Chem Blog Week 12

This week we learned about specific heat. Before, we learned that heat is energy, while energy is just energy, and the amount of it dictates what the temperature is. The difference between heat and specific heat, specific heat is not the transfer of energy, heating is.

This week, we also reviewed the degree of hotness (temperature) and quantity of hotness (heat). I am still slightly confused about the topic but I am doing pretty well. I’m just afraid that I will have to pay a dollar! I know now that heat doesn't directly affect temperature which means that heat itself is just an account of the transferring of energy. In conclusion, heat is the means to the energy, the energy the cause, and the temperature the result.

 

We were asked what the meaning of the formula for specific heat is. While I did not know the exact meaning I knew what the variables meant. In class, we learned that specific heat is the amount of change that is required to change the temperature of 1 gram by 1ºC. I also learned that specific heat=energy/(mass x Δ temperature), and specific heat=Joules (J)/(grams x ºC).

With specific heat, the greater the mass, the greater the amount of energy used to increase temperature change with a larger mass. When we were working on the worksheet on this topic almost every problem was dealing with water. It included the specific heat of it which is 4.18 j/g°c.

 This graph shows the Triple Point of water.
The triple point is the point where a substance
is in between all three states of matter. The substance would continually be changing into those states. Although it is possible with water it would take advanced technology to do so.

We learned about graphing the change in states of matter: from solid to liquid, solid to gas, etc. We then learned that two factors affected the changed states of matter: pressure (atm) and temperature (ºC). The regions correspond with the state it is in and you are able to determine he amount of pressure and temperature would be needed to go to that state. The lines splitting the regions are where the matter would change from one state to another. For example the line splitting solid of liquid would mean that something is melting  (solid to liquid) or freezing (liquid to a solid). Mr. Abud gave us a worksheet on this and I did pretty good after I understood how to read the graphs.

My predictions for next week are that we will learn more about specific heat and I will get an even greater understanding of the concept. I feel pretty secure on what we are learning and hopefully it will stay that way. I’m actually writing my blog on paper because I haven’t had a computer for moment. Hopefully I will have next week, but if not my blogs and my presentation are going to be really late. L

Chem Blog Week 10

Before, I would confuse the three and said that they were the same thing. However, heat is the transferring of energy, while, the energy itself is just energy. Think of an Mp3 being energy and the iPod, computer, or CD being heat; it is just a different way the energy is stored but it is still the same energy.(More about that below!)

I also learned about how two substances of different temperatures  affect the overall temperature and the amount of heat when they are separately put into two containers of the same liquid at the same temperature. We did an experiment to find what would make a greater effect on the water overall: the hotter water with a smaller amount or the warm water with more water in that container. We found that the cup with more water in it, while being not as hot affected the temperature more that the other water. So the degree of hotness (temperature) depends on the speed of the particles and not the number of particles. The larger cup’s particle lacked in speed, but had greater mass. So mass and speed determined its greater energy input. While it took some people a while to understand what we had just learned, it came to me pretty easily (Once again,thanks Eureka!). It taught, along with Mr. Abud that the degree of hotness=temperature. The quantity of hotness=energy(heat).

We also learned that there are three principles of energy: Energy is a substance-like quantity that can be stored in a physical system, Energy can be “transferred” from one system to another and so cause changes in the system, and that energy still remains the same even after being transferred.
But, energy is not tangible. You can’t touch it or measure its mass on a balance. However, it can be transferred as well as stored. In Physics last year we were taught about different types of energy (kinetic, elastic, ect.) and that it would change. But like the example I was talking about earlier, just like music, even if energy moved in different ways, energy still remains the same. It doesn't change. Therefore, the quantity of energy can be changed, but the degree energy cannot be changed.On Friday Mr. Abud was not but we were able to communicate with him on someone’s iPad. He told us to work on a worksheet that dealed with boiling points and sumblimation. I am not very sure about that worksheet but hopefully we will talk more about it on Monday.

 Our thermoses are due on Monday and thankfully I didn’t leave to the last second because that would have been a nightmare! I am just putting on the finishing pieces. Hopefully it works well because I worked really hard on it. This week has been pretty stressful because I was gone on Friday and since the holiday is coming the week is even more busier than usual. But I’m getting through this weekend slowly but surely!

 

Chem Blog Week 9

This week in class, we learned how to measure atmospheric pressure using a barometer we had to make for a project, and how to mathematically find the pressure, temperature, volume, and number of particles.

We previously learned that a barometer measures atmospheric pressure. During the past weekend we were told to make one out of household materials. I used the more common model, (a jar with a balloon on top and a straw) but I made it to work efficiently by including a guide and a stand for the barometer.  Mr. Abud really liked mine and he did so much that he tweeted it!

We later went outside to experiment with our barometers. The moment we went outside my barometer began to react to the increase of atmospheric pressure. The needle went up outside because of two factors: temperature and pressure. Since it was cold outside and there weren't many clouds in the sky, this meant that the cold air, denser than the warm air, pushed down on the warm air, or the warm air remained above the cold air. Thus, air pressure increased. Since it was cold outside, I figured the cold air pushed down, but not necessarily on the warm air. It may not have pushed down on the warm air because it is possible that the water evaporated because the air was warm enough to do so, and then the clouds condensed before the cold air pushed down. Even in my car on the way to class, the pressure was measure being low because the heat was on so I was really excited that I kind of learned something before the class did. I also noticed that the needle on the barometer went up because the colder air exerted greater pressure on the balloon, thus accounting for the increasing downward force. Then, as the balloon is pushed downward, the needle goes up because of the elasticity in the balloon providing a counter upward force (torque) to lift up the balloon at the point where the balloon dips. I also learned that as we went inside, atmospheric pressure went down, since the atmosphere inside is mostly warm air. Therefore, the decreasing pressure pushing onto the balloon causes the needle to go down.

This week, I also learned how to do mathematical problems involving temperature, volume, number of particles, and pressure. I learned that the secret to do these problems is to keep in mind that when you are trying to find the change of one of the factors, you have to make that you keep them proportionately related to each other. I am a little bit shaky on this but hopefully I should be able to understand it next week.

This week was slightly complicated because I am actually in St. Louis typing this “rough draft” of my blog because the hotel has terrible Wi-Fi and I won’t be able to send it to you! So I’m sorry in advance for this being late. Hopefully I should be able to catch up on what I missed on Friday.

Chem Blog Week 8

While this week was stressful, I had a bunch of fun in #ChemT3am!

This week, we learned about pressure affecting the motion of a medicine dropper using 2-liter bottle filled with water–one with the opening welded shut and the other in an open system. I learned that as we squeezed the pop bottles, the medicine dropper went down because the volume decreased, making the pressure increase. So, these two factors caused the force to go upward. As the force reached to the top, there was even less volume to go up, since the dropper  provided some resistance, so the force went downward since it was exerted onto the medicine dropper. But, since one was in a closed system and the other was in an open system, the one in the closed system went down easier since nothing went into the syringe needle and resisted going down. However, in the open system, there was upward resistance in medicine bottle since some water got into it, but it wasn't enough to prevent the downward force since it had greater pressure than the upward resistance, thus causing the dropper to go down.

I also learned how the temperature affects the motion of particles in glow sticks. My group and I experimented with the different temperatures of water and put the glow sticks in the water.  We put 3 glow sticks in 3 different temperature conditions: warm water from the burner, water with ice added and room temperature water. We found that the relationship between the brightness of the glow sticks and the temperature is that as the temperature increased, the brightness increased because the temperature increased the motion of particles. However, the glow sticks in the cooler water didn't glow as much because the particles were more closer together, didn't move as quickly, and didn't move greater distances. So maybe that is why the package said to keep it away from heat because if we kept putting it hot water the glow stick company would go out of business!

When we were reviewing our previous labs, Mr. Abud gave us a challenge to find the point of temperature where there would be absolutely zero movement in particles. We came up with a very close temperature to the actually temperature of -273.15°c. We were then told that this temperature is called Absolute Zero. This is the point when there is no movement with particles and it is measured in Kelvins.

This weekend we were given the assignment to create a barometer out of household materials . A barometer is an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure, and how it works is that the liquid (water for my barometer) inside of it expands or contracts depending on the amount of pressure. We also learned about the manometer. A manometer measures  the difference in pressure from atmosphere to a system of gas, which is how the two instruments are different from each other.

This past week was a very busy one because it was the last week of the quarter. But chemistry was the only class I was not losing sleep about. When I am class I learn so much and since we don’t receive homework I am able to have the information settle in my brain instead of it spewing out on a worksheet. Even with the experiment given, I was able to finish it within an hour and it only took that long because I was making it “fancy”.

 

Chem Blog Week 7

In chemistry this week, I learned about expansion, contraction, and the relationship between pressure, volume, temperature, and the number of particles. On Monday, We talked about the ethanol and water experiment.Both were heated with the burner for the same amount of time and given energy through the process of heating–and why the ethanol in the tube rose while the water didn't as much. This is due to  expansion. Expansion is when a liquid takes up more volume as its volume is increased by more energy input through heating. Therefore, expansion occurred in the ethanol while heating occurred. The heating caused the particles to spread out over a longer distance, therefore, causing the ethanol level to increase.Throughout the week, we learned the opposite of expansion–contraction. Contraction is where the volume of a liquid is going down as a result of it cooling down. As the liquid cools down, the particles get closer and closer together. They don't spread out. Therefore, the volume goes down as the particles become more densely packed from cooling.The connection between expansion and contraction is how they affect the overall density as well as volume of a liquid. Through expansion, the volume increases, meaning that the density is going to decrease since the number of particles and mass remain the same with increasing volume. As for contraction, the volume increases. Therefore, the density will increase since the number of particles and mass remain unchanged with a decreasing volume. Therefore, expansion andcontraction affect not only the volumeof a liquid, but also its density. Pressure is the physical force exerted from one object onto another object, which can be represented by the formula: pressure=force/given area. In this case, the air particles exerted their physical force onto the water particles.Pressure, though, is affected based on the force exerted onto the area, which means that the greater the area or volume, the less the pressure. If the area were less, though, then the pressure would be greater. Pressure is affected because the greater the area is, the greater the resistance to apply pressure is. Therefore, the pressure is less than if there were a lesser area that pressure would exert with less resistance. This also applies to the experiment Mr. Abud showed us. He brought out a latex glove and the device that resembled a bed of nails. He first placed the baloon on the bed with rows of nails and when he pressed down the glove did not pop, however when there was only one nail and the glove was placed it popped quickly because the area that the force applied to was not as large a before therefore the amount of pressure was increased at that spot making the glove pop. Throughout the week, the focus was on pressure, volume, temperature, and the number of particles. In class Mr. Abud gave us 4 different types of experiments our group was given the challenge to find the relationship between pressure and temperature. What our group found was that the relationship between temperature and pressure is that since increasing temperature would increase the volume, then the pressure would decrease. Therefore, the more the temperature is, the less the pressure is.The relationship between volume and temperature was a direct one. The greater the temperature was, the greater the volume. The reason for this is because the greater the temperature, the greater the energy input through the process of heating. This would cause the particles in a liquid to separate farther from each other, thus increasing the volume.The relationship between the number of particles and pressure was direct. Thus, the greater the number of particles is, the greater the pressure is. However, temperature doesn't influence the number of particles because temperature doesn't determine the number of particles and the number of particles determines the temperature. Although I missed two days this past week I was able to catch up thanks to the #ChemT3am!

Chem Blog Week 6

This week, we learned about the motion of particles in solids, liquids, and gases, how energy and heat affect the motion of particles, and the different motions of particles and thanks to Eureka! and Mr. Abud I came to enjoy the dancing of the "little lumps". First, we learned about the different motions of particles. There are three types : translational motion, rotational motion, and vibrational motion. Translational motion is the motion of particles moving side to side. Rotational motion is the motion of particles moving from one point around and back to its initial point just like a ball would.Vibrational motion is the motion of particles moving through particles. Mr. Abud brought out  a block of dry ice and showed us that the ice was turning into steam immediately. This introduced sublimation. Sublimation is the process of matter turning from a solid to a gas without turning into a liquid. After showing us this, Mr. Abud told our groups to draw particle diagrams of what the particles would look like before and after. All of our diagrams looked the same but we did not know how to show movement. We came to the conclusion that our "whoosies" would be arrows and that the length of the arow would represent the speed of the particles. We were also reintroduced to vocabulary such as  rigid, meaning that they hold their own form and shape, and fluidity, meaning that the particles have more ability to flow and move. Liquids and gases are fluid. A liquid cannot hold its own shape except when it holds the shape of the container it's in.Gases move faster than liquids and move greater distances.The motion of the particles in these three states of matter vary because of how heat affects the motion of these particles. Heat is a form of energy transfered through heating.  Heat makes the particles move faster, therefore making a substance more less viscous, meaning that the particles become less resistant to move. The more heat the substances have, the more energy they  receive to put the particles in motion. Therefore, if solid, liquid, and gas particles are heated, then the particles move faster with greater energy at greater distances at this rate with greater energy. Also, what affects the motion of particles is temperature. Temperature is the measurement of the average amount of energy for all particles in a system. This means that the greater the temperature, the greater the amount of heat and energy. So, a greater temperature gives more heat and energy for the particles in any state of matter to move faster. The relationship between these three states of matter is that since the motion of their particles vary, their densities will too. Since a solid is rigid and the particles stay closer together they have the greatest density since the space between the particles is less than that of liquids and gases. Liquids, though, have lesser densities than solids, but densities greater than gases. Since the motion of the particles in a liquid are quicker and the particles move in different directions, the space between them is greater, therefore, the density is lesser. Gases have the least density because the space between their particles is the greatest since the particles can move faster than the particles of a solid and liquid. Although it seems very complicated written out, I understand it easily! This week was pretty fun and I got many of the questions I was asking myslef on monday answered. Except one... Where in the world did Mr. Abud buy dry ice???

Chem Blog Week 5

This week in chemistry was the most fun. We began the week by being introduced to our next experiment. Mr. Abud told us that our task was to find the density of two students. We also had to find out if boys had more volumes or if girls had more density. We began planning our experiment with a program on google drive that aloud the class to edit and contribute to the planning on our cell phones. When planning on how to find the students' densities my mind went quickly to the experiment we did last week with the Starbursts. We used water displacement to find the volume of the Starbursts so I knew that we could do it with people. The only problem was what we were going to measure them in. While planning, many kids came up with different ideas to use water displacement. I was stumped because I was trying to think of an object that to act as a graduated cylinder and fit a person in. We were atuck on the idea to use a pool and someone even said to use a hot tub! But then Mr. Abud went into the closet and came out with  a garbage can. We all saw this as a good idea because we knew that the can would be able to find the volume of the student using water displacement because we also knew how much the garbage can could also contain the student. We then added that in order to find their mass we needed something to collect the water lost from the garbage can so we decided that we would use a kiddie pool to surround the can. We were then ready for the experiment. The next day we the experiment and I was very excited. We began to prepare the experiment by filling the garbage  can with water with the shower in the classroom. We filled the shower to the brim and were told the can had 44 mL inside. With the garbage can in the kiddie pool. We put in the first person. But because it was our first trial not everything was perfect. Instead of slowly placing him inside the can they kind of dropped them in which made alot of the water go outside of the pool and onto the floor which messed of the data a bit. We then collected the water that was still inside the pool with 2 liter bottles and placed them on the table to be counted . I was very proud of our class because we worked together well from cleaning up the water to collecting the water. When we collected and wrote down the amount of water we went on to the next student. We used the water that we collected from the previous person and replaced the rest of the water with the shower. Because we learned to place the person in the water slower we were able to collect the water easier and without the mess. We found her volume and wrote it down and we also calculated their density because we also knew their weight we converted into kilograms. I really enjoyed this experiment and this past week and I hope that we do more of these types of experiments more!  

Chem Blog Week 4

Every week in chemistry we learn something new, however everything I learned got applied to what I learned in the past and my past information became so much clearer. This week, we did an experiment using candy of all things. While I am not a particular “sweets person” I was intrigued with what Mr. Abud had in mind for them. He told us that we needed to find the volume of the candy. A few groups got Starbursts and the rest of the groups got M&M’s. In our first trial to find the volume we used a graduated cylinder and filled it up with an exact amount of water. We then placed the candy (wrapper and all) into the cylinder and subtracted the total volume from the volume gained due to the Starburst. We then were told that we should find the volume of the candy without the wrapper. When we did this we found that the wrapper (while lightweight and thin) affected the total volume more than expected. After the experiment Mr. Abud told the class about water displacement. This was the strategy to find the volume of the candy. Like I said from the start, even though I knew about water displacement, I was able to get a greater understanding of it!

The next day we were told by our sub to find the thickness of aluminum foil. We first found the mass of the piece of aluminum we were going to measure to also find the density. We then measured the length and width of the square which made it able for us to find the thickness. My original plan was to get a square of aluminum foil then foil it continuously until we could measure it with a ruler and then divide the number of layers of foil. But then thinking about it, I knew it was way too complicated to do and it would be almost inevitable to be precise. After the experiment the class came up with a variety of results for the aluminum foil. So to get a consensus, we did an average of all the data. On Friday we talked more about this and the particle diagram of the front and side of the foil. This then brought up the thought that particles could be different sizes but then I thought if we are unable to see these actual particles how do we know what size they are. Oh well, we’ll find out Monday…

The following day, we were told to find the volume of a gas. Mr. Abud gave us some beakers, a trough, an fizzing tablet, a tube connected to another beaker and something that reminded me of a giant contact lens. What we needed to do was fist fill the trough with water we then had to fill two of the beakers with water and flip them over into the trough without losing any of the water inside. I was bestowed with this difficult and messy task. We used the first beaker in the trough and slid it over a hole which was attached to a plug inserted in another beaker. We filled this beaker with water and put in the tablet then covered the beaker quickly with our plug. The gas that came from the tablet went up the beaker, through the tube and into the beaker in the trough. Due to water displacement, the air to the place of the water and we were able to find the volume of the gas.

Overall this week has been very exciting and I learned a lot, including something about myself. When taking my reassessment, I found out that I sometimes think about things too hard and it only gets me into more trouble. I just need to be calm and all the answers will come to me.

Chem blog week 3

This week we introduced density and reviewed volume and density by doing and experiment with different liquids. What happened was that each group got a different type of liquid. The choices varied from water, oil, fruit drinks and a few carbonated drinks which included them being diet and original. In my group we measured the Diet Coke. We first found the mass of the drink which involved a lot of patience due to the bubbles deceiving the eyes until it fizzled down. We did this five times with five different levels on the graduated cylinder which measured from 10mL to 50mL. When we finished calculating our data we were then notified that everyone else had subtracted the mass of the cylinder so we had to edit our results before we submitted them on Lino. (Which that day I found out was pronounced LY-NO). We then discussed the experiment and we came to the conclusion that density equals mass divided by the volume. Along with the formula came two tricks to remember them: "hearts and arrows"and "mountains over valleys". I can just see people making the shapes with their arms during midterms. We then listed all of the liquids in order of density from least to greatest. Contrary to my hypothesis, oil ended up being the least dense liquid even though oil seems so thick. Also water came second to last which was also against what I planned. I tried to understand why it worked out the way it did but all of my solutions had flaws. That will be something that I will have to find out next week. In our experiment we also showed particle diagrams of what we thought the liquids particles would be formed close up. I pictures depicted that with less density there would be less particles and with more density, more particles. Mr. Abud then showed us how our information could be applied worth vegetable oil and water. Of course everyone said the oil would float because it was light but Mr. Abud also acknowledged that the water was denser than the oil. While I knew the oil would float based on past experiences I never really thought about why it actually happened. Also this week we had our first chemistry assessment. While a lot of people were kind of stressed out about it and trying to cram I was pretty calm due to the fact that in physics last year we also had assessments and if you don't do as awesome as you would have liked to or now understand an aspect of the unit we have reassessments. When I took the assessment I was very confident on some things and a few things I had no idea how to solve them. But thankfully I got through it finding almost everything out I was struggling on. This week I was able to catch up on everything easily and the things that we learned about volume and mass totally correspond with what we are learning about density. Everything is going great in chemistry and each week I get more and more excited about the following week.

Chem blog week 2

 Even though I missed a few days of chemistry this week i still got a brain full! This week we were learning a lot about mass and volume. Before the two used to just get jumbled together but now I know the actual difference. While mass is the amount the object contains volume is the amount of volume it has. I was able to apply this knowledge to an experiment we had to do involving different  prisms. But when finding the measurements out we found that in order to be accurate I would have to use not only use the volume we measured, but the one we calculated. This is more accurate because sometimes we get things wrong but that is just human error and by calculating it we are able to be more sure in our results. The answer can also be different based on how you are measuring your object from on side the water was perfectly measured, and on the other it looked like it had less in the graduated  cylinder. Something else that was more reviewed than learned was that mass did not determine the size of the object and vice versa. We watched this cute video about it and though it was kinda funny it was completely true. For example, if you see a giant cube of  styrofoam next to a small block of lead some would believe that the larger block would have more mass. But the truth is that while the lead cube was smaller it was more massive. This is how volume and mass are different in one way: you can  determine volume based on the size of the object but you can't in finding the mass. I was gone Thursday and Friday but I was told that we did and experiment using different sized blocks and they needed to find their  mass and their volume. In order to find the volume we had to use the height and the length and in order to find find the mass we used the scale. That also brings up a point about accuracy. With the scale you have to very precise with your measurements, in not you overall data could be  incorrect and could affect the experiment greatly. They then learned that there is no actual relationship between mass and volume which is incredible to me because they used so much together. Overall this week has gone pretty well even though I missed a couple of days I should be able to catch up on everything the following week and do well on our first chem assessment but it is not the same as experiencing  the class and learning hands on. I believe that I put  in a lot of effort in chemistry this week and I was really involved with what we were learning. Next week I hope to learn more about volume and density and things that are connected with them. I am having a great time in chemistry and I am excited for next week to come!

Chem Blog Week 1

This first week has been very enjoyable. I learned that it is not always about the answer but instead it is what is behind the answer. I also learned this week that there is a great amount of answers to on e question and infinite solutions. This week we did the "fire in a can" experiment. We were then told to describe it at its smallest possible point. This is how Mr. Abud introduced us to the term "particles". We use this word instead of atoms because we only know of atoms because we were told about them and none from personal experience. took this class so I could learn more about chemistry to be prepared for AP Bio next year. Mr. Abud is a great teacher because he uses different types of teaching strategies which are really helpful and exciting. It is fun that we are using blogs and twitter accounts to learn than just worksheets. While I do see Honors Chem as being a challenge, it not impossible as it seems and I am looking forward to what the rest of the year brings.