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.