Week 14

"This week in Chem had just as much energy as the rest of them." To start off the week, we practiced more with LoL bar charts and got into the more complicated ones. We ended up not having another assessment on Tuesday, but just one at the end of the week. The main focus on some of the new bar charts was that a substance doesn't have to reach it's boiling point or freezing point in order to change phases. Instead, energy is taken from the thermal account and put into the phase account to allow it to change phases. For example, water could get to 100 degrees Celsius and not boil. Then we spoke briefly about our soap project, which will be done this upcoming week. All we have to do is get the supplies that we'll need for making the soap, and write up a brief report in Evernote. Before the assessment at the end of the week, we began the most complicated forms of LoL bar charts. With these problems, we had to determine if the problem dealt with thermal or phase energy. If it dealt with thermal, that's when we would use the specific heat equation. However, if the problem involved a phase change, we would have to use one of two new equations. If the problem involved a change from solid to liquid or liquid to solid, then it had to do with a heat of fusions. The equation we used was Q=m*change in Heat of fusion. On the other hand, if the problem had to deal with a change from liquid to gas or gas to liquid, it had to do with the heat of vaporization. The equation we used for this was Q=m*change in heat of vaporization. For water, the constants are 334 J/g for heat of fusion, and 2260 J/g for heat of vaporization. With these constants and whatever the problem gives you, you simply plug in what you have and solve for what you need to know! At the end of the week, we had our assessment. The assessment was based off of water freezing then melting, and using the different equations that we had. I feel very confident about it and anxiously await the results!

Week 13

We learned a lot of complicated information this week in Chem. To start it off, we learned about thermal energy and phase energy, two different means of storage. Phase energy has to do with the arrangement of particles. When a phase change happens, the particles move either further from or closer to one another. There's a change in the energy of that phase which causes the increase decrease in the distance the particles travel. Thermal energy has to do with the speed of particles. When there is a temperature change, caused by warming or cooling, the particles move faster or slower. Another account for storing energy is in a field. A field is an area around an object where a non contacting force can be exerted. In chemistry, for particles, the field is called and electrostatic field. This electrostatic field is where phase energy is stored between the particles, and thermal energy is stored in the movement of particles. Next, we moved to the LoL bar chart. Using this chart, you can see how the energy leaves or enters the system, and how much. Also, by using two bars you can see the thermal and phase energy. We decided on a certain number of bars that would determine the phase and/or quantity of hotness. These help us to track thermal and phase energy in specific situations. To finish off the week, we did a lab to find the specific heat of copper. Using a Bunsun burner to heat copper over a flame, we then placed it in a beaker of water find the energy that was in the copper(using the water). To find the specific heat, we plugged in what we knew to find the energy in the water, then used that energy and plugged in the rest of the variables and found the specific heat of copper! Our class found it to be 0.78J/grams*degrees Celsius, but it's actually 0.385J/grams*degrees Celsius. The assessment we were supposed to take was postponed until Tuesday, and I think I'm prepared for it.

Week 12

Week 12 in Chem flew by and was over before I knew it. Also, I wasn't able to fully wrap my mind around the concepts that we learned. We started the week off by reviewing phase diagrams and what they mean. We reviewed certain points (like the triple point) and the areas where the pressure and temperature cause different states of matter. The triple point is where a substance exists in all three states of matter at the same time in a certain pressure and temperature. Water, though, has a negative slope and can go from a solid at a certain temperature and pressure, then to a liquid at that same temperature but higher pressure. Basically, phase diagrams show us that we can change the state of a substance by adjusting temperature and pressure. Then we began to work with specific heat, which I am not very familiar with (mostly because I missed a day of class to be at a technology showcase). Specific heat is the amount of energy that is required to change the temperature of a 1g substance by 1 degree Celsius. Specific heat is different for all substances, and can be found by doing an equation--Energy/(mass*change in temperature). This equation can be manipulated if you have to solve for certain variables. Energy is measured in Joules, mass in grams, and change in temperature in degrees Celsius. This week I will have to further my understanding with specific heat. We ended the week with a four question assessment which I am not very confident about. After the assessment we did more specific heat practice problems. I am anxious to see my assessments results.

Michigan Student Technology Showcase 2012

On Wednesday, December 28th, 6 classmates and I went to the Michigan Student Technology Showcase in Lansing along with Mr. Abud. Just to open the day, seeing the Capitol Building was truly amazing. There were three sessions in the day, two in the morning then one in the afternoon. Each session was 90 minutes, and progressively got more advanced as the day went on. In the morning most of the presentations were kids that made blogs or slide shows using computers. One that I found specifically interesting in the first session was a music class that used a Mac and GarageBand to make covers for songs. We then took our lunch break and walked to a Jimmy Johns near the Capitol Building which was a nice treat, thanks to Mr. Abud. During the second sessions, presentations ranged from making school yearbooks to classes using edmodo. Edmodo is an online tool for solving problems that the teacher can put up. Also, we got a glimpse of few schools that did computer designing and could even print with a 3D printer! The third session was best of all. We presented our BYOD policy in our classroom to educational leaders from around Michigan, as well as other students. We used a PowerPoint slideshow that we displayed with our iPads and a trifold board to show how we use our devices everyday in class. We showed them the apps that we use and how we use Apple TV as well. During our presentation, there were many students displaying their computer design projects, blogs, and even a basketball shooting robot! Overall, there was much to be taken out of the day. Seeing how other schools use technology was a great experience and I'm glad I went. Honestly, though, I am proud of coming from North because based on relevance and purposefulness, I believe that we showed the best display of using technology in the classroom, and if more classes at North changed to be like Mr. Abud's, I think the learning of all students in our school would change for the better.

Week 11

Week 11 in chemistry was a short week, composed solely of our thermos tests. On Monday, our thermoses were due, and we ran our first tests. I worked with Emily Joseph, and our thermos ended up pretty well. We stuffed a two liter pop bottle with pink insulating foam, and once we got to class Monday we finished it up. We placed the 16oz styrofoam cup inside, and then wrapped the outside of the bottle with aluminum foil (shiny side facing in). Once we put the 355mL of 80 degrees Celsius water into the cup, we quickly wrapped aluminum foil on the top, making a lid. We poked a hole in the lid and stuck the thermometer in, beginning our measurements. Our water began at 80 degrees Celsius, and after 15 minutes of taking measurements each minute, our water ended up at 72 degrees Celsius. However, fortunately Mr. Abud let us know at the end of class that we could have another day to make some improvements and test again the next day! So, Emily and I took home our thermos and made some changes. We decided we needed a better cap, so we cut off the top of another 2 liter pop bottle and stuffed that with some insulating foam. We kept the aluminum foil lid on, and just had the bottle top as an addition. Then, we wrapped a layer of insulating foam around the bottle, and then another couple of layers of aluminum foil. In class the next day we put the water in, and placed the lid and cap right back on, and quickly wrapped many layers of aluminum foil around the entire thing. The thermometer was placed in through the hole in the lid and up through the cap. This test, we started at 72 degrees Celsius and after 20 minutes, ended at 65 degrees Celsius. 98.2% of the energy was retained, and I was happy with our results. We'll see how the rest of the class did on Monday as we share our results.

Week 10

The past week in Chem was a bit of a shorter one since one day is wasn't there and one day we had a substitute teacher. We began the week on Monday by reviewing what we know about the motion of particles. We also knew that temperature can increase without a state change. Using this knowledge, we derived a lab that we would complete that day. In this lab, we would test what would have a greater effect on 200mL of ice water: 40mL of 50 degrees Celsius water of 80mL of 25 degrees Celsius water. We had a short discussion that resulted in knowing that the degree of hotness is the temperature, the quantity of hotness is heat, energy can be stored/transferred in different ways, but energy is energy. This would mean that heat is in fact not energy, but a way of transferring it. In this lab we simply used a large beaker to hold the cold water, then placed in the warmer waters with two separate trials. We then went on to discuss the lab results on Tuesday, and came to a consensus that the smaller amount of hotter water had a greater effect. Wednesday I missed class for a student leadership conference that was not a very good one. On Thursday, we did the temperature vs. energy lab. We began the lab. We ran two trials of beginning with the hot plate with 10 ice cubes in a beaker then turning it on. The temperature started at 0 degrees Celsius. We used a temperature probe and logger pro in order to record the measurements. After about seven minutes and 10 seconds, the water reached boiling point at 100 degrees Celsius. From this lab, we saw that as the energy increased(by heating) temperature did as well. This means that temperature and energy are proportional! To end the week on Friday, we had a sub. However, to hey instructions on what we had to do, we had a google+ hangout with Mr. Abud! It was the coolest thing. In class we did these things called phase problems, which were a graph with a line. The line had a triple point, where there were three lines branching off. The kind also divided areas where the liquids would be in different states. Unfortunately though, I did not understand them and will have to further my knowledge this upcoming week.

Week 9

During week nine, we continued our work with pressure and barometers especially. We tested our homemade barometers outside during class one day and furthered our knowledge on how they work and some factors that may affect them(i.e. temperature). We were supposed to evaluate our barometers but we never got around to it. We also worked with PTVn problems, which are Pressure Temperature Volume and number of particles problems. We were asked to solve for values in many different situations during class, and we shared our answer. We did these in order to prepare for our assessment on Friday, since there were those types of problems on it. We also did two demonstrations in class. One was when we used a bike pump to pump air into a bottle, increasing the pressure. In the bottle was a type of syringe, that pushed down due to the pressure in the bottle being greater than that of the syringe. Then, we also made a cloud. Mr. Abud started by lighting a match, blowing it out and then letting the remaining smoke go into the bottle. The bottle also had a little bit of water in it. He sealed the bottle and began pumping air in with the bike pump. He finally stopped pumping and took the bottle off the pump. Then, he unscrewed the bottle a bit and all of a sudden, the water particles latched onto the dust particles in the bottle and a cloud was made! The week came to an end with our assessment, which I feel confident about. I believe that I gave thorough answers with each standard and am anxious to see my results!

Week 8

During our last week of the first quarter, we furthered our work with pressure. First, we found absolute zero. We discovered absolute zero by back-tracking our graph from our temperature vs. pressure lab, and found the x-intercept. This x-intercept was at -273.15, which was -273.15 degrees Celsius. Therefore, -273.15 degrees Celsius is absolute zero, and also 0 Kelvin. When the temperature is at 0 degrees Celsius, it is also at 273.15 Kelvin. That absolute zero, particles stop all motion. In each state of matter, and this temperature, the particles are no longer moving. Then, we did a quick lab with glow sticks! We found out what the best way to keep a glow stick lasting is. By placing glow sticks in room temperature, hot, and cold water, we found that in cold water they last the longest. Also in hot water, they burn out the fastest. This is because the particles are sped up in hot water and burn out quickly, while in cold water they're slowed down and are preserved. Finally, we began reviewing for our Unit 2 assessment, the first one. We reviewed with a google drive document that we all contributed to, and by going over the experiments that we all did. In these labs, we found that pressure was inversely proportional to volume, pressure is proportional to temperature, pressure is proportional to number of particles, and volume is proportional to temperature. After our review, we talked about hurricane Sandy. We learned that when it is clear out, the pressure in the air is higher than when cloudy. So, we were asked to make a barometer over the weekend, which is a device that can measure atmospheric pressure. I made mine with a jar that has a balloon strapped to the top, and a straw on top of it. When it is clear, the pressure outside is greater than in the jar so the balloon is pushed down and the straw rises up. Conversely, when it is cloudy out the pressure inside the jar is greater and pushes up on the balloon, making the straw go down.
Now that the first quarter is over, looking back on Chemistry has shown me that it's been one of the best leaning experiences I've had. Being able to use my devices has helped me stay organized and is a great convenience. Also all of the experiments that we do is a great leaning tool because we find things out for ourselves. Overall I'm very happy with the first quarter of Chemistry.

Week Seven

This week, we started by looking at the ethanol and colored water a little more. Now, though, we were focused on the concept of expansion, which is the process by which the volume of a substance increases, but mass stays the same. Also, expansion can occur without a state change, but it does require energy, as does a substance when its state changes. The change in height is a way to measure the expansion, but you can also measure the motion of particles by using the temperature. It measure the energy and the motion of particles. Then, we began our work with pressure. Pressure is measured in Pascals, and can be measure by taking force divided by area. Pressure is a push or a pull that is applied over a certain area. The more area there is, the less force that is applied at each point of pressure. We discovered this by doing an experiment in which a balloon was pressed onto a bed of needles, and it didn't pop. Then, the balloon was pressed onto a single needle, and it popped immediately. With this talk of pressure, we learned how we are able to drink through straws. We drink through straws by exerting a pulling force on the air in the straw. This makes it leave the system, which leaves no force pushing down on the liquid. Without this force pushing down, the liquid is able to rush up through the straw, therefore, you drinking it. To end the week, we were divided into several groups to do experiments each dealing with pressure. My group did one that compared pressure and temperature. We had a test tube that was closed and connected to a pressure meter. We placed the test tube in a beaker full of water, and instead of adding heat to the system, we used ice cubes to make the water colder. At five 40 second intervals, we added two ice cubes to the water and recorded the reading on the pressure meter. Our results showed that as temperature decreased, pressure did as well. This means that if temperature were to increase, then the pressure would increase with it. The past week in Chemistry was just again showing that learning is easy, and making it fun helps more than simply doing traditional homework.

Week Six

In the past week, we have done no labs, just class experiments that Mr. Abud has lead. We have just been taking notes and learning new concepts. In the beginning of the week, we started with a block of dry ice that Mr. Abud moved around. The vapor coming off of it showed the particles that were leaving the system. This showed a solid going straight to a gas form, which can be described as sublimation. Then, Mr. Abud cooked a bag of popcorn, that we sat and waited for the smell of it to reach our seats. That day we learned that particles are always in motion, whether matter is in a solid, liquid, or gas state. With solids, particles are always in motion. In liquids, particles are always in motion, but heat makes them move more quickly and coolness makes them slow down. When we talk about particles moving, they can move translationally, rotationally, and vibrationally. Also, the particles can slide past each other, which brought us to the concept of fluidity. Fluidity is the physical property that enables something to flow. Liquids and gases have fluidity while solids do not. The opposite of fluidity is viscosity, which is the resistance to flow. The three states of matter, obviously, have different densities. Solids are the most dense, then liquids, and lastly gases. These densities may have a role in the fluidity/viscosity of each. We also learned a term-Brownian motion-that describes how particles move in all different directions. To finish the week, Mr. Abud lead an experiment in which he placed two test tubes filled with water or ethanol in a beaker of water on a hot plate. As the water heated the tubes, we saw how the ethanol rose above the stopper into an additional type of tube. The ethanol rose higher and faster than the water, meaning that the ethanol had more particles that were moving faster and had more fluidity then the water. Lastly, we came to the conclusion/consensus that all energy is just simply energy. It is only stored and transferred differently.

Fifth Week

It's been so easy to learn more in chemistry the past week since it has been so fun. I stay active, and am able to easily pay attention instead of drifting off and daydreaming all hour. We continued working with density and applying what we've learned to different scenarios. In the beginning of the week, we planned a lab in which we would find the density of two students. We decided to use a 44 gallon trash can to fill water with, and then use the water displacement technique to be able find the volume of the student once they got in the can! However, the displaced water would not stay in the can, of course, so we put the can in the middle of a plastic baby pool. This pool would capture all of the water that flows out of the trash can. After the water was displaced, we would gather the water from the pool into 2 liter bottles, using small cups to scoop up the water and put in the bottle. By doing this, we could find the volume of each student. However, with one of our students the water rushed out too quickly and much was lost onto the lab floor, so we did not gather all of the water that was displaced and therefore got a lessened reading of the student's volume. The students that were used also weighed themselves the night before the lab, so that we could then convert their weighting pounds to grams. Also, we could convert their volume from liters to milliliters, and then find their density in mL/g. We found that our male student was denser than out female one, but he also weighed almost 60 pounds more. As the lab was going on, we had people taking videos, pictures, and working on a presentation of the data in a PowerPoint. It successfully displayed our data and results with plenty of pictures and videos. The next day we finished the PowerPoint on google drive, so that everyone could make edits and input data which was a very convenient thing to have. Friday we took our Unit 1 Assessment. I feel confident in it since I knew the standards well and felt very prepared. Like I said, learning is a lot more easy when it's fun and keeps you involved in an active discussion.

Fourth Week

The past week, we've mainly been working with density in the multiple experiments that we have done. First we did a candy lab, in which we tried to find the density off a non-normally shaped object. We worked with peanut M&M's. Although we could mass them, we were not able to simply measure they dimensions and find the volume. So, we had to use a new technique called water displacement. My putting water in a graduated cylinder and measuring it, we could drop in the M&Ms and measure the difference in water volumes to find the volume of the M&M. We could then divide the mass by the volume to get the density. Second, we did a lab to find the volume of a sheet of aluminum foil. We were given the density, and we could mass it. So, we had to be able to manipulate the formula for density and come up with the volume for the sheet. By finding out the volume, we found the height, which was the variable that we had to find. We ended our week of experiments with a gas lab. First we massed a flask of water and an alkaseltzer tablet. Then, filling a trough-like object with water, we could fill up a 295mL bell jar with water. Then, we put the tablet into the flask and covered it with a stopper. The stopper, though, had a tube coming out of it that led into the trough. The gas formed cause water to leave the bell jar and we could measure how much water was left in the jar at the end. With this we could determine the volume of the gas. Then, we massed the flask and were able to find the mass of the gas by subtracting the original mass from it. We did this lab in order to problem solve and find the relationship between the densities of gases, solids, and liquids. It was a very productive week and I was able to take a lot from it.

Third Week

In Honors Chemistry, everything has been going well so far.  After learning about volume, we've spent the past week working with density and the density of certain liquids.  By doing the first lab of the week, we learned that as volume increases, mass does as well.  In relation to this, we've learned that density represents how matter is distributed in a volume.  If there is more mass in the same amount of volume as another object, then it is denser. If there is less mass than an object in the same amount of volume, then it is less dense.  Density can be represented as d=m/v, with "d" as density, "m" as mass, and "v" as volume.  This equation can also be manipulated to m=d*v, and v=m/d. The density of pure water is 1g/1cm^3, which is one gram of matter per cubic centimeter of volume.  We also did a lab in which we found the density of multiple liquids, and then put them in order from least dense to most.  Out of the liquids that we used, we found that vegetable oil was the least dense and Dr. Pepper was the most dense.  At the end of the week we had an assessment on the things we've done so far this year.  I thought that the assessment went well, and that I was well prepared.  I hope that I can be as confident in the assessments to come as I was for the one we took!

Second Week

So far in Honors Chemistry, we have been able to conduct over 7 experiments. One day we conducted 5, and soon came to a conclusion about the Conservation of Mass-If matter is not added or lost from the system, then mass stays the same. We determined this by burning matches, mixing water with alkaseltzer/sugar, mixing calcium nitrate and sodium carbonate, and finally stretching steel wool. We also determined that mass is the measure of the amount of matter that makes up an object. We have also done a volume lab, in which we measured water in a beaker(measured in mL), and then placed that water into a container, where we calculated the volume(measured in cm^3). In this lab we determined that 1mL=1cm^3. Also, we discovered the 5% rule of negligible uncertainty. This rule states that if your y-intercept is </= 5% of max value, then you assume 0. We also came to the conclusion that precision is how certain a measurement is, which is limited by the measurement tool. Also, accuracy is the correctness of your measurement, which is limited by the observer. Finally, in this lab, we determined that a source of uncertainty is a situation when you don't know what happened (Ex; human error.)

First week

The first week of Honors Chemistry has completely changed the way I think.  In the past I have been so focused on the answer of problems, and not the process in getting there.  I've been more thorough in my thinking and have learned to not worry as much about the final answer.  Learning to use social networking such as Twitter for educational reasons has also been something that will be valuable to me in the future and for other classes as well.  Using my iPad and iPhone in class is also something that is new to me.  With the many great apps that Apple has to offer, I'll be able to increase my knowledge about what it is that my devices will let me do.  My teacher's methods to teaching is almost like an updated version of what the other teachers do.  His way of doing things is convenient for all and is much more simple than anything I've been doing in the past.  It also allows for much greater and easier communication between us as students and the teacher.  By using Apple TV, we are able to display what is on our Apple device on the big screen, which is another convenience for us and our teacher.

Last week we participated in an activity in which there was a cube-shaped box with the numbers 1-5 on the sides.  One side of the box, the bottom, we couldn't see.  Divided into groups, we had to think about what could be on the bottom side.  Each group had their own idea of what could be on the bottom of the box, and had their own reasons for why.  In the end, there ended up being no bottom to the box, but that's not what the activity was about.  Not about the final answer, but more about the process and reasons for why and how we got to our answer.  An activity such as this has shown the importance of getting to an answer, but not so much about what the answer is.