MOLES

This week we have learned about a special number called a MOLE! It is 6.02x10^23, found by Amadeo Avogadro. A mole is such a big number! From the powerpoint packet I know that it's not the mark on your face or Rufus, the naked mole rat, from Kim Possible. It is the scientist's one dozen. Using a mole you can find how many grams are in one mole by weighing one gram of something and then find the molar mass on the periodic table or if it's a molecule you have to add up all the molar masses of the atoms in the molecule and multiply it together. Then, to find how many atoms are in one mole, you multiply that by 6.02x10^23! A mole is a quite fascinating number...

Polar Bears and Penguins

This week we learned about polarity and corrected two worksheets on isomers, organic molecules, and Lewis dot structures. We worked on this comic which explained polarity and electonegativity using polar bears and penguins. Ice cream scoops represented electrons. A big block of ice was shaped like the periodic table with polar bears and penguins to represent the amount of electronegativity, so a big polar bear was in the top right corner because fluorine has the highest electronegativity and a small penguin was in the lower left corner to represent cesium, the element with the lowest electronegativity. We had to answer questions on a worksheet. The comic sort of helped me understand the concept more.

What Does That Smell Like?

Last week on Tuesday, in class, we did a lab. We had to smell vials of different compounds. Some smelled really sweet and nice, but some smelled REALLYREALLYREALLY bad, especially the ones at the end. We did the last few outside and at first I was confused at why we were going outside, but once the lid was opened I understood. I saw the bubble wrap and got excited and once it got lifted I jumped and didn't want to breathe. It was another interesting lab though =P

Bond Types

Lately we have been learning about different bond types. There are single bonds, double bonds, and sometimes even TRIPLE BONDS! I still don't really get triple bonds though...single bonds are the easiest and double bonds are pretty understandable. We've done a lot of worksheets that help us learn about bonds. What I remember most is HONC because my table name was HONC1234! I love that; it reminds me of a goose or duck! We've been doing Lewis dot structures too! those are pretty easy but it takes me a moment to think of where everything is supposed to go =P We have a lot to memorize for this unit I don't know how I'm going to do it...but somehow I will manage! Hopefully...

Citronellal

My molecule for the project is citronellal. I wanted citric acid because I like oranges and lemons and other citrus fruits, but it was taken. So, I settled with citronellal since it has to do with lemons which is close enough to citric acid. It reminds me of my lemon gum so I'm thinking there might be citronellal in my Orbit Lemon-Line gum but I'm not sure it's edible...this is the point of this project though to find out more about a certain molecule! I need to get working on this this weekend since it's due next week!

Ionic Compounds and the Electromagnetic Spectrum

Last week we learned about naming ionic compounds. There is a cation and an anion. The name of the cation, the metal, goes first and the anion, the nonmetal, goes second with the ending -ide. It also has to balance out to zero. There are two types of these compounds, Type 1 and Type 2 binary compounds. Type 1 binary compounds are your regular metals that will only have one charge and are specific. Type 2 binary compounds' cations have more than one possibility for their charge and are named by using the Roman numeral of their charge.
Also, last week we did a lab that had to do with the visible spectrum and the absorbancy of light at different wavelengths. We messed up on our data, but it was sort of fun changing the test tubes in and out of the machine. Monday we went into the library to make graphs of the data we got from the lab; 2 line graphs and a pie chart! Then we had to answer some questions that were hard, but got help on today. I'm going to miss out on doing the review games on Thursday because of LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS =D and then the test is on Friday...hopefully I'll do well =)

A Rainbow of Flames

On Tuesday we did a super cool lab wif FIREEEE!! There were so many different colors and they all looked really pretty. My favorite was the pinkish peach one because pink is my favorite color. Jessica and Chantel were in my group and we took turns doing the experiment. There were little bottles of different compounds and we used a wooden stick with a metal loop at the end and stuck it in the bottle so some of the compound got on the stick. Then, we put it in the fire that was coming from the Bunsen burner and it made pretty colors! There was red, orange, yellow, green, and pink!! It was the coolest lab we've done so far and my FAVORITEEEE =)

More Radiation!

Yaaaaaay we did some more work on radioation this week. Every class, we watched a video on different people who contributed to science, like Michael Faraday, Lise Meitner, and Emilie du Chatelet. I thought it was really cool how there were videos for women in science. We had to do two worksheets for homework. They were sorta hard, buttttttt I managed through them. We also got a powerpoint presentation printout. Now I know gamma radiation is the highest radiation there is and can go through hard surfaces, but alpha radiation and beta radiation can't. E=mc^2 is Einstein's formula where E is energy, m is mass, and C is speed.

Albert Einstein and Half-LIves

This week I missed Tuesday because I had to go to a meet so I didn't get to do the half-life simulation lab. =( On Thursday, we watched a video on how Albert Einstein came up with the equaton E=mc^2 with the help of research from earlier scientists. It was a very interesting video and I learned a lot. For homework we had to do a worksheet that helped me practice alpha and beta decay. Right now, I'm in the computer lab and I made my spreadsheet and graph. Now I'm finishing up my blog entry...and now I'm done!

Radioactivity

This week in chemistry, we focused on radioactivity. Radioactivity occurs when atoms decay and become unstable. They then turn into stable elements I learned about alpha and beta decay and gamma rays. In alpha decay, a He-4 atom is added to the unstable element, causing it to lose 2 neutrons and 2 protons. In beta decay, an electron is added, causing the mass number to stay the same, but a electron is lost, adding a proton to the atomic number. Sometimes, radioactivity produces gamma rays, which have high amounts of energy. Carbon-14 is used to date ancient artifacts.

Atoms and Dry Ice

On Monday, we learned about electronegatively and ionization energy. Their trends are the same, they go from the bottom left corner of the periodic table to the top right! Electronegatively is electron-greediness, while ionization energy is the amount of energy it takes to remove an electron.
For homework we had a study guide with over 50 questions to help us review for the test. It was due on block day, Tuesday. After taking the IsATest, which was pretty easy since this is about the 3rd or 4th time we've done this, it was FUN TIMEEEEE!! I've always been fascinated by dry ice because of the effects it give off. Bubbles were blown into a tank and big bubbles were formed from a container having dry ice in it. Who knew carbon dioxide could be so cool?

ATOMS!

Well this week we focused on learning about atoms. Atoms are really really small. We saw a video on powers of 10 which really showed us how small atoms are (and also how big the universe is). There was the Simpsons parody of it that we watched today; that was pretty cool and funny. Earlier this week though, we learned how to tell how many protons, electron, and neutrons are in an atom. The atomic NUMBER shows the number of protons which is equal to the number of electrons. Also, the atomic MASS is the total from adding the number of protons to neutrons! We learned about ionic compounds and what the different groups in the periodic table tell about the elements that are in that column. We did a lot of notes, review questions, and worksheets on all of this.

Because the Units Are So Key

There wasn't any school on Monday, yay! On Tuesday, the classes made a video for the converting units song. That was really fun and we got to watch the video today! I think I looked weird, but the video was really funny and entertaining =) We watched I think it was 4th period's and someone told me about Mr. Olson throwing the eraser by accident but I missed it =( I'm glad we're making another one next week for Milli and her 9 Brothers. We also got little cards of different elements in the periodic table and had to put them together into a chart that made sense and had patterns in it. It wasn't the funnest thing to do, but it wasn't too bad. Today we did something else with those cards, except this time they were all put together in one chart. Chantel and Jessica L were at cross country so it was just me and Jessica G =P We just had to answer a bunch of questions on a worksheet. Until next time!

IsaQuiz and MORE

I didn't get to do my blog post when we were at the library because I ran out of time since I was one of the last people to get tested on measuring mass and volume, but I thought the quiz was okay...a couple of problems stumped me =/ or just one...I registered online for my science book

Yesterday, I missed a lab because of my first cross country meet! The lab sounded really cool and interesting, so I'm sort of sad I missed it, but it's okay I think I'll live =)

Whatsa Matter?

This week in chemistry we learned about matter. Matter is something that takes up space and has volume. We got in groups at the lab tables, I was with Jessica, Alia, and Catherine for the guessing game. A couple of my guesses were really off; most were pretty close, but I liked learning how to use the scale. Learning about the vernacular scale was interesting, but the next day I forgot how to use it. Guesstimating the volume was harder than the mass, I was reallyreally off for pretty much all my guesses on the volume. I like the word MENISCUS, it's a funky word =) I was very proud of myself because I didn't break any test tubes!! Usually I'm really clumsy, so it was nice that I didn't break anything =) For the past few days, our homework was to take notes from the textbook and I learned about general chemistry and changes of state. BLogposting is realllllllllllly fun I'm glad I get to do this once a week =D

Penny Lab

My group had 5 people. We all put our pennies in the zinc, turning the pennies silver. After we rinsed them they were put in the flame and turned gold. Mine was only partly gold and had a bubble, so I named my penny Bubbles!

Goals/Passions

GOALS!
-reach 5'6"
-improve my speed and endurance for cross country
-graduate and get into a good college
-become a pediatrician
-live a happy, happy life!