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.