The Airbag Lab Results

This was without doubt, the most stressful lab I have ever done. I am almost had a heart attack before I inflated my bag. As you probably read in my post below, we had to write our own procedure from scratch for this lab. I had a pretty good procedure so I got into the lab today. After we got in, I started doing the calculations as I needed to know how much of each substance to use. This was the part of time where I made a crucial mistake. Because I didn't want to explode my bag with too much gas, I only decided to fill the bag up with 90% of the volume that I found. This was a group decision made by my group of friends as we talked it over a couple of times. This cost the lab for some of us. We had under-inflated the bag and were close to failing the lab. I barely passed, but I feel bad for those in my group that didn't pass. I don't know if it is too much to ask, but I would like for them to get a redo on the experiment, or some other way to make up for what is done. I am only saying this because this lab was crucial for some of us. Other than that, today was a decently fun day. I had some insane luck today. Probably because I prayed to Shiva the previous night.

Dylan, just chillin'

Web Resources for the Gas Laws Unit

These are a couple of the web resources that I used to prepare for the quiz. They could also be used to prepare for the unit test. Hopefully you will like these links.

1. Boyle's Law -  This is a video that teaches and shows how Boyle's law works.
2. Charles Law - This is a quick lesson that explains Charles law and shows a practice problem.
3. Avogadro's Law - This is also a quick lesson that explains and shows how Avogadro's law works.
4. Ideal Gas Law - This contains a simulation of how the ideal gas law works.
5. Practice problems for Boyle's Law - This contains practice problems for Boyle's law.
6. Combined Gas law practice - This contains a few combined gas law practice problems.

I really hope these links were useful to you. I wish you good luck on the airbag lab and the unit test.

The Ideal Gas Law and preparing for the Airbag Lab

On Friday, we learned about the ideal gas law. I learned that every gas law that we are learning about in class is about an ideal gas. I also learned that real gases react unpredictably. We learned about the ideal gas law formula and how to use that in questions. Most of the times, this law is used to find a medium that allows us to find the answer.  These practice questions didn't seem too hard, but these questions on the test are what are hard. This is the ideal gas law formula:

http://www.calctool.org/CALC/chem/c_thermo/ideal_gas

After lecture, we talked about the most interesting lab ever, the inflate an airbag lab. In this lab, we have to write our own procedure and we don't know anything about the size of the bag or the amount of stuff we need to use to inflate the bag. I think I have the procedure down already but I am really stressed. This lab is a pass or fail lab and is worth 20 points. I have to get a 100 percent on this or I am gonna have to take my exempted final. GOD, wish me luck.

Gas Laws Quiz

This quiz was honestly not that hard. I don't exactly know how to explain it, but I didn't think it was that hard. All it was was the different gas laws and questions relating to that. The test had a lot of conceptual questions. The math part was the easy part of the test. It was 20 questions, and that took a toll on me. I missed 4 questions and that really endangered my grade. However, since it was a quiz, it really didn't affect my grade that much. I still need to see what I got wrong as that will help me prepare for the unit test. This test determines whether or not I will take the final. I need all the luck in the world for the next week.

Boyle's and Charles' Law Lecture

Today and yesterday, we learned about gas, and its laws. We also learned about the names of the guys who created these gas laws. The first one we learned about was Boyle's law. In Boyle's law, temperature and amount are constant. Boyle's law tells us that temperature and volume hold an inverse relationship. We also learned about the units of pressure and the relationship between the units and its conversions. We use these conversion factors in the problems. The practice problems seemed fairly easy. Then again, practice problems are always easy. The ones on the tests are the really hard ones. Charles's Law tells us that temperature and volume vary directly with each other. Also Charles' law requires gas temperature to be in Kelvin. Problems related to Charles' laws are also fairly easy. Apparently, the lecture and problems will get harder starting from Monday.

Boyle's Law; http://juldasgases.weebly.com/boyles-law.html

Charles' Law; http://agaul01.blogspot.com/2014/04/boyles-charles-law-in-relation-to.html

Web Resources for the Energy Unit

Here are a few links for the energy unit. They are pretty useful.

1. Heat and Specific Heat
2. Calculating Specific Heat
3. Specific Heat Calculation practice problems
4. Phase Diagrams
5. Heating and Cooling Curves
6. Inter-molecular Forces

These are all good resources for this unit. Would be useful for the final, if you are taking it. :)

Unit Test for Energy Unit

Imagine you are doing a challenge. You have 28 minutes to do this challenge and a lot is staked on this challenge. You are under tremendous pressure, but you need to succeed. This is exactly how the unit test felt like. 22 questions in 28 mins. This seemed impossible, until I did it successfully. This unit test seemed hard, but it was not that hard. I actually finished the test in 18 mins and spent the next 10 mins revising. A lot depends on this test though. Like my whole semester grade. I am not taking the final at any cost. I really hope I did good.

It's all I got

Specific Heat Capacity of a Metal Lab

About 4 days ago, we did a lab to measure the specific heat of metals. My group did Copper. The procedure told us to get the metal to 100.0 degree Celsius and then drop it into room temperature water and then measure the highest temperature. This allowed us to calculate the specific heat of the metal. We did all of this and somehow yielded a percent error of only 1.55%!!! I don't know how but we did a great job on this lab. We weren't graded on percent error but I was still pretty happy. Here are a few pictures from the lab.

Web Resources for Biodiesel unit

These are a couple resources that talk about things relating to this whole unit. I'm sorry I don't have an explanation but they are all kind of self explanatory.

1. Biodiesel Video Contest Guidelines
2. Biodiesel Benefits
3. How to make a YouTube account for Biodiesel Contest
4. How to make Biodiesel
5. How to make a put put boat
6. How put put boat engines work

Hope these were helpful. May have been a little late, but still is useful.

Boat Race

This might have been one of the most intense boat races in the history of boat races. This is mainly due to the prize money. I know it won't sound like much, but the prize was extra credit. Although extra credit is not even that good a prize for other students, it is a goldmine for students in pre-ap chemistry. Although it was intense, it was still a fun race. Making the boat was the only stressful part. I didn't have a hard time making the boat, but I did have a hard time with the placement of the engine. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't figure it out. Then, I found out the next day with a little help from Mrs. Frankenberg. And then we finished our boat. After that, we just gave it a test run and then we were kind of done with it. Then, on Thursday, we raced. We went first and got 22 secs. We were in first place then. And then we weren't after some time. We didn't get extra credit in the end. However, I was still happy because at least we got full points. I am looking froward to summer. That's all I can say for now.

Dylan holding his prize boat for the slowest time!

Biodiesel Lab

This was probably one of the more fun labs that we have had this year. In this lab, we made biodiesel using corn oil. We first mixed corn oil and kOH/methanol solution. Then, we heated this mixture in a water bath for 25 mins. Then, we poured it into a cup and let it sit for a day. The next day, way separated the biodiesel from the glycerol at the bottom. The purpose of this lab was to create our own biodiesel to use for our boat. We are going to have a boat race contest in which we use our own boat and biodiesel to race. We are going to have the race in about a week. We still need to make our boats, so I better get started. I hope we win in the race, because the winner gets extra credit!

Biodiesel Video Contest

This last week we worked on making a Biodiesel video to submit to the Biodiesel video contest hosted by the American Lung Association. Our video was the best, until one of my classmates posted their video. The prize money is $1200 for first place. I feel like I am not gonna win that money anymore. The purpose was to make a video to educate people about the benefits of biodiesel in 1 min. We made a news cast video that was pretty good. I'd say we did a good job. We had a starting and ending news portion and the middle was stop-motion pictures and we had voice-overs. I can't wait till they announce the winners of the contest!

http://biodiesel.org/

Web Resources for the Chemical Bonding Unit

Here are a few web resources for this unit. They are not that helpful but they did clear a few doubts in my head. Some lectures are actually really useful.

1. Lewis Structures - This link shows how dot structures work and how single bonds in covalent compounds relate to dot structures.
2. Bond Energy and Length - This video explains this concept very well.
3. VSEPR Theory - This link shows and explains the VSEPR theory.
4. Difference in shape and geometry - This link shows the difference between electronic and molecular geometry and some other differences.
5. Polarity - This website does a good job explaining how polarity works in a molecule.
6. Dipole moment with electronegativity - This video does a good job explaining how dipole moments work.

All of these links are useful. I would advice you to use a couple of these for the final.

Unit Test for Chemical Bonding

This unit test didn't seem too hard. The one thing I didn't like about this test was the fact that it had over 45 questions. I typically don't like it when there are so many questions on a test. I mean there is no math involved but there was a lot of thinking involved in this test. I didn't study much but I felt like I didn't need to study. I thought the test went okay. However, when I checked my grade in class, it said I got a 54!!!

My heart stopped but a little bit later Mrs. Frankenberg said it was joke and said my real grade was an 80. Thank god. However, I still wasn't happy with my 80. I asked her to check the test and we found several mistakes in the test correcting thingy. Eventually my grade for the test went up to an 85. Man was I glad. Well that's it for this unit because there is not much to it left.

Modeling Lab

This lab wasn't what I'd say, interesting. The one thing unique about this lab was the fact that we actually went out of the classroom for this lab. We went to the library. This was the least dangerous lab ever. I believe DANGER=FUN. Now if you're like me then you probably didn't enjoy the lab. Either way, the lab was still a good learning experience. We all sat in tiny bean bag thingies that were pretty comfortable. However, they were too small for me so I just got the big chair instead. For the lab, we wrote down ideas on an idea table. The lab was just figuring out certain things about each covalent compound. This was good practice for the test. Our teacher was also around to answer any questions we had. In the end, this lab was good because we didn't need to turn in anything for this lab.

 Just Ben looking a little confused.

First Lesson: Lewis Dot Structures

This was one of the first lessons for this unit. Apparently this unit is connected to the previous unit. I wasn't too happy when I heard that. To be honest, I don't like it when there is no math involved with units. I feel more comfortable when I am dealing with numbers. This is mostly because it is easier to guess number answers. Anyways, I need to explain this lesson. Basically, Lewis Dot Structures are a way to represent the valence electrons in an atom. These weren't really the hard part of the lesson. After this, we talked about bonds and how they can create formal charge. This was the part we were lost in. Well, all units start this way. lets hope it gets better.

These are the dot structures of all the elements.

Web Resources for Electronic Structure Unit

Here are a few web resources for the Electronic structure unit. I know they are a little late for the unit test, but they did help me study. These could be helpful for the final.

1. Wavelength calculation practice - This link contains a couple practice problems relating to calculating wavelength or frequency. These problems are also in word problem format so they are useful for practicing for a test.
2. Electron Configuration lecture - If you are still a little confused about electron configuration, you need to watch this video.
3. Electron Configuration practice - This has very good electron configuration practice. I found these very useful.
4. Quantum Number lecture - I found this lecture very useful.
5. Quantum Number Exercise - This is a very interesting exercise. It isn't just regular practice problems. It is like a challenge.
6. Periodic Trend lecture - This video is by a college but it is still pretty good.

I won't say all of these are good links but most of them are good links. Be sure to look at some of these and you should be doing good in chemistry. If this can't help you, only God can help you.

Unit Test of Electronic Structure

This test was just, '..ehhh..'. I didn't really think it was that hard but at the same time I didn't think it was easy. The one thing that shocked me was the fact that this test was 50 questions long. I think that was the longest chemistry test ever. However, it didn't take much to answer each question. I did pretty good even though I had to stay to finish the test during the passing period. I feel pretty confident about this test. Even if I do screw up this test, I don't care. At this point in 3rd quarter, I am just done with school. My current goal for chemistry is being revised to achieving a 'B' instead of an 'A.' So whatever happens after this test, I'm cool with it. Only thing is that the tests are gonna go in after a long time. Since a lot of other people haven't taken this test, we need to wait for them to take it before putting it into the grade book.

Weekly Quiz for Electronic Structure and Periodic Trends

This quiz actually went pretty well. I know I don't usually say that but I actually thought I did pretty good. I am saying this because I was able to successfully apply what I learned to the quiz. That doesn't usually happen. The quiz was 30 questions--the most we've ever had--but it went by smoothly without too much time. The hardest part about a test for me is time. If I don't get a question right away, I tend to stay on that question till I get it. This is why I take tests longer than normal people. However, on this test, I had time to triple check my answers. I just have to say I am looking forward to when the quizzes come back.

Quantum Numbers Lecture

This was one of the easiest lectures ever. I mean she told us that as we walked in but I didn't believe her right away. However, I found my answers after the 7 minute lecture. Yup, that's right. This lecture lasted 7 minutes. Quantum numbers is a little bit difficult to explain but it was basically what we learned before put into number format. No more no less. I just hope lectures continue to be this way. Cuz hope is all I got left.

Spectroscopic Analysis Lab

This lab was the most boring in the history of all labs. I think that pretty much summarized the whole lab. The name sounded a little bit cool but the lab itself was not cool. We had this tiny but big machine for this lab. All we had to do was turn knobs and to find the amount of light in each color of test tube. We had to be accurate so it was pretty hard. The hardest part about the lab was that we had to repeat this over 50 times. That was it. I know I may have exaggerated a little bit but that was pretty much it.

First lectures on Electronic Structure

My first impression on this unit was pretty good. This unit started off pretty easy. The first part of this unit involved using formulas to calculate certain things involving light energy. We learned two basic formulas for the speed of light (C = frequency x wavelength) and energy (Planck's constant x frequency). We basically apply these two formulas to solve for one of the variables. We also have different units so we need to use the conversion factor to make correct calculations. We also learned about how to locate the electrons in an atom. This was very confusing at first as I had no background knowledge to understand the lecture. I did however catch on to the lesson and found it to be fairly easy. I hope it stays that way.

Flame Test Lab

This lab was one of our more interesting labs. As the name suggests, we had fire during our experiment. This is why I enjoyed it. The purpose of the lab was to see the color of the flames produced when certain metals burned and to determine the identity of an unknown metal. It was pretty cool to see the different kinds of flame colors. This was one of the most colorful labs I have ever done. I thought we would have more fun with fire, but I guess it was fine just to see the different colors of the fire. I was a little nervous at first as I have a reputation of messing up labs. I usually screw up on every lab I do. Although, this lab was more successful than any other lab. It went pretty smoothly. I look forward to doing more labs like this one.

Web Resources for the Acid-Base Unit

Here are a few helpful links for the acid-base unit:

1. Difference between Arrhenius and Bronsted Lowry Acids and Bases - This link talks about, well, the difference between these two types of acids and bases.
2. Conjugate acid-base pairs quiz - Pretty good quiz. There are few questions, but they are good questions.
3. pH and pOH practice problems - This is a big quiz and it has questions involving calculations of pH, pOH, H+, and OH-.
4. How to do ICE Box problems - This link shows you how to do ICE Box problems.
5. How to do Titration problems - This link shows you how to perform titration problems.
6. Practice Titration problems - This has practice titration questions. It is also from Khan Academy which is a very useful and reliable source.

Although I did not use all of these sources to prepare for the test, I still recommend them. I actually regret not using these for the test. Sure, I did already have a lot of practice to do, but I feel like I could have used more practice.

Molar Mass of Unknown Acid Lab

This was a very interesting yet very frustrating lab. It was pretty much the old lab but with a new acid that we had to find the molar mass of. Our last lab went smoothly so I thought this one would go by quick too. Boy was I wrong. The first time I titrated with my partner, we got a 16% error. We were shocked. We saved some time as we didn't have to re-standardize, but we still weren't fast enough to do 2 trials on the first day. We tried again the next day and got a 17% error. We kind of felt terrible. We decided to give it a 3rd try, and we hit jackpot. We got a 7% error. I was really happy. My partner, clearly wasn't satisfied. She wanted a less percent error. I got mad and decided to turn in the note-card alone while she took the test. Hehe. Now she can't change it. Oh well, I guess this lab was pretty fun.

Cool tornado inside a beaker

Percent Acetic Acid in Vinegar Lab

This lab was more fun than any other lab (I feel like I say that for every lab). The first thing I liked about this lab was that we had all the time in the world to do our titrations. We had 3 days to work on it and the first day was just a 'trial day' for the experiment. Of course, there was a catch to it. We were being graded on percent error in our titrations. If we put to much base in, we're..... in trouble. Other than the constant threat of messing up the lab, this lab was pretty fun. The color that the solution turned was cool. I mean it was pink, but the way it turned pink was cool. I really don't know what else to say so, cya guys.

Quiz on Acids and Bases

This quiz was the first time I knew what I was doing. I knew a majority of the questions from the practice test and so I was prepared to take this quiz. I came in confident and I walked out confident. Then I was not so confident when I saw my grade. I thought I got an 'A', but I wasn't even close. I got a low B, and I was worried. I thought I had problems with me understanding the lesson, but it was just concentrations issues. This, I found out, as I got my quiz back. I made 2 silly mistakes and one that I just didn't realize was an ice-box type of question. I was still pretty happy with the fact that I could change my grade with the test. And I hope I will change my grade. Hopefully, to a positive end. And I gotta study for the retake. I feel pretty confident with solutions. I think I'm gonna do good.

Friday Lecture on Calculating pH Values

Everyone said that this lecture was really hard. In a way, being 5th hour is terrible. We are always stressed out by the time we hear lecture or by the time we take a test. I am usually sweating on the inside when I walk into chem. Anyways, the lecture on Friday was really not that hard. I actually sort of kind of maybe understood it. I know this because I attempted a problem. When we didn't finish the lecture on Friday, our teacher put the rest of the notes on Schoology. Instead of copying the notes, I decided to try the problem. I swung and hit a homerun. That's right, I got that question right. So, I feel like I understand this lecture. I just hope I feel the same tomorrow when I am taking my test.

Vitamin C Lab

This lab was indeed, very interesting. I learned a new word during this lab -- titration. I still don't exactly know what that means, but I know how to spell it. We were adding something to each of our test sample until they turned a dark blue. The whole purpose of this lab was to see the Vitamin C concentration in each sample. We used a standard to set the baseline and then we tested the others and saw how it compared to the standard to calculate its concentration of Vitamin C. This was a pretty fun lab. I didn't mess up too much during this lab. I'd say we did a pretty good job. I'm proud of myself. Well, that's it to this lab.

Web Resources for the Aqueous Solutions Unit

Here are a few helpful links for the aqueous solutions unit.

1. Solubility Curves - This link talks about solubility curves. I had a hard time with this concept until I saw this website.

2. Solubility Curve Problems - This link has a few practice problems for solubility curves. If you look closely at the graphs, you can easily notice that the graph is the exact same as the graph that Mrs. Frankenberg used on the tests.

3. Molarity - This link shows how molarity works and also has a couple examples of molarity problems.

4. Molarity Practice Problems - This link contains a few practice problems on molarity. It is a great way to practice for the test.

5. Serial Dilution - This link shows what is a serial dilution, and how to perform it. It also shows how to calculate the molarity as the dilution progresses.

6. Serial Dilution Practice Problems - This link contains 1 practice problem for serial dilution. It is very similar to the serial dilution problem given to us on the quiz.

These are very useful links for this unit. I hope they are useful to you guys too.

Molarity Lab Day 2

Today, we measured out the substance in the filter paper. We let it dry overnight to get an accurate measurement of the substance. To measure to substance, we used to same scale that we used last time. This is to ensure that any errors are balanced out. Now that we measured the substance, we have to use stoichiometry to find the molarity of the unknown solution. But now we know that the solution is really just AgNO3. All we need is the molarity to finish up the murder case and find the guilty person.

Molarity Lab Day 1

This was actually a very fun and interesting lab. We have to solve a murder case (of course, fake one). We were given an unknown solution and 5 suspects. We have to create a procedure to determine the identity and molarity of the solution. All this was on Monday. Today, we did the procedure. In the procedure, we had to first determine the identity of the unknown solution by mixing it with Na2CO3. If a precipitate formed, the solution was AgNO3. If it didn't form a precipitate, it was KI. Then we mixed all of the solutions in a beaker. Then we massed the filter paper and used a funnel to filter out the crystals. That was it for today.

Quiz on Aqueous Solutions

This quiz was something very interesting. I knew what I was doing, but I wasn't confident. I guessed on like 5 questions out of 24 and I am unsure about 19. The only part I liked was the beginning. For the first time, the beginning was actually easy. It was stoichiometry and I remember most of stoichiometry (cause I reviewed the night before). Other than that, most of the test was hard. But, I have no one to blame but myself. I wasn't fully prepared for this test as I was kind of busy the night before. I only reviewed my notes and didn't take the practice tests. I do promise to study hard for the unit test. I want a good grade. Well, that's it for today.

Serial Dilution Activity

Today, in class, we learned about dilutions. We specifically learned about serial dilutions and how they work. After the lecture, we did an activity in the lab. It wasn't an actual lab so we didn't have to do a pre lab quiz. This, I gotta say, was one of my favorite things about this activity. The activity asked us to make a serial dilution. First, we poured 10 ml of water in a cup and put 20 drops of food coloring into it. Then we got another 9 ml of water and took 1 ml of the first solution, and put it into the 9 ml solution. We repeated this procedure until we didn't see any water. This was it.