I think when I come to a problem  that doesn't have diatomic elements that will be more challenging, but I'm up for it! We had a problem like that on our assessment on Friday but it was alittle different. In class we just put the element names in the boxes but on the test we had to draw in the atoms and there was no names of elements given they were just gas A and gas B. With the different wording and not having the names of the elements it kinda confused me so I'm not really sure how I did on that problem. Also for one problem on our assessment we had to draw a graph on the mixture of two substances when we were given their boiling points. I knew that since they had different boiling points one substance would start to evaporate faster than the other so at that point in the graph the wrote that the substance withe the lower boiling point had evaported and did the same for the second substance. The only thing that I didn't do was put the substances as two different lines when each started to boil so I'm not sure if that one was completely correct.

Week Fifteen

This week we made soap! My partner for this project was Richard. To get the supplies we went to Michaels and got soap base. There were different kinds but we went with goats milk because we thought that it would make softer soap. I was in charge of picking out the scent of our soap and I was pretty proud of my decision. It was called tropical temptations and smelled awesome. Making soap was actually easier than I thought it would be. All we had to do is melt the goats milk soap base, which I was paranoid that it would burn so I made sure that we kept stirring it. After all the cubes  melted which took a while because we had two bars of soap melting at once, we added the extras. We first added the coloring, we decided we wanted it light blue. We carefully put in one drop at a time making sure that we didn't put too much in and finally got the perfect color after about 10 drops. Then added the scent to make is smell good and just like with the coloring, carefully put in one drop at a time so we wouldn't over do it. We stopped after a few drops just to double check that it wasn't too much because we knew that we would always add more but we couldn't take it out. Instead of getting a special mold we just brought in plastic containers and used them as our molds and it worked out well. We poured the melted soap evenly in the containers and then decided that we wanted to make them alittle more fun. We ended up getting another color and swirled it in the blue with a Q-tip and let them sit. We realized shortly after that our soaps started to freeze. When I left the room that day I smelt like a bunch of different scents from looking and smelling other classmates creations. The next day after they were hard we wrapped them. I didn't put mine in a bag; we just tied bows around it and it was ready to be given as a present. My soap is now next to my sink in my kitchen waiting to be used.

   

Week Eleven

This week our thermos project were due. When we first got this assignment I had no idea what I was going to do or how I was going to make it. So I started doing some research online about what were good insulators that I could use to keep the cup warm as long as possible. Katie L. was my partner and we kept exchanging ideas until we came up with a rough idea of what we wanted to get. For the supplies we went Lowes. We went searching around the store trying to find some metal cylinder that fit our vision. We ended up finding a metal cylinder and a smaller one to go inside the bigger one where the cup of water would be secured in. To close the top and bottom of the metal cylinder we found drain caps that we put foil and tape over to make sure the holes were covered up. We then cover the entire thing with tape and foil and then another layer of tape. to insulate the our thermos further we packed the empty space between the two metal cylinders with newspaper and tape. When we got to class we had some trouble getting started bc our water would not get all the way to the starting temperature, which was eighty degrees. Due to that we didn't get to take all thirty measurements. When we finally got the hot water inside our thermos it started off well but eventually started going down a few degrees which made Katie and I panic hoping that it wouldn't go down anymore. We realized that since we covered our lid with so much foil and tape and newspaper that the top wouldn't go all the way on. That could have been part of the reason our water cooled off alittle. I never really understood how thermos' kept liquids so warm but after this experiment I can understand how they work better than I did before.

Week Ten

This week in chem we started with a question that made me think. The question was whether a little hot water or a lot of room temperature water would heat up water more. Originallly I thought that the answer was alittle bit of hot water because it was the temperature was so much higher than the room temperature water. After doing the experiment with our groups I realized that my hypothesis wasn't acturate and that the a lot of room temperature water increased the temperture of the water more.
In our class mixing up heat and energy is an issue. Before this lesson I didn't even know there was a difference and I always just said heat because no one ever said when water was in the microwave isn't not just increasing its temperature, energy is being transfered to the water. We even made a rule that whenever someone mixed up heat and energy they would have to give the chemteam a dollar.
In an article we read as a class the word atom was used but that word doesn't exist to us yet because we haven't proven that they are. All we know is that that is what people say.

Week Nine

The week number nine in chemistry was the week we turned in our first project. I did my project with James. We got together and looked up some designs to get some ideas and we found one that seemed like it would work. First, we took a plastic cup and covered it with saran wrap. Then we put a rubber band about the cup to secure the saran wrap around the cup. Lastly, we taped a straw on the top to measure the air pressure. We put a piece of paper with the starting measurement behind it so it would be easier to tell how much the air pressure increased or decreased. When we got to class and tested it out it didn't work as well as it could have. I don't think the saran wrap had enough flex in it. I wanted to improve it so I decided to start over. This time we decided to use a glass jar for more stability and we used a surgical glove instead of saran wrap so it would bend better. We then taped the straw on top like before. This time I wanted to go above and beyond. I decorated cardboard to tape up behind the jar that had measurements on the side and made the sign colorful. We also decorated the jar to make it more catching to the eye. 

This week we learned these problems using pressure, volume, temperature, and number of particle charts that showed the initial and final measurements and the effect they had. When we first started to learn these as a class I wasn't really sure that understood them completely. The morning before we had our test I went in early to get help. After Mr. Abud explained to me how to do it more in detail I started to understand the concept. Now that I fully understand how to do those problems I actually like doing them. Since I'm a math person I love when i can combine math and science.