Construction of an Air Bag Lab

Today we were instructed to form a procedure and equations to figure out the amount of baking soda and vinegar needed to fill a random size plastic bag. When our class first heard the instructions, we were a bit confused and intimidated. But after some deliberation we all figured out how to make this happen. After all, everything worked out and we all passed the lab! Here are some links i used as research:
http://sciencenetlinks.com/student-teacher-sheets/its-crash-test-dummy-student-lab/
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemicalreactions/f/What-Is-The-Equation-For-The-Reaction-Between-Baking-Soda-And-Vinegar.htm
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/acid-base-rocket/

Post- Quiz

After the quiz, i've realized that i definitely need to study more for the test next week. One thing i was confused on was the graphs, so i found this picture that helps.

Charles' and Avogadro's Laws

Charles' Law states that When the pressure on a sample of a dry gas is held constant, the Kelvin temperature and the volume will be directly related.
Charles' law

Avogadro's Law states that equal volumes of all gases, at the same temperature and pressure, have the same number of molecules. 
Avogadro's Law

Boyle's Law

For our first lecture, we talked about the first gas law, boyles law. Boyle's law tells us that pressure and volume is an inverse relationship.

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/boyle.html

Links n Stuff

Temp vs heat
Types of energy
Measuring energy changes
Calculating Heat
Phase changes
Heating and cooling curves

Biodiesel Summary

In this unit, we learned about how many affects that diesel fuel has on the environment, and how biodiesel is the better choice. We also made our own biodiesel using the chemical reaction shown above. Once we had our fuel, we constructed boats to race using our fuel. Addie and I's boat came in 1st! We were very excited to have our hard work pay off. I enjoyed the environmental aspect of this unit very much! Here are some links to better inform you of what biodiesel is and does:
http://biodiesel.org/
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/biodiesel.html
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/biodiesel.shtml
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel.html
http://nbb.org/
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/st-louis-pizza-powerhouse-branches-off-into-alternative-fuels/article_236ca250-8e21-5e9a-8244-f7341675e9c5.html

Specific Heat Lab

In our first lab of the new unit, we tested the specific heat of copper and iron. Our group did copper. We tested the temperature of our tap water, then boiled our copper in a test tube in a hot water bath. The lab was short and somewhat interesting, but not my favorite. This lab did help me visualize what is happeneing in our practice problems and on tests. 

Biodiesel Oil Spill

A terrible thing happened in Mrs. Frankenbergs room this week. Several groups biodiesel was lost, all that hard work, gone. Luckily, ours was saved. Ours burned hot and fast. The whole room smelled like fries after everyone tested their oil! I can't wait for the boat race results! 

Lab Day 1

Today was the first day of our biodiesel lab! We mixed the used vegetable oil with our base and cooked it for 25 minutes. Once we took it off the heat, it already started separating. I can't wait to see wheat the product will look like fully separated tomorrow! 

Helpful Links and Pictures to Help Study!

Molecular Polarity
Molecular Geometry

Molecular Polarity

Molecular polarity is determining which part of a molecule has an imbalance of charge that is spread across unevenly. The molecular structure has to be figured out first as well as the electronic geometry. Here are some links to help better explain molecular polarity!
How to Determine Molecular Polarity
Molecular Polarity

First Lecture of the New Unit!

We began our new unit, Chemical Bonding. SO far it has been pretty simple! I remember most of the material from physical science, but of course it won't ever just be that simple! In order to create a good foundation, i have been researching and finding links that can explain even the easiest concepts, so i hope these links help you as well!

Intro to Chemical Bonding
Lewis Structures

The Night Before the Exam

I feel fairly confident about the test tomorrow. There is still some studying ahead of me for tonight, but it shouldn't be too bad! I'm using practice tests and helpful links to study from. Videos seem to help me a lot as well! I hope we all do well on this test!

Study Links!

Wavelength
Periodic Trends
Electron Configuration

These are a few of the links ive been using to study with. I found that the periodic trend questions on that link are very helpful! I hope these help!

Periodic Trends

The picture above has helped me put all of the information that we learned today into a couple simple sentences. Today's lecture wasn't necessarily difficult but was just a lot of information and i have a feeling that its going to take me a lot of practice to remember all the differences. But with studying, we all should do fine on the test! Hopefully!

Electron Configuration

Electron configuration is one of the easier things we have learned this unit. To me i look at it as a puzzle and to solve it you have to trace where the element has been. Heres a link that can explain it in more depth than i can! I hope that helps!


http://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/sstutorial/Text5/Tx54/tx54.html

Waves and Photons

Our first lecture was essentially an introduction to our unit. We learned about the wave nature of light, which i have found a very helpful link for right here:
The Wave Nature of Light

We also learned about photons and the Quantization of energy, which has a link as well:
Quantized energy and Photons

I hope these links help!

Flame test lab

In this lab, we had several different sticks soaked in different metals and elements. Each one burned a different color depending on what the metal compound consisted of. I really enjoyed this lab, for we could see how the different wavelengths affected the color of the flame. 

Study Links

Here are some links i used during this unit to help study with. I hope they help!

Titration
Acid base titrarions
Neutralization

Vinegar and Acid Lab

In this lab we were given KHP and had to determine the molarity of the NaOH solution we were given. This lab and its calculations we extremely helpful and fun when trying to get the exact results you want. It was crazy to see that just one drop could ruin your whole percent error value! 

Finding the pH of a Solution

https://www.chem.purdue.edu/gchelp/howtosolveit/Equilibrium/Calculating_pHandpOH.htm
http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Acids_and_Bases/Aqueous_Solutions/The_pH_Scale/Determining_and_Calculating_pH

I know it took me a lot of practice to really memorize how to find the pH of solutions, but after using these links and much practice, they have become much easier! I hope they help!

Unknown Acid Lab

In this lab, we conducted nearly the same lab as the Acid and Vinegar lab, but this time we had an unknown acid and had to titrate it. I enjoyed this lab because we got to use equipment we haven't before, such as the stirrers shown in the photo above. This lab has helped me see how the process of titration is done which is helpful for me when trying to study! 

Weak Acids

Finding the pH of weak acids are probably one the the most time consuming problems of this unit. If you follow a small set of steps, it shouldn't be as difficult.
Step one: Write down the involved species and determine the dominant species to determine who will contribute the most H+
Step two:Write the equilibrium expression.
Step three: Proceed with ICE box and solve for x.
Step four: Solve for pH or H+

Here is a link to a website that walks you through how to do an example of one of these problems. I hope that helps!
weak acids

Vitamin C lab

Unfortunately, I wasn't here in class the day of this lab, but I read the background information and the procedure, as well as being filled in from my partners. This physical representation of how the iodine reacts with all of the vitamin C before it does with the starch was a good introduction to how acids and bases react with one another. This was overall a helpful lab! 

Helpful links

Here are some links to help more understand molarity and this unit! I hope they help!
http://www.chemteam.info/Solutions/Molarity.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molar_concentration
http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Analytical_Chemistry/Quantitative_Analysis/Titration/Acid-Base_Titrations
http://chemcollective.org/activities/tutorials/stoich/solution_stoi
https://chemistry11mrstandring.wikispaces.com/Stoichiometry+Calculations+Involving+Molar+Concentration
http://www.occc.edu/kmbailey/Chem1115Tutorials/Molarity.htm

Test review

Today our teacher was out sick today so our friend Ganon helped us review our last quiz which helped me understand where I went wrong. We should have these review sessions more often!

Heres a picture that i found today that helped a lot too!

Murder lab

We played clue with this lab! We were given 5 suspects and had to determine which poison was used to kill the victim. I really liked this lab because of the Context we had and the investigation side of it. We figured out the murder weapon was silver nitrate, which narrowed the suspects down. We did this by testing the unknown product with NaCl and Na2CO3 and saw which one formed a solid and which one didn't. I can't wait to find out who did it tomorrow once the product dries!

Dilution Lab

Today in lab we performed a dilution experiment. We took a concentrated solution and diluted it down 5 times until the color could no longer be seen. This lab helped me physically see what was going on during subsequent dilution problems.