Airbag Lab

Today's lab was inflating a Ziploc bag with carbon dioxide from the chemical reaction of vinegar and baking soda. It was a bit stressful as I had to rely on my own accuracy of my procedure and measurments. However, in the end, my very-small bag was inflated perfectly.

http://liveinspirednow.com/a-little-more-yay-in-your-life/

Quiz Reflection

On Thursday, we took a quiz on gas laws. The quiz was not that bad at all, and I think I scored pretty well. The lectures we've learned so far were not too hard and only consisted of formulas. I am looking forward to our next lessons.

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/whew-what-a-relief-royalty-free-image/471428407

PV=nRT

Today, we had another lecture for the gas laws unit. This was yet another formula lecture, one that was not difficult at all and mostly involved basic plug-n-chug. I am really nervous for the lab on Monday as it is pass-fail, and I don't 100% trust myself with being accurate in my calculations. Hopefully, it goes well.

http://www.calctool.org/CALC/chem/c_thermo/ideal_gas

Some review links:

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/gases-and-kinetic-molecular-theory/ideal-gas-laws/v/ideal-gas-equation-pv-nrt
http://www.learnchem.net/practice/gases.shtml
http://www.mikeblaber.org/oldwine/chm1045/notes/Gases/IdealGas/Gases04.htm

First Lectures

The gas laws unit has proven to be pretty straightforward and simple. The first lectures we've had are centered on one major formula: the combined gas law formula. We've gone through various different problems concerning the gas law, only with different constants. Additionally, we've learned different units of pressure, which I believe is the only difficult part of this unit: memorizing all the different conversions and units. 

https://prezi.com/8ywewmiga8tq/combined-gas-law/

Some links I've been using to study with for the quiz tomorrow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir64EcRkf5Q

http://www.chemteam.info/GasLaw/Gas-Combined.html

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/kinetic/idegas.html

Energy Test Reflection

On Friday, we took our unit test for Energy. This whole unit flew by as there were only two lectures and one lab, and everything was pretty straightforward. Thus, I felt like the test was pretty simple and nothing to stress over this weekend. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phase_changes.svg

http://sonoranweeklyreview.com/with-linn-energy-llc-nasdaqline-sandridge-energy-sdoc-and-midstates-petroleum-mpoy-depleting-their-revolving-credit-lines-banks-scramble/

Some links I used for studying:

http://www.aboutthemcat.org/chemistry/thermochemistry.php
https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/netorial/rottosen/tutorial/modules/intermolecular_forces/02imf/imf2.htm
https://www.sophia.org/tutorials/thermochemistry-calculating-energy-of-phase-change
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/chemical-processes/covalent-bonds/a/intramolecular-and-intermolecular-forces

Specific Heat of a Metal Lab

Yesterday, we did a lab to measure the specific heats of copper and lead by heating the metals in a hot water bath and figuring out the variables for MCAT. I'm pretty satisfied because our copper trial yielded only a 4% error for the specific heat! 

Some review links for the first lesson:

https://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Class/phy51/phy51/node59.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1AjBqElz7A

Boat Racing!

Last week, we conducted our boat races. I'm proud to say that my partner and I won third place. It was a really fun experience, and it definitely was a relief from the usual lecture/test stress.

A real boat that runs on biodiesel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EggCi3qM2A

Biodiesel Making Pt. 2

On Friday, we found our biodiesel separated into three layers! The top and bottom layers were impurities, and our actual biodiesel was the middle layer. To test if our biodiesel worked, we filled an empty tea light wick with the biodiesel and lit it. Sure enough, the flame was sustained for quite a bit, indicating that our biodiesel worked great!

Biodiesel Making Pt.1

On Thursday, we began the process of making our own biodiesel! First, we took recycled peanut oil and combined it with a mixture of KOH and methanol. Then, we put a flask of this mixture into a hot water bath and boiled it for about 20 minutes. Lastly, we let it cool and settle, upon which it began to seperate into two layers.

Hot water bath

Viscosity test

Separated mixture

Make your own biodiesel at home!: http://www.make-biodiesel.org/

How it's made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLa83KIaEyw

Biodiesel Video

This past week, we've been working on a video project to submit to the National Lung Association biodiesel contest. Our video explained the benefits and debunked myths about biodiesel. We made a stop-motion video which took quite a while as we had to take multiple pictures to create a full-length animated video. However, it was definitely worth it as our final product was really cool! I'm really looking forward to checking out other students' videos. 

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/biofuels/biodiesel-fuel/

Here's a link!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Ycr7ug7NI

Resources we used:

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/biodiesel.html
http://www.biodiesel.com/biodiesel/benefits/

Unit Test Reflection

We took the unit test yesterday, and I thought it went pretty well! Much of the test came from the practice quizzes on Schoology which I used to review. I am also very happy with my score, and I accomplished it by using those resources on Schoology.

http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/gallery/image/7174-79bc5e8d-homer-woohoo/

At first, I was a bit apprehensive about this unit as there were so many things to remember. and I felt really nervous about this test. However, with a LOT of practice, I felt really comfortable with the concepts.

Modeling Activity

Last week, we went to the library for a lab. It was interesting as it was in the library where we drew on the tables and played around with building pieces to create Lewis structures (felt just like kindergarden again). I enjoyed this lab as it allowed me to practice Lewis strucutres, something I am still quite uneasy about. It was also great to have Mrs. Frankenberg hovering around, available to answer any questions (which I had a lot of). I will definitely be finishing the rest of the lab on my own for additional practice.

Some more practice: http://web.gccaz.edu/~ksmith8/chm151_files/Lewispractice.pdf

http://www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry/taters/Unit3LewisStructures.htm

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/chemical-bonds/copy-of-dot-structures/v/drawing-dot-structures

Lecture Reflections

We've started the chemical bonding unit, and it's been a bit of a rollercoaster. At first, the concepts were fairly easy to understand, but as the lectures progress, the confusion keeps piling on. I do not believe this unit will be too difficult; it's just the fact that there are SO many things to remember to do problems correctly. I think with a lot of practice and reviewing this unit will not be too bad.

http://www.slideshare.net/Drahmadfahmi/04-chemical-bonds

http://www.roymech.co.uk/Related/Chemistry/Lewis_dot_structure.html

Some practice: 

http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools/lincoln/files/lscheffl/IBChem1PractTestBonding.pdf

http://regentsprep.org/regents/core/questions/question.cfm?Course=chem&TopicCode=03&QNum=1&Wrong=0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XovrQN6cBaY

Unit Test

Friday's test went pretty well, I do say. It might've been a smidgen more difficult than the quiz as I was a bit uneasy on a couple questions. Some questions asked about acidity and alkalinity, which I didn't really know how to answer, so I guessed on those. Other than that, the majority of the test was a no-brainer. I feel great on how I did.

Cheers to this unit and to Leo's Oscar!!

http://nolanandrew.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-english-teacher-reviews-great-gatsby.html?m=1

Overall, this unit has probably been one of my favorites as the concepts have not been difficult and they are quite interesting to study. I actually enjoyed doing electron configuration problems.

Periodic Trends Lecture

The final installment of the electronic structure unit is periodic trends. The periodic table follows a couple of trends that can provide details about various atoms (only S and P block atoms though). The different trends were a bit hard to differentiate and remember what each one specifies, but I think with some more studying, they will be easily remembered. I'm feeling pretty good about the test on Friday, but I still definitely need to look over this lecture, which I believe may be the hardest lesson of the unit (but still not that difficult).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_trends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK-WTYncldA

Weekly Quiz

Yesterday was this unit's weekly quiz. I've felt pretty good about this unit, and that feeling also applied during the quiz. It went by in a breeze, and I had time to double check all of my answers (I basically was able to work out all the questions a second time just to make sure!). It's always a great feeling when a quiz/test doesn't give you a tough time. Also, much of the quiz came directly from the online practice which I always use to study, so that really helped! All in all, I'm feeling great about how I did on the quiz.

Here are some links for future studying: 

http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch6/relativeenergypractice.html

http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/wiki/Quiz:GeneralI001:_Electron_configuration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I58ByiqnXcY

Spectroscopic Analysis Lab

On Tuesday, we performed yet another lab. Sadly, this lab was not nearly as exciting as the flame test lab. For this lab, we adjusted various knobs on a spectrophotometer and found the amount of light in blue and pink solutions. It was really difficult to adjust the knob so that the number read exactly what it was supposed to. This was extremely time-consuming as we had to re-adjust the knobs for every single different wavelength. Additionally, it was dull as all the lab consisted of was a) adjust the knobs and b) record the number. Not very exciting.

Hopefully, we will be doing another lab this unit that is more hands-on!

First Lectures on Electronic Structure

We've started a new unit, and it has been going pretty well. At first, the unit seemed a bit confusing, but it all began to make sense gradually. The first lesson of the unit was on wavelengths of light. We learned the formula for the speed of light (C= frequency x wavelength) and for energy (E= Planck's constant x frequency). These two formulas were easy to understand as problems associated with the lesson are pretty basic plug-and-chug. Yesterday, we learned about the electron configuration of elements. This lesson was chockful of vocab and steps to memorize. It was definitely a bit confusing and time-consuming at first to figure out each element's different electron structure and diagram and to memorize all the little rules for different types of elements. However, I soon began to understand it, and I even think it's a bit fun (Something I have NEVER said about chemistry, so that's saying a lot!). 

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Core/Inorganic_Chemistry/Electronic_Structure_of_Atoms_and_Molecules/Electronic_Configurations

Some links for review on these lessons:

http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch6/electronconfigpractice.html
http://www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry/taters/Unit2ElectronNotations.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AFPfg0Como

On the other hand, our acid-base test scores have arrived, and I am incredibly happy about my score. I did a lot better than I expected, and being that that unit was supposedly the hardest unit of the year, I feel really great. Thank the chemistry gods.

Flame Test Lab

Today in class we had another lab, one which may be my favorite lab we've done all year: the Flame Test Lab. Basically, we placed several different chemical compounds and solutions in the flame of a Bunsen burner to see the various colors each one produced. It was really awesome to see the vivid colors that varied among each metal. The smell was really reminiscent of summer (fireworks, bonfire, you get the picture) when we first walked in due to the Bunsen burners. I enjoyed observing the color changes, and I look forward to hopefully doing more labs like this one!

Unit Test

I have heard countless stories of how the acid base unit test is THE most difficult test of the year, and I arrived to school last Thursday fearing for my life. However... honestly, it wasn't that bad. I'd even go to say that the last unit test on aqueous solutions was a bit more difficult than this one. A good chunk of this unit test was basic vocab, essentially textbook comprehension questions. The other portion consisted of math, which were really not terrible at all. There were maybe one or two which I simply could not figure out how to do, but other than that, the rest of the test went by in a breeze. I'm really thankful that I survived that unit test, and I hope my grade will reflect my thoughts on it.

http://www.illini-nation.com/this-illini-season-really-isnt-that-bad/

Some links I used to study and will be using for the final:
http://www.chemtutor.com/acid.htm#math
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/acid-base-equilibrium/titrations/v/titration-calculation-example