Accel Chem Quarter 3 Blog Tyler Willeford

     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.

Reflection Blog #3

     Tyler Willeford Reflection Blog 3

     In this unit, we started by learning about how you can learn numbers or of amounts of substances based on their masses. In doing so we realized that the periodic table masses are actually relative masses to C12. A fun little lab we did investigating this relative mass idea was comparing how many beans it takes to make X amount of rice grains or popcorn kernels. I didn't really like this exercise, just because I feel like relative mass is a somewhat easy concept to grasp. However, this does make it much easier for me to understand chemical formulas, equations, and compounds.

     I liked the next part of class when we learned about how many atoms are in an item using Avagadro's number AKA one mol AKA 6.02*10^23. I do like when we use examples to show how big of a number this really is, because without representation it is just a number. I found the analogies at the bottom of this page cheeky but also cool and interesting and I think you would too; http://intro.chem.okstate.edu/chemsource/moles/mole15.htm Using Avagadro's number and molar masses to figure out how many atoms are in actual objects is really interesting. We even learned how to use these molar masses to figure out the number of molecules in more complex compounds instead of doing simple boring things like H2O. The mole calculations are fun because it isn't very often that we get to use such big numbers. However, I think using the ratios or conversion factors is unnecessary because what it comes down to is basic math. P.S. Just thought you'd like this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R7NiIum2TI It's funny and cheesy also haha.

     Now we're doing percentage composition problems using molar masses and Avagadro's Number. This isn't so much fun because we have already done percentage composition and we know that there are many ways to reach the same answer. However, I think it would be really cool if we could take it a step further and use our percentage of an element lost in a reaction and figure out exactly how many atoms that is. It would be neat to prove the Law of Conservation of Mass down to the exact number of atoms. In using this method to approximate a chemical formula for a compound, we create what is called an empirical formula. This is a formula that is both found experimentally and written in simplest ratio form. I could only see this being beneficial when creating or discovering new compounds because why would we need to experimentally guess at formulae when we already know them? Overall I have liked this past unit and look forward to expanding on this knowledge.

Accel. Chem Post 2

     To start the week we used a wicked potion of Mr. G's patented stink spray to show a simple example of gas particles diffusing throughout a container.After learning that the reason for the particles distributing evenly is because they bounce off of not only the container but also other particles, we watched how food coloring distributed differently in a jar of hot water versus a jar of cold water. From this we derived that temperature directly affects the energy of the particles and the higher the temperature the faster they move. I liked the next thing we did though, with a series of computer simulations where we introduced mass also. It takes more energy to move something with more mass obviously. We wrote down a lot more about the properties of particles in solids, liquids, and gases and watched some VERY old videos about them. Again, I didn't like this much because it seemed sort of repetitive.

As seen below, we did a short fun activity about the energy of particles bouncing off of their container. In it, we blew up an enclosed garbage bag using simply our breath. The force was great enough to lift someone off of the table. I found this exercise very interesting and it made me think of those huge inflatable bags people put in lakes to launch other people. I also once saw a show about moving sunken ships and barges, in which they placed massive football-field-sized pouches much like this underneath and then inflated them. Imagine the strength of that material and the pressure inside!

After learning all about particle motion, we started to learn about the pressure itexerts in all directions and how to measure it. Using some mercury, Mr. G made a simple barometer. I think it would be fun to just take a day and make these using a bunch of different gases to see what would happen. We could use everything from helium to sulfur hexaflouride to see how the pressure changes.

It seems as though this class is moving in a logical sequnce, at least for this unit, and I like that. We start with a basic idea, for example the fact that particles move. Then we introduce something new like what makes them move (temperature). We keep adding one new variable at a time to create an easier transition from topic to topic (mass, volume etc.). We are currently learning about a way to measure all of these things in a combination. I find this system of learning a great way to learn topics. I also very much enjoy this unit because in college I would like to major in aeronautical angineering. Anything and everything to do with gases, air, and the way they behave is a part of aeronautical engineering. It would be cool if we did some sort of expirement with a compressed air tube blowing a ping pong ball in the air and testing the height at different pressures. Anyway, I liked this unit.

Accel Chem Reflection Blog #1

     This week in Accelerated Chemistry we started learning about
how to work well in groups. To practice this idea, we started using cool science tools like beakers, eyedroppers, PYREX watch glasses, etc. to determine the differences between physical changes and chemical changes. My favorite experiments were using a bunsen burner, which helps provide immediate heat to an experiment. I know the members of my group would most definitely agree with me in saying that we should do many more awesome Bunsen burner experiments like these. Another thing I want to work more with in Accel Chem this year is any acid that will allow us to do an experiment in which the acid eats away at an object, that's always cool.

     Another thing we learned about is the Law of Conservation of Mass and how though something may grow or shrink in size that doesn't mean there was a change in mass. A simple example of this is an ice cube melting or the reverse; water freezing. Though the ice cube may take up less space or more space in a different state, there were still the same amount of particles. We also saw this when pulling apart steel wool. It grew to double the size but there was no change in mass, was merely air separating the wool, not the particles being destroyed. Then, on Friday, we did another group activity where we found the volume of objects. An idea here was that our math was the most correct way of figuring an answer because we can only read a measurement so well. Also it was an exercise to help our always-improving collaboration skill. All in all it was a good week.