The biggest, most overlying thing we learned about this unit was balancing chemical equations. From here we have broken down into more particular parts of equations and why some don't work. I've said this in past blogs and will say it again; I like this structure for our class. I find it much easier to follow when we learn about the general topic then pick out details and zoom in further on that topic. Balancing equations is something I find easier than many other things. After this, we learned more about the different types of reactions; synthesis, decomposition, single replacement, double replacement, and combustion. I liked this a lot because it really helped me understand why certain reactions happened in certain ways when there were multiple possible outcomes. This ties in with balancing equations and basically our whole unit and I though you'd find it funny, click here.
Going even further in depth, we learned about the activity series. The activity series is basically a chart and set of rules depicting how reactive elements are and which elements can react with other elements. This FINALLY cleared up the reason for having certain things produce "No Reaction." Although I find the unit already very well planned and easy to understand, I found something kind of cheesy that may help clear up the types of reactions in the future: click here.
I really enjoyed this unit mainly because we did so many experiments.Also, these experiments weren't the typical boring experiments. We put sodium on water to make fire, used toxic acids, and created extreme results. This is what people picture when they think of chemistry; beakers with foaming or flaming contents and acids burning through metals. It's pretty fun.
