Final Blog Reflection

                 We are coming to the end of the trimester so this will be my final blog reflection on Chemistry 2A. This final unit we mostly practiced the balancing of chemical reactions. We also did various experiments including the Nail Lab and the Patterns of Chemical Reactions lab. For the nail lab we followed a specific procedure that (as stated in past blog) started off looking like this:

After we waited for the reaction to occur over the weekend, the nails became rusted and the liquid inside became an orangish brown with mush at the bottom. The mass of the nails and the content ended up being less than the original weight they started at. The determined ratio of the iron to copper was approximately 1:1... These were our observations from this lab to continue with the unit and incorporate this info with the rest.

                We then did many worksheets to practice the balancing of chemical equations/reactions. Below is an example of one: 

              After doing many of these worksheets and practicing this technique we conducted a lab with many stations to connect our current knowledge with real life experiences. For many of the labs we combined pieces of matter (+liquid) and saw how they reacted. We also tested how different gases affected each other and other substances. I.e. in one lab we filled tube with gaseous substance (oxygen) and lit a match. When we blew out the match it would then relight when placed in the tube. After the lab we directly connected our outcomes with a worksheet handed out. Here is an example of one: 

                This unit tied into our other units in multiple ways. For many of our units we reviewed equations, how to break them down, name them, observe them and now how to balance them. These all were connected to reveal a final understanding of different equations and the periodic table. In previous units we also went over charges of atoms. This correlated with our use of balancing equations and relating numbers to proportions of elements. 

               My strengths this trimester were asking my peers for help on material, connective what I've learned in pervious units to current ones, and collaborating with my table mates about certain difficult problems. My weaknesses were getting distracted at times, not understanding some warmups (journals), and not connecting labs that we conducted to worksheets in class. To improve my grade in this class, I took a lot of time studying material and asking things questions to make sure I'm right. I also kept track with homework and blog entries (after the first one wasn't working). What I would have done differently was come in at lunches to get extra help before tests, and stayed on task 100% of the time. 

              I think this course was taught and laid out very well. Whiteboard discussions helped me understand each worksheet, and blog reflections made me think about the content in a more extensive manner. Although, I think we had a bit too many worksheets which made work difficult to keep track of but on the other hand provided us with a lot of study resources. The labs were well organized and correlated with the subject of the unit! I usually remember things through visuals and hands on activities so these helped me a lot throughout the trimester. 

             I would recommend less worksheets and more white boarding or labs. This is because we didn't have time to get to all of the paperwork and it got me confused on which sheets we should be working on, complete in class or at home, and study off of. Other than that everything in the class turned out very well!!! I think that the blog assignments shouldn't have a designated number of words required. This is because, some people find it easier to present quality work that includes all of their ideas with more or less writing. I don't think there should be any restrictions here because it will make some students have to delete some of their ideas or add unnecessary ones. ]

           That concludes my final blog for Chemistry 2A!!! I hope you enjoyed my weekly updates... :) 

                

Week 7

                   These past two weeks we learned about two units. The first unit was about the test we recently took, and later in the week we started a new unit! I stapled a lot of the sheets for unit six together so that I could study efficiently. In unit six we covered molecular and ionic compounds. One of the first labs that we did was the stick tape lab. For this, we measured the charge and movement of charges in particular items through a 1 day experiment. We began with four individual pieces of tape and labelled them top and bottom tape. Then we tore those pieces apart and hung them on a stand. We tested how the tape reacted when the opposite tape (top and bottom) cam closer to each other and also the top and top tapes. We also observed how the interacted with non-paper (metal) and paper. We concluded that opposites attract and similar charged items repel. The metal and paper tests also helped us examine how particle movement varies with different material. We elaborated on that concept later in the week. I understood this lab and could relate it to previous experiments and activities that I did to prove this theory on charges. Below is a picture of our sticky tape lab sheet:

                    Next we did a lab about conductivity. We did multiple measurements on what was conductive and not conductive. I mentioned this in my previous post, but it ties into the material on the test so I will describe it again. We took a stick with metal prongs at the end and put it on different pieces of matter see if they were conductive or not. I won't go into detail because I discussed it last week. But I participated a lot in this lab! We all contributed to the data collecting and were interested in the results... Here were our results: 

                  Before the test we also did a lot of practice on naming molecular and ionic compounds. We were given a pink sheet of the charge of each ion etc, and a periodic table. We learned various prefixes to help us name molecular compounds such as mono, di, tri, tetra, etc. This was part of the test that I think I did well on but could've made a minor mistake on one or two questions. We color coded our periodic table for metals, non-metals, transition metals, and diatomic elements. This helped us answer if a compound was molecular or ionic because ionic is metal and non-metal, and molecular is composed of both non-metals. This is how we color coded our periodic table!!: 

                 I studied for the test and felt prepared but still had two questions at the beginning of class that I still couldn't figure out. One was, why do some compounds that turn liquid become conductive? This is because the atoms become more spread so they aren't too close and eliminate each other... Therefore the substance can conduct electricity. I asked my other question to my table group and we came to a conclusion; what happens if two pieces of tape are placed on either side of a metal strip? We may have been wrong but said they would remain unchanged because the forces cancel out. This is a question I can ask you and the whole class on Monday! Here is a picture of the question i had: 

                Overall, I think i did well on the test but make a few mistakes (on diagrams etc.). We also started a new unit near the end of this week and will be continuing it. In unit 7 we will be covering chemical reactions. We began by practicing the rearrangement of atoms. We did this by first drawing diagrams of the atoms in each compound. We did a lot of practice with this. We also started a lab; the nail lab. We will continue this lab on Monday because our beaker with copper, chloride, dihydrate, and nails is sitting over the weekend. That was what our class has been doing since my last post :)... Here is a picture of what our beaker looked like during class (Day 1):