Weekly Blog 12/15

This week in chemistry we learned about ionic and covalent bonds, double bonds, triple bonds, the properties of ionic and covalent elements and the Lewis Dot Structure.

Ionic

• Brittle & Hard
• Good Conductor
• High Boiling Point
• Metal/Nonmetal
• Soluble in Water
• Transfer of Electrons

Covalent

• Soft
• Poor Conductor
• Low Boiling Point
• Nonmetal/Nonmetal
• Not Soluble in Water
• Sharing of Electrons

For the Lewis Dot Structure for covalent bonds, the bond must meet the octet rule, besides the exceptions of hydrogen and helium (2 electrons), and Boron (6 electrons).

Steps for drawing the Lewis Structure:

1. Draw the element symbols connected by a line. C is always in the middle. H is always on the outside. Single elements are surrounded by others. 
2. Count all of the valance electrons for the compound. The valance electrons for each element are the same as its group number.
3. Since each line represents a bond (2 shared electrons), subtract 2 from the total number of valance electrons for each line drawn.
4. The remaining electrons are placed in pairs around the compound working from the outside in.
5. Check for stability. Elements need to have 8 electrons around themselves. Hydrogen needs 2. Boron needs 6. Remember that a line represents two electrons.
6. If atoms are not stable (need more electrons), erase a pair of electrons from a neighbor atom and draw another bond between them. There will never be more than 3 lines (bonds) between elements. 

Weekly Blog - 11/10

This week we were told to write about whatever we wanted on our blog, and the first thing that I could think of to write about was our trip this past weekend to go see my brother wrestle in Oklahoma City. My brother is not only my brother, but he's also my best friend that I know for a fact I would be lost without. Two years ago he graduated from high school and then left to for college all the way in Missouri on a full ride for wrestling. This was very exciting for him because wrestling is all he's ever done his entire life, and to see that pay off and get him into college was a great accomplishment. His grades were never good and he had to depend on his sport to get him to college, and it worked for him. When you wrestle in college you don't get as many breaks to come home as you do for other sports or if you were just going to college for education purposes. Last year, his freshman year in college, he red shirted and just wrestled as a member of the team but he wasn't actually on the line up. Since he wasn't actually a part of the line up, he was able to come home for every holiday and I didn't miss him as much as I do this year. This year he made the line up and is actually wrestling a part of the team, so he doesn't get to come home as often. Also, we haven't seen him wrestle as a college wrestler yet, or really at all in two years. So we hopped on a plane and went to go see him at one of his tournaments. 

Since there isn't any major airports in Oklahoma, we had to fly into Dallas, Texas, and then drive about three hours to Oklahoma City. Once we got to Oklahoma City it was about six or seven o'clock at night. We checked into our hotel and got ready for bed because we had a long day ahead of us the next day. Turns out that the hotel that we checked into had a broken heater so we were stuck with just our jackets and blankets to keep us warm. It's a lot colder in Oklahoma City then it is in Florida so to say that we were a little cold would be an understatement. The next day was spent watching my brother at his wrestling tournament where he ended up going 3-2, which means that he won three and lost two. He had to wrestle a weight class heavier then what he weighs so the kids were bigger than him so it made it harder for him to win. The next day we had to get up really early and drive back to the airport to fly back home. 

The trip was pretty exhausting because I slept through five different alarms that I made to get up for school the next day. I ended up not going to school and just resting to get ready for the next day of school. All in all the trip was 100% worth it because I got to see my brother, or my long lost best friend. It was really great to get to talk to him and see him after not being able to for a really long time. Even though it was only a couple day trip, it meant a lot to me because I got to see my brother wrestle and I got to talk with him and catch up on things that we have been missing out on about each other. 

Weekly Assignment 10/27

This week in chemistry we started going into Unit 3, which is all about the periodic table. The periodic table was first arranged by Dimitri Mendeleev. He grouped the elements in columns by similar properties and in order by increasing atomic mass. Dimitri Mendeleev also predicted the properties of several elements before they were even discovered, based off of his prior knowledge and understanding of his table. Today's modern periodic table has the elements grouped by similar properties in the same column or group. Unlike Dimitri Mendeleev's periodic table, the modern periodic table is ordered based off of increasing atomic numbers. These atomic numbers on the periodic table are determined by Henry Moseley. The horizontal rows of the periodic table are called periods, and there are 7 periods total. The vertical columns on the periodic table are called groups, and groups contain elements of the same or similar properties. 

Metals

• good conductors of heat and electricity
• have luster
• are malleable and ductile

Nonmetals

• brittle as solids
• can be gases
• can be liquids
• nonconductors
• nonlustorous

Semi-Metals

• have properties from both metals and nonmetals 

The periodic table has four different blocks, the S block, the D block, the P block, and the F block. In the S block you can find groups 1 and 2, which are Alkali metals and Alkaline earth metals. The D block contains all of the transition metals and has groups 3-12. The P block contains all of the non metals, such as the metalloids, hallogens, and the noble gases and it has groups 13-18. The F block contains all of the inner transition metals. 

In class we did a lab that was supposed to help us better understand the periodic table and how the elements are arranged in the periodic table. We were given elements with their names and all of their properties and we had to arrange them how they are on in the periodic table. Then we were given some elements that had all of its properties but no name. We had to look at the elements properties and determine where it was located on the periodic table and what its name was. Not only did we have to locate where it was on the periodic table, but we also had to explain why we thought it belonged in the place that we put it and why we thought it was a certain element. This experiment really helped me understand how exactly the periodic table was set up and how you can tell what an element is based on its properties and the properties of the elements around it. 

Also, to help us better understand the periodic table, we had to take a blank table and color it according to what the different groups and elements were. We had to label all of the groups and periods. Then we had to outline the different blocks, like the S block, D block, P block, and F block. Then we had to color accordingly. Group 1 was colored purple. for the alkali metals. Group 2 was colored pink for the alkaline earth metals. Groups 3-12 were colored blue for transition metals. Group 17 was colored green for hallogens. Group 18 was colored dark pink for noble gases. This coloring assignment helped us better knowledge ourselves on which groups contained which types of elements. 

Weekly Assignment 10/17

An atom is made up of a nucleus holding a certain number of positively charged protons and neutrally charged neutrons. This nucleus is surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The charge that holds these protons and electrons together is called a electromagnetic force. This force holding them together also tries to push the protons apart and that is where the neutrally charged neutron comes into play to keep the protons from pushing away from each other in the nucleus. Each atom has a specific number of protons and this number is what determines the element that the atom is. The protons also determine the Atomic number of an atom and sometimes the electrons if the atom is neutral. To find the mass number, you add together the neutrons and protons, and to find the neutrons you subtract the mass number and the proton number. An atom is called an isotope when it has different mass numbers. When an atom has different mass numbers then it can have different neutron numbers as well. Ions are atoms that gain and lose electrons. When an atom gains an electron it is called a cation, and when an atom loses an electron it is called a anion.

If you want to pull an an atom apart, you have to start with the electrons. There are many ways that you can pull an atom apart, some ways being shining a light on the electrons to push them apart, or exposing the electrons to another electromagnetic force. There is also many other ways to pull an atom apart but the main thing that will do the trick is heat. The heat makes the atoms move around and hit each other. The first electron will be easy to strip apart, but then as the electrons go on, it gets harder to pull apart. Once all the electrons are gone, you are left with just a nucleus. The process of stripping apart the nucleus is pretty much the same exact process of stripping apart the electrons. Even though I just talked about this long process of pulling apart an atom, you can also easily just hit it hard enough with something firm and it will break the atom apart into tinnier bits and pieces. Once breaking apart an atom, you can find that electrons are made up of even smaller parts called quarks. Quarks are held together by the same extremely strong force that hold the nucleus together. Also a fun fact about pulling apart an atom is that if you hit an atom hard enough, you might find even more bits and pieces of energy particles that you didn't know was there before!

Albert Einstein believed that atoms bounce off of each other in a way that's called Brownian Motion. He also believed that the mathematical equation for the Brownian Motion is evidence of the existence of atoms. He also concluded that you can determine the size of an atom based on how they move around.

Weekly Assignment 9/29

We had some what of a busy week this week in Chemistry. Last Friday we did a study guide that was supposed to prepare us for the test we were going to have on Tuesday. The test was over the following things; using measurements, and doing different unit conversions. We had to be able to explain/know the difference between accuracy and precision, be able to calculate percent error, use the correct number of significant figures when making a measurement, round off calculated answers to the correct number of significant figures, convert between normal and scientific notation, perform standard prefix conversions, and perform unit conversions using dimensional analysis. I actually did really well on the test, I got a 100%. On Wednesday we read these two articles about how people feel about the metric system and the standard american measuring system. We had to highlight the facts and then fill in a map with what was different and the same between the two measuring systems. For homework we had to pick between three different writing prompts and we had to right about what we read. Next class day we went over what we did and for homework we were supposed to finish off with a better more thought out answer to the writing prompt that we chose. I think that we had a really productive week and most of all I was really excited about my perfect score on the test we took.

MYSELF!

Hi my name is Skylin and I am a junior in high school. My favorite thing to do is cheerleading and I am a varsity cheerleader at my high school. I have 2 English Bulldogs, one named Bella and one named Dixie. My favorite subject is science and my least favorite subject is English. These are just a few facts about me!