When we did our experiment we placed magnesium inside a flask. We then poured in citric acid. After the citric acid went in, we poured in 150mL of water. The reaction that happened was that when all mixed together water and citric acid bonded together. Magnesium has the same amount of electrons that oxygen does in its outer shell, thus the magnesium atoms replaced the hydrogen atoms. This allowed for the hydrogen atoms to separate and float into the balloon that we had covered the top of the flask with. Once all the magnesium had dissolved, we disconnected our balloon and tied it off. While the reaction was taking place, large amounts of heat were omitted from the flask. Another thing that I observed was the magnesium fizzled while it was dissolving into the water. In reflection I understand that the heat that was given off was given off by atoms releasing energy in their attempt to bond with other atoms and become more stable. I also now understand that the fizzling was the hydrogen floating into the balloon. I think that the experiment was very cool. However, our balloon did not float because the mass of the balloon was to heavy for the hydrogen to lift.
Yesterday we did an experiment that involved making hydrogen. Before we started our lab, we learned about atoms and the way they interact with each other. We learned that atoms are not the smallest thing there is but are the smallest unit of a substance. If you break atoms up into their sub particles, the sub particles no longer hold the properties of the atom they came from. Atoms can be broken up into three different types of particles: protons which have a positive charge, neutrons which have a neutral charge, and electrons which have a negative charge. The protons and neutrons are contained within the nucleus of the atom, or the center. They hold the most significant mass inside of the atom. The electrons orbit around the nucleus and hold insignificant mass inside the atom. The amount of protons in the atom are indicated by the atomic number on the periodic table. To find the number of neutrons in the atom you take the difference between the mass number and the atomic number. Electrons are always the same number as protons. The way atoms bond together is through their electrons. Atoms with unfilled spaces in their outer electron shells are unstable. To become stable they need to bond with other atoms that can fill up the space of the missing electrons with their electrons. Because hydrogen is an unstable atom, it tends to bond with other atoms to become stable. In our experiment we aimed to separate hydrogen from oxygen.
When we did our experiment we placed magnesium inside a flask. We then poured in citric acid. After the citric acid went in, we poured in 150mL of water. The reaction that happened was that when all mixed together water and citric acid bonded together. Magnesium has the same amount of electrons that oxygen does in its outer shell, thus the magnesium atoms replaced the hydrogen atoms. This allowed for the hydrogen atoms to separate and float into the balloon that we had covered the top of the flask with. Once all the magnesium had dissolved, we disconnected our balloon and tied it off. While the reaction was taking place, large amounts of heat were omitted from the flask. Another thing that I observed was the magnesium fizzled while it was dissolving into the water. In reflection I understand that the heat that was given off was given off by atoms releasing energy in their attempt to bond with other atoms and become more stable. I also now understand that the fizzling was the hydrogen floating into the balloon. I think that the experiment was very cool. However, our balloon did not float because the mass of the balloon was to heavy for the hydrogen to lift.
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An article that caught my interest was an article on Kepler 438b; a planet that could possibly support life. This prospect intrigues me as I think that it would be a unbelievable thing to discover new life. The article also talks about other planets that could possibly support life. Kepler 438b is in the spotlight because it is the most likely candidate to be able to harbor some type of life. One reason why this article interests me is because of the idea that we someday might need to leave earth because of how we use it. I think the relevance of finding new life supporting planets is very high. It is in our best interest to do so
Link to article: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/06/earth-like-planet-alien-life-kepler-438b This section I decided to do a mini engineering project with my partner Liam. We at first decided that we wanted to do something involving metal. So, we set to the task of brainstorming what to do. Finally we decided we would melt some pennies down, and make something out of the melted metal. We chose pennies due to the fact that we both had a lot.
To do this experiment it took us two tries. The first try was unsuccessful because of an error we made. We set up a bunsen burner apparatus and put our pennies in a stainless steel pot approximately 1.5 inches away from the flame. Earlier in our research process we had determined that the material we would use from the pennies would be zinc. Pennies made after 1982 have a zinc core and a copper skin. We wanted to use zinc because of its lower melting point at 787.2 degrees fahrenheit. The error that we made was that we neglected to put a cover on the pot which would have allowed us to melt at a much higher temperature. This caused many pennies to stay solid at the sides of the pot because there wasn't enough heat to melt the copper skin off. Thus when we poured the liquified metal in our mold only a small amount of zinc poured and the rest stayed solid in the pot. In our second attempt we fixed this error and added a cover to the pot. We also moved it closer to the flame. This made a drastic difference. When we poured it the second time, it did not instantly solidify but instead all poured into our mold. It worked exactly as we thought it should. After we poured the metal, we let the zinc cool down in its mold for a day. We then got it out of the mold and began grinding the shape down on concrete to take uneven patches and burrs off of it. After doing this we polished it up finally with steel wool. Our finished product is a rectangular shaped ingot with rounded corners. It looks very good and I think we did a good job on it. I also think that my choice in my partner was good because Liam and I both did an even amount of work and also collaborated very well with each other. If we were to do this again a change that I would make would be to have a better mold prepared so that we wouldn't have to grind away so much metal. One thing I would not have changed was my partner as we worked well together. Possibly in the future we could further this experiment by making other objects than an ingot out of our metal. I enjoyed doing this project as I learned how to smelt metal and also how to clean it by collecting slag off of it. It is a great skill to know as many things in our life are made out of cast metal. I really enjoyed doing this project Yesterday we did a lab that involved dry ice which is frozen CO2. The first activity we did with it was to place the dry Ice into water so that we could observe what happened. What I observed was that as soon as we put it in the water it constantly gave off a large amount of water vapor. It was turning directly from a solid into a gas. Also because gasses are less dense than solids, the vapor took up much more space. The volume of the solid was much smaller. To determine exactly how much more volume the gas took up, we did another experiment. We measured the volume of a 2" piece of dry ice by using the equation: 3/4 x pi x r cubed. Using this equation we figured out that the volume of the 2" piece was around 13.08 cubic centimeters. We placed the 2" diameter piece of solid dry ice into a ballon and then closed the ballon so that when the dry ice turned into a gas, it would expand the balloon. After the dry ice had fully sublimated (gone from a solid to a gas) we measured the diameter of the balloon and it was approximateley 20 cm in diameter. To determine the volume of the balloon we used the same equation as before and learned that the volume of the sublimated dry ice took up a volume of 13080.77 cubic centimeters. That means the solid form of co2 is 1000 times more dense than the gaseous form. This illustrates that the molecules in a gas are much much farther apart than those in a solid.
Today we watched an interview of astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson by Steven Colbert. The Interview was on Science theory, meanings and implications that science can have for us. A quote from this interview that struck me was something that Dr. Tyson said; "Don't blame the knowledge, blame the people in the presence of knowledge". I chose to write about this quote because it is a very interesting point of view. What I interpret it to mean is that: just because there is knowledge that can lead to harm or destruction, that harm or destruction only happens when humans use innocent knowledge to perform atrocities. This provokes many cycles of thought in me. It makes me think that no matter what the destructive potential of knowledge is, that potential is only shown when we make a desicion to expose it. Thus, knowledge is harmless until we act on it. There are many examples of this in history, including biological warfare. Many of the technologies used in bio warfare originated through medical research that was originally intended to help people. This is a prime example of how knowledge can be manipulated to fit separate agendas even when it's original intentions were good. So again, it all comes down to the decision we make on how we decide to use the knowledge that we come about. It's irrational to fear knowledge when the only reason it can do any harm is if people use it the wrong way. So instead of fearing knowledge we should fear how people use it. |
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May 2015
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