Studying for Unit Test

The test over chapter 3 and 19 is tomorrow, so today's workday consisted of a lot of studying and completing the Astronomy Project. In order to study it is really helpful to use the guided readings provided, take your own notes, and complete the practice exams Mrs. Frankenburg puts up online.


Here is a really good studying tool that has a lot of the same vocab involving what we are learning right now: https://quizlet.com/3059304/chemistry-chapter-3-19-flash-cards/


Over the course of the unit we have covered a bunch of different things but the most challenging for me to understand was the half life problems. This website and video really helped me apply the formula to a multitude of problems.

http://www.mdc.edu/kendall/chmphy/nuclear/halflive.htm

Here is the video:

Learning about Excel

Today in class Mrs. Frankenburg explained and demonstrated how to create a graph using Microsoft Excel. We logged in our data collected from the Archeological Lab completed yesterday to create a data table. Then, using the data table we could transfer the data onto a graph; this was all done using Excel.

Not only can we use what we learned today in other labs that we do in this class, it is a universal tool. This meaning that we can use this for anything or anytime we need to make any type of graph; not just a scatter plot.

Here is a link to a video giving instructions on how to do what we completed in class today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn7Sd5Uu42A

Half-Life Lab

The half-life of an element is the time it takes for half of the sample to decay into a stable form. In the lab we did today in class, we used tiny cut out squares of paper to demonstrate the original mass of the element. We mixed up the pieces and separated the squares depending on the side that they landed, which mimicked the decayed part of the element. 

Here is a link that helps explain what to do when solving half life problems: http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Half-Life

Here are some example problems to get some practice solving different problems: http://www.chemteam.info/Radioactivity/Radioactivity-Half-Life-probs1-10.html

This image is from the lab today and shows all of the squares counted 

Radioactive Decay

Today in Chemistry we started tailing about radioactive decay and three different types of it. The three main ones we are going to focus on are:
-Alpha Decay
-Beta Decay
-Gamma Decay

Each different radioactive decay effects the element involved in it, in a different way. This table summarizes each of the processes and shows how they differentiate.

This link elaborates more on all three of the types of decay we went over as well as some others: http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch23/modes.php

Beanium Lab

Today in class we did the Beanium lab, where we calculated the average atomic mass of the beans. Each bean represented a different atom and the different colors represent different isotopes. 

When calculating the total mass of all of the atoms of the isotopes, all we had to do was measure each bean color on a scale. Then, the average mass of each isotope was measured by dividing the total mass, by the total number of atoms in each group. Next, we calculated the percent abundance of the isotope by dividing the number of atoms of the isotope by the TOTAL number of atoms in the sample. Using this information you can then calculate the average atomic mass of the beanium atom using the formula ((mass * %))+((mass*%))...= average atomic mass

Isotopic Symbol

Today in class we learned about the parts of an atom, bu more in depth than we have in the past. Not only did we do that, we also identified the parts of the isotopic symbol.

• Proton: 
• gives the element its identity 
• gives the element its mass (this is because it is in the nucleus)
• Electron:
• gives the element its radioactivity
• Neutron: 
• gives the element its mass (this is because it is in the nucleus)
• gives the element its isotope determination

Isotopic Symbol: Here is a diagram that correctly identifies the parts of the symbol and how to figure out each of them.

Day 1 of Atomic Theory

Today in class we started learning about what our pretest was over: atomic theory.


Among the things we learned we mainly focused on:

• Dalton's Atomic Theory
• Law of Constant Composition 
• JJ Thomson 
• Rutherford
• Current Atomic Model

Here is a link that elaborates on Daltons Theory: http://www.iun.edu/~cpanhd/C101webnotes/composition/dalton.html




Here is a video that demonstrates the Law of Constant Composition:

Dalton, Rutherford, and Thomson

Throughout time there have been multiple different scientists who have tried to identify the structure of the atom. The ones that we have learned about are: Dalton, Rutherford, and JJ Thomson. The differences between these men are the experiments they did to identify their findings, and what exactly they identified. All together these men have contributed to the current atomic model.

The current atomic model is elaborated in this site:
 http://www.particleadventure.org/modern_atom.html


Dalton: When Dalton was distinguishing the atomic structure, he did not find much about the actual structures appearance but rather the make up of it. This is what created his Atomic Theory.


JJ Thomson: In Thomson's experiment he used a cathode ray tube to show that the atoms of any element emit particles with a negative charge (the electrons). He also identified that there was a distinct border around the atom that consisted of a sphere of positive charges. This model is known as the chocolate chip model.

Rutherford: In Rutherford's experiment he used the Gold Foil Experiment. In this he instered Alpha particles and watched as the protons repelled. With this experiment he identified the border of the atom and discovered the nucleus. 

Atomic Theory Pretest Thoughts

After today, I have mixed feelings about the upcoming unit. This is because I knew absolutely nothing on the pretest, which is too be expected. Except the last pretest we took I at least knew a little bit on there, and this was the complete opposite. The only hope I have for this new unit is that as the quiz went on, I started figuring out what some of the things meant and I could almost teach myself. I'm not really sure what to expect, but I do think it will be interesting, to say the least.

In the future I think this website will be very valuable to me when I need to learn about the structure of the atom:

http://www.chem4kids.com/files/atom_structure.html



When I think of atomic structure: