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.

Week 23

This week in Chem, we tackled a whole new part of chemistry.  Particles that are smaller than the atoms themselves.  So far, we've begun to tackle the electron.  To introduce the concept at first, we did a very simple lab in which Mr. Abud rubbed a pen on his shirt, and circled it around a match balanced on a cologne bottle.  This match followed the pen with no contact! We determined that the match moved thanks to the electrostatic charge. By rubbing the pen on his shirt, he charged it and changed something about the particles that we do not yet know.  We did a small lab with two pieces of tape that were ripped from each other and put them near other objects to see if they'd attract or repel, and came to the conclusion that opposite charges attract, and same charges repel.  With the fact that there are things smaller than atoms, we needed a new way to draw particle diagrams.  We now use circles with dots in them to signify the electrons.  So, to differentiate between the negatively charged and positively charged objects, we have more electrons in the one that's negatively charged.  This follows the theory that we are going off of for particles.  The theory we use says that there's a surplus and deficiency of 1 single type of particle.  The other theory we are aware of is that there may simply be 2 types of particles, positive and negative, but we have no proof for that yet.  We also learned of a new property called conductivity.  Conductivity so far, means that the electrons can flow through.  So we played a game.  This game was called Will it Conduct?  In this game we had a small circuit consisting of three wires, two batteries and a light bulb.  We had the batteries connected to the lightbulb through the wires, but also connected some substance in the circuit to see if the lightbulb would still light up.  We concluded that all the metals would conduct, and nonmetals did not conduct.  There's still so much to learn in this unit and I look forward to discovering the more in-depth concepts.

Week 22

Week 22 was a little less about chemistry. We only had 2 full days and 3 half days, leaving us with only 3 chemistry classes. This week's schedule was because of the standardized testing that the juniors had to do. So, sophomores took the ACT Plan. I thought that the plan was very easy and I was in good shape for next years ACT. The juniors had more tests, though, which left us with a few half days. On these days we had classes 1-3 on one, and 4-7 on the other. Our chemistry consisted of continuing our work with balancing equations. We focused on using the importance of ratios to be able to balance equations. Using ratios and phrases like "combines with" along with small pictures, balancing equations is a piece of cake. As class ended, we started with the concept of moles and mass while balancing equations and how we can find those in the process.

Week 21

This week in Chem, we continued our exploration of counting particles. In the beginning of the week, we continued our work from last week counting the number of particles in a certain amount of something. To count these particles we use moles. We practiced by using dimensional analysis to make sure our units came to cancel out and leave us with whatever we needed to find. So we came to possibly one of the coolest experiments we've done so far, in my opinion at least. We electrolyzed water, separating molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gases. To do this, we had a trough filled with a sodium hydroxide solution and two prongs sticking in the water. We placed test tubes filled with water on each prong, and connected two wires to the bottoms of the prongs under the trough. These wires were connected to a genecon that we consistently spun. The test tubes began to fill with hydrogen gas in one, and oxygen gas in the other! We went until we had 7.0mL of hydrogen gas and 3.5mL of oxygen gas. This proportion also proves that the water formula is H2O. There was double the amount of hydrogen gas as oxygen gas. We could then find the number of particles by again doing the dimensional analysis to find how many moles in each. We found that there were 1.6x10^-4 moles of oxygen, and 3.2x10^-4 moles of hydrogen. Another proof of the formula for water, H2O! It shows us how the empirical formula works out to be H2O with double hydrogen as oxygen. We finished the week off with an assessment covering everything we've done the past 2 weeks, and I feel very comfortable with it. I'm starting to like how we're learning more like the other classes have and am curious to see how the rest of the year plays out.

Week 20

During week 20, we mainly worked with the concept of moles. At the beginning of of the week, though, we did the experiment lighting the magnesium on fire again. This time we finished it though and ended up concluding that the magnesium had gained mass from lighting it on fire. This means that the product must've taken in particles from the air. Then, indirectly we began working with moles. We started in class with six containers containing six materials in each. We were asked to then find the relative mass of each by comparing them all to one of the items. Mr. Abud then introduced the mole to us. A mole answers the question of "how many" and is equal to 6 x 10^23 particles. Also, molar mass is the mass of a substance on the periodic table except measured in grams. You can find the amount of molecules or weights of moles with various substances, and can make it easier if you incorporate the phrase "for every" while working with your information. The week was a bit repetitive, but was necessary to get the idea into our heads.