Week 28

Week 28 in Chem was packed full of information. The week consisted of more practice balancing different types of reactions with an assessment at the end of the week to test our abilities. There are many different kinds of reactions, like single or double replacement reactions. With single replacement, one ion replaces the other in the formula and with double replacement, two ions replace two others in the formula. Two opposite reaction types, synthesis and decomposition, are also simple. With synthesis reactions, several reactants combine to make a single product. Decomposition reactions, though, are where one reactant decomposes into two or more products. Lastly, we practiced with combustion. Combustion is very simple, it is when a hydrocarbon reacts with oxygen to form H2O and CO2. Balancing equations is very simple once you understand that you just need to balance the number of atoms for each element. All the practice and chemquests/skill practices we did were very helpful. We did an experiment in which we placed a match next to a balloon filled with propane an oxygen gas. This ballon burst and made a very loud noise, shaking our room! We ended the week taking an assessment in which we balanced one of each type of reaction. I felt very prepared. After the assessment, Mr. Abud showed us a cotton cloth wrapped in string and covered in butane, then lit it on fire! He could hold the ball and let some of us hold it as well. We couldn't discuss it much because we ran out of time but I'm sure we will be this week.

Week 27

Week 27 in Chem was a bit frantic for us.  We didn't cover many new concepts that were much different than material we had already worked with.  We started the week doing an infographic regarding the nomenclature for compounds.  With whatever tools we wanted, we organized all the different rules for naming compounds that we know so far.  Also, we began a new system for blogging.  From now on we have blogging partners.  With these partners, we read, comment on, and "grade" each others blogs every week.  Once we covered these two tasks, we moved our class back into the classroom.  We started with a lab that took up two days.  In this lab, we combined calcium pebbles with hydrochloric acid in a flask.  This flask was connected to our trough system that fills the bell jar with any gas that's formed.  For this lab, we asked: What gas? How much gas? How does the flask feel? We concluded that it was H2 gas because of hydrogens diatomic structure, and came to make 0.258L of that gas.  We didn't get to finish discussing the lab the second day because we unfortunately ran out of time.  To finish off the week, Mr. Abud was out and we had a sub.  On that Friday we worked on chemquests that simply dealt with balancing equations and then moved onto the skill practice for it.  This week we didn't make very much progress in our studies, but it was an important week to be able to move on.

Week 26

Week 26 was probably the most in-depth weeks we've had all year. We began by starting our work with the transition metals and how to find their charge by using the compound that they're in. We found that if we determined the charge of the nonmetal in the compound, and divided it by the number of metal atoms, we'd find the positive charge of the transition metal. With this knowledge, we began our work with advanced ionic compounds. A polyatomic ion is an ion made of more than one nonmetal atom. There were 9 of these polyatomic ions that we were asked to memorize for our assessment. Polyatomics add the suffix "-ate" to any compound it's involved in(as long as there's an oxygen), such as sulfate, phosphate, or carbonate. We got a lot of time to work on chemquests and skill practices so that we could master the naming and writing formulas for these. Then we moved to all little practice with acids. Acids are ionic compounds that contain a hydrogen ion. We also did chemquests and skill practices practicing with naming acids. Our last day working on chemquests and skill practices was about transition metals and naming molecular compounds. There were a few distinct transition compounds that we worked with, silver, zinc, and cadmium. With this practice came our further study of ionic vs. molecular compounds. We determined that ionic compounds consisted of a metal and a nonmetal. There is an electron transfer that forms the bond. The molecular compounds, though, are between two nonmetals. The electrons are shared between the two cause the covalent bond. The electrons that are able to be shared in covalent bonds are the furthest from the middle of the atom. These electrons are called valence electrons. When naming molecular compounds we practiced with the same naming system that we used a while ago, using the prefixes such as "mono" and "tri". Finishing the week off, we took an assessment covering mainly the naming and writing formulas for ionic and molecular compounds, and also being able to distinguish between the two. I'm very confident with the assessment and look forward to see where we go next.

Week 25

Week 25 in chemistry was not very much of a week for me. I was only in class for 2 out of the 4 days, but was still able to learn plenty of valuable information that we will continue with for the next upcoming weeks. We started with a lab in which we placed copper chloride into H2O. In doing this, the once brownish copper chloride turned the H2O blue. This mixture was in the same type of trough that we used for electrolyzing H2O, so, we electrolyzed the solution. Up one test tube went a clear liquid, and the other was a bronze liquid, which we could identify as the copper. So what does all this mean? In doing this lab, we determined that if a compound is soluble in water, it will separate into its individual ions. Also, these individual ions would be affected by the polarity of the H2O. The copper was positive, and chlorine negative. So, the copper was attracted to the slightly negative oxygen in the H2O. The chlorine ions were attracted to the slightly positive hydrogen atoms of the H2O. We also know that some compounds are soluble, some aren't. Also that some compounds are polar, and others aren't. The last thing we took from this lab was the common phrase Like Dissolves Like. This states that in order to dissolve a polar compound, you need a polar solvent. You also require a non polar solvent to dissolve a non polar compound.
We were all asked to create electroscope. These electroscopes were simply made and showed whether an object had charge or not. My electroscope was a glass jar with a ballot aluminum foil on top. Sticking into the ball was a paper clip that went inside of the jar with two aluminum foil leaves hanging at the bottom. If a charged object was brought close to the ball, the leaves would separate and repel each other. Through induction these leaves would separate. The paperclip had a neutral charge throughout the entire thing. Once the charged object was brought near, the electrons would try and get as far away as possible. They moved down the paperclip causing an unbalance in the leaves. Now both leaves were negatively charged, so, they repelled each other. For such a short week in Chem, many important concepts were revealed which will continue to be a gateway through to many more additions of chemistry and our studies.

Week 24

Week 24 was a week that opened many doors for us in Chemistry. We began with a few new terms. First: polarized, which means that there's an uneven distribution of charge. Also we learned charge induction, which is when the arrangement of charged particles change to fit the charged object. Lastly we learned that a dipole is when there are 2 distinct regions of charge. Then we were introduced to the ion. An ion is a charged atom, which is caused by an electron transfer between atoms. Elements are neutral in their pure form until they become charged. If an ion has an electron deficit than it is positive, and if it has an electron surplus than it's negative. So, if an atom loses one electron through transfer, then it becomes a positive ion. If an atom gains 4 electrons in transfer, than it becomes a 4- ion. To form an ionic bond, a metal has to bond with a nonmetal. Also, the charge has to end up neutral when an ionic bond is formed. This means that the charges of one of the atoms cancels out the other. When naming an ionic compound, the metal (positive ion) comes first and then the nonmetal (negative ion) comes second. Also, the ending of the negative ion is replaced with "-ide". You can refer to the positive ion with "cation", and negative ion using "anion". Ionic charges are easy to remember using the periodic table and are shown in the photo. Knowing what we now know about ions and their pairing, we will be able to explore many new concepts of chemistry.