I am pretty sure I didn't do the second part of this worksheet correctly, but this was definitely one of the hardest worksheets I did this section. I did get some help from my peers, but I am still not confident with the section where you have to provide the formula for the ionic compound given. Overall, I would want to get more practice in this particular region.
For this experiment, I will be creating a cathode ray tube, which can be extremely difficult to do. A cathode ray tube consists of a vacuum along with a cathode, an anode, and a power supply. The ray is created from the electrons that naturally pour from the cathode (which is heated by the power supply) into the vacuum. The electrons hit the anode (which is positive; cathode is negative) and when it hits together, it glows. Here is my proposal for this lab. If I can pull this off, it will be a 100 pt. lab. Update: This lab is very very difficult. I have every material except for one which is a steel brake line from a car. I am not sure if I will finish this lab or not because it is really hard and time consuming. I am hoping to do this soon, but during this section, it was too difficult.
The overall history of cathode ray tubes is really interesting. Cathode ray tubes are used to create images in televisions or computer screens because of the electrons that deflect of of the screen. Like most electrical things in history, it used to be much larger than it is now and much more complicated. They were not prevalent in televisions until Germans installed them in 1934. The original cathode ray tube was used to just deflect cathode rays, but with the intelligence of many scientists, they were able to make geometric shapes on screens in 1907. This was the mark of the first time the cathode ray tube was used as a means to create a television screen. There are actually very serious safety precautions with this lab. The glass isn't lead glass which is used in actual professional cathode ray tubes, so there is a great chance that the glass may explode. This is due to the large amount of pressure that the vacuum produces on the inside of the glass. This is why, if I were to go through with this experiment, we would have to do this in the fume hood, sealed shut. At this point, I am not very far into this lab. I have a glass beaker-like jar that Andrew drilled a hole into. This hole is for metal wire to go through. The process of cleaning and drilling a hole into the jar took a day so I am anxious to go through a 13 step lab with limited time. Pursuing and completing this lab would definitely be a feat, so I do want to do it but it is stressing me out. From here, I think I am just going to play it by ear and not stress myself out. Meaning that if I am comfortable I will take the challenge, but if it will be more detrimental then beneficial I will probably not pursue it. The first page was pretty easy for me, which I think is immense growth because a couple weeks ago I wouldn't have been able to breeze through it like I did today. The back was a little more confusing to me, especially the create your own. I get confused by how to write compounds with two or more of the same element in it. This was a good worksheet and I learned a lot from it, but I think I need more practice with writing compounds.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/cosmos-a-spacetime-odyssey/episodes/the-rivers-of-life/
(This is a really weird reflection that mostly pertains to physics, but I got extremely excited and wanted to write about it) While watching this show, I thought about our lives on Earth and our connections with everyone and everything around us. I have a lot of connections with other earthlings on earth not only because of our DNA and how we all have some sort of similar connection, but also because we, as humans, use majority of other earthlings to survive or depend on. And in rare occasions, vice versa. We feed upon other earthlings and share or destroy ecosystems in which they live and we live in as well. We as humans have the great tendency to put us as a species above others, and that is why it is difficult for some to find connections between us and them. I think that humans have this odd thing where we think we are "supreme" and the higher intelligences, when in reality, we aren't very intelligent at all. We put certain traits and personalities such as talking (an intelligence that majority of species can not do) before other species' amazing traits because they seem to be less smart. Even though we are the species that takes this to the extreme, other species do also "reign" over others. Lions over gazelle, shark over fish, etc., but the difference from their connections and ours with other species is that we aren't predators for majority. I think that is why there is an issue with those who are vegetarian and those who aren't. We think that we have the right to kill animals for food and that is wrong, is the opinion of vegetarians, while carnivores see us as another species such as a lion who feed on other prey. So which one is correct or just? Not using all of our power, or being one of the species? For some reason odd scenarios and thoughts (like above) seem to pop into my mind when thinking about the basics of life. I think it's because I want to delve deeper into situations and the ones that I think of are ones that I seem to tackle first. I know some of my scenarios or thinkings are odd and sometimes unintelligent, but regardless of what it is, I think that reflecting or writing about it helps me decipher my thoughts. (Sorry for this off-topic stuff.) Atoms are really confusing to me even though they are the basis of everything. Isotopes are also very confusing to me but with help with Jake, I was able to learn about them. I do think I am getting better at reading the periodic table because with several of these problems I was able to answer them easily.
I have always been really good at converting so this was fun for me. I also learned new conversions such as micrometers to milliliters. I think this was beneficial for me and once again, good practice. Overall, this was a good take home quiz which I think helped me in the long run.
This worksheet was actually really difficult for me and I had assistance from Jake and Audrey. I still don't get the last page very much so that is something I would like to practice on, but overall I did try my best to not only complete the worksheet but to also comprehend what I was doing. This was a challenging worksheet but in a good way.
Today in class we learned about the periodic table and reactions (rxns) and how they work in different structures. We learned how to periodic table can show how many electrons each element needs to take or give in order to create the octet rule. The octet rule is when two or more elements combine to try and create a full shell. For example, oxygen has 6 electrons on it's outer shell, and hydrogen has 1. So in order to obtain the octet rule, hydrogen must bond with oxygen twice making H20. The process of giving electrons is oxidation (not just with the element oxygen but all), and the process of receiving electrons is reduction. This whole process is chemical energy because there are mini explosions whenever two or more elements bond together. So the perfect lab to show this process is creating rocket engines. We first got a PVC pipe and taped off the bottom. This would be the container for the fuel, fuse, etc. for the rocket. We then created the fuel. We then mixed together sorbitol (sugar) and potassium nitrate on a hot plate. It was a white powder that looked like little beads, but once we heated it, it began to liquify and turn into a white paste. We took it off the hot plate right when it started to get a little brown because 1) we didn't want to burn it, and 2) there was a chance it could set on fire if heated for too long (it is fuel for an engine after all). It was very hot, I would know because it burned and blistered my finger. After we heated it, we poured it into the PVC pipe 3/4 of the way (to leave room for the cement plug we would later put in). It cooled fairly quickly and became very similar to cement. Once it was cooled enough, we took the tape off and let it cool a little more before putting cement in the space that wasn't already filled. That had to cool for two days, which is why we tested the actual rocket engines today, Thursday. While we were away, Andrew drilled a hole into the bottom and top, one to allow smoke and air to come out and one for the fuse. We did not have the ejection charge, but we got a look for what it would look like by the amount of smoke that was produced. Looking back: Our experiment apparently worked very well. We didn't have the ejection charge, so we didn't really get to see what it would look like if it was a rocket, but we had a large amount of pressure come from the engine. Andrew also said that ours was the best so far (even though we went second). Here is a video of the experiment: Looking beyond:
The whole reaction starts with the fuse. When the fuse is lit with fire, it creates enough energy (heat) that the atoms debond from each other. This then creates a reaction and correlates with Newton's third law equal and opposite reaction. This means that the little explosions create enough reaction inside to push the rocket up. Looking inward: I think that we got desirable results, even though I don't think we would know if they were desirable enough without someone telling us. Luckily Andrew told us that ours worked really well and if we had the ejection charge, it would've run very smoothly. I'm glad to say that nothing extreme happened, such as nothing popped off or exploded, and the right amount of smoke came out of the engine. I think I performed well in this lab with collaborating with my peers. We each did a little with the lab even though there wasn't much to do. Overall, I am proud of our work. Looking outward: I worked with Brianna, Olivia, and Darcy. I think we worked very well together and we usually do when it comes to labs. However, if this was a project I wouldn't want to do it with this big of a group or let alone a group at all. I enjoy working on my own when it comes to projects so its nothing against them, just preferences. Overall I am happy with this lab and feel pleased with the results we received. Dimensional analysis is something I find myself to be pretty good at, but like most problems, I do have issues with interpreting the interactions (or questions) correctly. One problem that I did slip up on was the calorie one. I didn't know how to do it because I wasn't conceptualizing the question correctly. It is actually a really easy problem if you think about it right, which I failed to do.
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