week of February 22nd

We have started our unit on atomic energy and have read through chapter four, section one. Expect a quiz on this material on Friday--unless of course we get more snow.

Topics to review include the definition of nuclear radiation, the concept of radioactive decay and atomic mass. Be able to compare and contrast alpha, beta and gamma decay. Think about both particle size and penetration.

We did discuss half-life in class today--It will not be on friday's quiz but it would be a good idea to review the concept.

The week of February 8th

This week we will be working on the concepts of acids, bases and the pH scale. Please make sure you read sections one and two of chaoter three and be prepared for a quiz sometime in the near future.

Feb 5 review and water tension

This week in class we reviewed our chapter two test on chemical reactions, reviewed our International Boiling point project and some classes even participated in a video conference with a school in pennsylvania.

Today we did a short review on surface tension (we will be reviewing material covered in 6th and 7th grade as we get closer to the NJASK test). We watched a youtube video of a water droplet bouncing in slow motion. The video can be found at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRSK4k3D-50

We also saw a video of water balloons popping in micro-gravity, found at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7fEHYkGxd0

Next week we will work on ionic and covalent solutions and then acids and bases.

Jan 25-26 Reaction Rates

Today in class we started by identifying different types of chemical reactions (synthesis, decomposition, single and double replacement. We then reviewed the hints to balancing chemical equations.

We then performed a lab that looked at the effect temperature has on the speed of a chemical reaction. We found that if we compared the reaction of an alka-seltzer tablet in cold and hot water, the hot water had a much faster reaction rate.

We then looked at the effect of surface area on reaction rates. We found that if we increased the surface area by crushing the object, the reaction would speed up. We then discussed the effect of concentration on reaction rates.

Remember--the test will be this friday--study guide is available online on my website (go to the tests and quizzes section).

Jan 19th and 20th--naming ionic and covalent compounds

Today in class we went over some rules for naming compounds--then we named some.

The notes from today's class are below:


Tell me (in your notebook) as much as possible about the following chemical formula. Ba(NO3)2

(how many atoms of each element, how do you think it bonds, could you draw the structure?)

Follow-up question. If the formula breaks up into its ions, what are the charges of the Ba and the NO3?

Notes:

Naming Covalent compounds.

Copy the prefixes on page 31(mono, di, tri, etc)
Put the element symbols in the order they are in the periodic table -but-

Hydrogen would fit between nitrogen and oxygen.

Use the prefixes to name them - but you usually don't use a prefix for the first element in the formula. The prefixes tell you how many atoms of each there are.

drop the 'a' and 'o' from the prefix when attaching the prefix to oxide. Ex CO is carbon monoxide

Naming Ionic Compounds

• The positive element (the metal) goes first.

• The positive one gets to keep its name.

• The negative one gets ide attached to the root of the name.

• (think sodium chloride)

To find out how many of each ion to use, first figure out the charge of each ion (see chapter one)

Then criss-cross the charge numbers.

Example: figure out the formula for a substance made from magnesium and chlorine

Mg, the charge is +2, Cl the charge is -1

Flip flop the charges and the formula is MgCl2



Determine if ionic or covalent, then write the formula for these compounds.
sulfur trioxide

calcium fluoride

phosphorus pentachloride

dinitrogen trioxide

lithium oxide

Jan 11-12

Today in class we investigated conservation of mass in a chemical reaction. We reacted an alka-seltzer tablet with water and measured the mass of the closed system before and after the reaction.

We also started to balance chemical equations--please review chapter two sections one and two after today's class.

Jan 4-5 2010

Welcome back from winter break!

We dove right into chemical reactions (chapter two) and started off with a reaction that combined HydroChloric Acid (HCl) with Magnesium (Mg). When the two were mixed we saw bubbles of gas and noted that the flask that held the HCl became warm to the touch.

We wrote out the equation as HCl + Mg --> H2 + MgCl2

We noted that this was NOT a balanced equation.

We then collected the gas in a balloon and ignited it. We saw a large fireball.

We then wrote down the equation H2 + O2 --> H2O, again we noted that this was not a balanced equation.

We then completed the start up activity on page 27 then watched some of our commercials.

Dec 14 and 15

Today in class we took a break from chemistry and learned how to analyze the international boiling point data. We practiced using excel to create graphs and look at trends.

Help in doing this is available on my website under the 'IBP' Page.

Dec 7th and 8th

Today in class we learned about the elements project. In this project we will be creating a fact sheet, a small model and then a commercial about an element assigned to us.

Each class reviewed the rubric and the project and then saw an example of a successful commercial.

We then went to the computer lab and researched our element for our fact sheet.

Dec 2nd and 3rd

Today we dug into the periodic table and reviewed the parts of an atom. We learned how to use the information on the periodic table to determine how many protons, neutrons and electrons were in different atoms. We also learned how to identify an elements name by looking at the number of protons.

This information can be found in chapter Five of the Introduction to Matter book, which is available online--see my website for the online textbook.

Nov 30th and Dec 1st

Our do now today was on the differences between physical and chemical changes. We discussed both, and gave examples of each. We then discussed that the do now questions would make good quiz questions (hint, hint). I would exoect a quiz on wednesday/thursday on this.

After the do now we built our fifth and final design, then explained the changes we made from design to design. Finally we tested and filmed our final designs-look for the films on youtube or in the class wiki.

We also started chemistry. We handed out a periodic table for each student then briefly discussed group 18, the Noble gases, and group 17, the Halogens.

Nov 23-24, creating our posters

Today we spent our time working on our posters. We illustrated our four designs and then explained what we would do if we were to build another version of our thermal protective system.

We will present the posters on the 25th.

Nov 20 The final design

Today we created one more thermal protective system. Kudos go to the group in period 5B that created a design that lasted 41 seconds--almost double what all other groups were able to do.

Be sure to check out the video footage on youtube--look for videos by beakernflask

Nov 18 and 19--Engineering Design Challenge Day

Today we first took care of our first marking period grades. I handed out a sheet to each student, the sheet showed every grade that they had earned in the 1st marking period. They then filled out a form titled "Why I got the grade I got" and wrote one sentence on what they could focus on in second marking period in order to do better.

Once this was out of the way we created two structures for our engineering design challenge. The first structure was made with just a 3 inch square of Al foil. This was tested (and the tests were filmed).

The second structure was made using a 3 inch square of copper mesh, a piece of Al foil, two nuts and one washer. These were also tested and filmed.

Film can be seen at;

http://sciencerocksroom121.pbworks.com/FrontPage

Once on the website look at the right hand side of the screen. There should be several hotlinks, one for each class. Click on the hotlink, then download and view the video files.

Nov 16th--Engineering Design Challenge

We are taking a short break from the textbook and are working on a design challenge created by NASA. It is called the Thermal Protective Systems design challenge and it models how engineers create protective systems for rockets.

We will be working this challenge until the Thanksgiving break. Our students are creating prototypes of thermal protective systems and then testing them on our very own test bench.

So far, the project has been both fun and informative!

Nov 9th and 10th-Welcome back from break

Today's class theme was 'Pause and Reflect'. We are just about to finish the first marking period and it is a good time to look back at how we have done.

We discussed a demonstration on air pressure. We inflated a balloon inside a soda bottle, then pressurized the bottle and watched what happened to the balloon. We also felt the side of the bottle and noticed that it became warmer when air was added, and became colder when the air was released.

We then reviewed our chapter two test, and then received graded chapter two homework and also our graded lab reports.

Finally, we are done with our sound and light books--please bring them back in for the next class.

Oct 30th--Halloween Horrors

Today, a 'C' day for science, we completed the following seven activities:

Haunted rock--we witnessed what a 'rattleback' did. It's modeled after a river rock that spins in one direction only. Spin it the way it doesn't want to spin it will stop and then spin in the opposite direction.

Lasers O' Death--we set up a fog machine and several lasers. We created the normal to a plane (a line perpendicular to a mirror) then bounced a second laser off of the mirror. We saw that the angle between the normal and the incident beam (the beam going into the mirror) was the same as the angle between the normal and the reflected beam. We also witnessed light scattering in the fog.

Have some Plasma---we worked with a plasma ball, discussed the states of matter (solid, liquid, gas, plasma and a new one, the Bose-Einstein Condensate. We saw how a fluorescent bulb could be lit by touching it to the plasma ball.

Electric chair--we used the Van de Graff generator to create electrical fields and then sparks. Some classes also saw how the fluorescent bulb would light when touched to the generator.

Celebrity Peep Cage Match--we placed a cat peep and a ghost peep under the vacuum jar and had them experience the low pressure of a partial vacuum.

Pumpkin Peril--We reacted Calcium Carbide with water inside a pumpkin, then added a spark to see what happened.

Death to Gummy Bears--we melted a small sample of Sodium Chlorate and deposited one gummy bear into the liquid--the results were spectacular.

Extra credit opportunity--take one of the above--write what we did and witnessed in class, then research the scientific principles behind the activity. Create a one page (single spaced, 12 font) explanation and be prepared to teach it to the class when we return from fall break.

Wed and Thursday October 21st and 22nd

Yesterday was the orientation trip to the high schools. All classes met yesterday for varied amounts of time so we met our new class creatures and then watched a video from the planet earth series.

Wed and Thur we completed the Tuneful Tubes lab activity on resonance and then signed up for Gizmos--an interactive website that we will be incorporating into our lessons and HW.

Gizmos are online interactive simulations. To access them at home you will need to have full installations of both shockwave and java applications. Both are free. If you don't have them the gizmos home page will provide a link to get them.

Note: you will need to turn off your pop-up blocker in order to use gizmos.

October 13th and 14th

On these days we will determine the speed of sound via an experiment. We will go outside with cymbals and stopwatches and measure how long it takes sound to reach us from varied distances. We will then graph the data in a scatterplot, do some trend analysis and then calculate the speed of sound using the equation velocity equals distance divided by time. As part of this exercise we will also need to convert feet into meters.

Students will need to turn in the scatter plot, the math work used to determine the speed of sound and a two paragraph analysis of the calculated speed of sound in comparison to the published speed of sound of 343 meters per second in air at 20 degrees C

October 12th and 15th

It is an odd week as the classes are off schedule. On the 12th and 13th we will do an activity using the mosquito ring tone. We will see who can hear the different ring tones. We will also do a lab that shows how different frequencies travel through the air.