Reflection of the Measurement Unit

This unit has drawn to an end as we took our unit test on Thursday. Overall, this unit was not too difficult for me. Some concepts, such as significant figures, took a bit more of review and memorization, but after a bit of practice, I got them down completely. I practiced using Science Geek and KhanAcademy. However, the actual unit test, I am not so confident about. The majority of the test covered the basics of what we learned and were fairly simple, but many questions combined sig figs and dimensional analysis and took a VERY long time to answer. I had to triple check my answers, and some questions I did not even have time to look back at which makes me very worried. Nearing the end-of-class bell, I was frantically trying to recalculate my answers to make sure they were right. Hopefully, I am. 

One thing I was definitely not confident about were the dimensional analysis questions that required MULTIPLE steps, much more than the ones we practiced in class. I will look over this site for some additional help. This video from Crash Course also looks promising.

http://brookdale.jdc.org.il/?CategoryID=311

Reflecting on the party on Friday, I thought everyone brought in some delicious food. However, it didn't help that I came to class with a full stomach, so I was not able to enjoy everyone's food to the full extent. Good job everyone though!

Measurement Quiz Reflection

I thought this first quiz was fairly simple, not bad at all. I'd stated in a previous blog post that I found significant figures pretty confusing, but after rereading the textbook and doing some online practice problems, I found myself getting the hang of it. One resource I found that was extremely helpful was Bozeman Science's video on significant figures. I enjoy watching his videos before any quiz/test as he is excellent at explaining scientific concepts.

One thing I had trouble on were the significant figure questions that included multiple operations. Since the problem would have both multiplication and addition, I was confused on whether to round the answer based on addition rules (lowest decimal) or multiplication rules (lowest number of sig figs). I wish we would've gone over this a bit more in class.

I am curious as to what we will be learning for the rest of the week. My plans for tonight are to work on the last meal project.

Recap of Signficant Figures Lesson

I'd never thought we'd be learning about the importance of zeroes, but today in class, I was proved wrong. The lesson covered how to round with decimals according to chemistry and how to identify significant figures. At first, I had no clue what was going on and was pretty overwhelmed by the amount of rules I needed to remember to accurately solve for answers. I think if I just go over the characteristics of a significant figure some more, I can probably grasp the hang of it. It'll just take some (a lot) of practice. This site contains some great practice problems. I hope we can also do some more in-class practice and review.

http://apchemcyhs.wikispaces.com/Uncertainty+and+Significant+Figures

Mole day is tomorrow!

Thoughts on the Measurement Pre-Test

While taking today's pretest on our new unit on Measurement, I found myself being stumped by a majority of the questions. However, some of the questions could be directly answered simply by looking at the periodic table or calculating some simple math on the calculator. I am interested in this unit because from what it seems, much of the unit revolves around math, and for me personally, math is very straightforward and easy to understand. I'm curious to how the concept of moles will tie in with this unit and also what significant figures mean. A large portion of the test involved significant figures, and as I had no clue what they are nor how they work, I just used some basic rounding rules to calculate my answers. I don't think that was the correct way to identify signficant figures, so I am definitely interested in what they are.

http://softpmomarketing.appspot.com/enterprise_project_performance.html

BTW, I am very much looking forward to Mole Day! (food... nice...)

Aspirin Lab

Today, the Wednesday groups took their pre-lab quiz. The quiz took a long time to complete, and I ran out of time trying to finish writing the steps of the lab. I regret choosing to do the lab today, rather than on Monday, because the questions on Monday were more simple and short. I hope all the aspirin made from Monday turns out well! 

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/taking-aspirin-linked-to-lower-risk-of-colorectal-cancer-201307166473