Track Meet

Yesterday, I had my first OFFICIAL track meet. It was against Carlmont. At first, I was REALLY scared because Carlmont is known for being really fast. During cross country they were always pretty much the top five, but since a lot of their athletes quit, it was mainly a race against ourselves (at least for the distance runners). My legs have been so sore lately so I was afraid I would do bad, but I PRed in ALL my events! Individually, I ran the 800 and the 1600. For the 1600 I got a 6:32, and I was the happiest camper in the world; it was a 15 seconds faster than the last time. Now, I need to break 6:30 and I will be the happiest camper in the whole entire universe. For the 800 I got 3:04! That was a few seconds off my time so that was good. I also was in the 4x4. I was the first runner in my team and it was really nervewrecking, but I was glad I was first so I got it over with. The 4x4 was the very last event in the whole meet so afterwards, I hung around a bit and then left and went home. IT WAS SUCH A GOOD MEEEEEEET!!! =D

David and Joan Webb

The presentation by David Webb was really entertaining and informing. David and Joan Webb are both really charming people. The way he presented was really interesting. He focused mainly on vacuums. There was the bar that had one atmosphere in it. I never knew atmosphere was a unit of measure; I thought it was just the air around us. I helped out with the balloon experiment. In the vacuum machine, a little tiny balloon became a bigger balloon. It was really unbelievable. I was really jealous of the person who got to eat the marshmallow. When I saw them I got really excited and they were PINK. That's my favorite color, so I was even more excited! They were the same ones I made smores with at my friend's house! That was a pretty good way to spend my chemistry block day.

Calorimetry

M C delta T, that's calorimetry yo. q is energy, c is specific heat, and delta t is the change in temperature. That song was a bit disturbing, but catchy at the same time. It really helped me learn that formula though since it was so memorable. Calorimetry is a measure of heat flow. The measurements are made in an insulated apparatus called a calorimeter.

ELEPHANT TOOTHPASTE!

Elephant toothpaste...some pretty interesting stuff. I've been waiting for it and forgot about it. It was hydrogen peroxide and dishwashing soap combined together. Then, when Mr.Olson poured in the potassium iodide, the solution turned yellow and started poofing up and spilling out like crazy. Before in the video I was seriously grossed out and seeing it in person was really weird. It looks pretty cool though, I have to say.

Thermochemistry

Thermochemistry was a new unit we started! I learned about endothermic and exothermic reactions. Catalysts speed up a reaction, but don't get consumed in it. Activiation energy is reduced because of those also.

The graph for exothermic and endothermic reactions are opposite. Energy can't be lost or gained so it is EVERYWHERE! The packet took a long time to do, but I still got full points on it, so I'm proud of myself. I think I did pretty good on the test too! There were a lot of equations like the changing phases one which included a combination of many of them. It was a very confusing unit, but still oh so interesting.