This is my Chemistry Blog
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Stephen Colbert interviews Neil deGrass Tyson:
Quote: "Our academic system rewards people who know a lot of stuff, and generally we call those people smart, but at the end of the day who do you want, the person who can figure stuff out that they've never seen before, or the person who can rattle off a bunch of facts?" |
I chose this quote because I think this is relevant and interesting. It's a fact that people who can figure things out and make decisions are better prepared for what life has to throw at them, and yet in schools we are wired to learn fact oriented by quizzes and memorizing stuff.
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What my response to this is, kids are not learning how to think, their learning how to memorize something for the next test. In our modern high paced society we need people who can come up with new apps or software, anything that you learn is useless, unless you can perform it.
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It makes me I think our society should start making changes in academics, not all places are as far ahead as HTH. We should stop teaching kids memorizing and routine (something that was relevant when the world needed obedient factory workers) and teach them how to think, because now more than ever we need people who can solve problem and come up with innovative solutions.
Dried Ice Bubble EXPERIMENT
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Intro:
In this experiment we took a beaker, water, dried ice, a piece of fabric and homemade bubble soap. The first step was taking the beaker and filling it 1/3 full of water. Next we cut off a piece of fabric from a shirt, then with dish soap, little water and glycerin we made bubble soap. We then add a piece of dried ice to the water, which made it smoke out. With the cloth drenched in bubble soap we covered the top of the beaker with formed a bubble. The bubble caught the smoke stuff from the dried ice and created a massive white bubble. Looking Back: This experiment was really cool and fun. It was interesting to see the chemical reaction of the dried ice and the water. It worked better than I had expected I thought that the beaker might be to wide to make a big bubble, but it worked. |
Looking Beyond:
What happens when you do this experiment is the dried ice which is so cold it doesn't turn into water undergoes the process of sublimation. This turns the dried ice directly into a gas and creates a fog appearance.
Looking inward:
The experiment worked out well and we didn't have much problems with any equipment. Although we had a little trouble with finding the right beaker. As for the experiment it went better than I expected, and the bubble looked really cool.
Looking outward:
As a group I think we worked pretty well. We all contributed to the lab and had a good time. I contributed the Idea that we needed a smaller beaker because the one we had before was so large that it couldn't make big bubbles. Joey came up with the idea to use a piece of cloth to make bubbles which was ingenious.
Looking Forward:
If I did this experiment again I would add a dye to the water and see how it looks with color. I also would try to see if I could do it on a bigger scale. This experiment was super sick and I definitely would do it again. Also I would like to stay with Joey and Greta because they contributed a lot.
Take aways:
In the experiment I learned about the basics of how to do a lab. I also learned about how dried ice reacts to water. What happens is that dried ice is so cold that goes straight to a gas. This means that if you close the lid with dried ice and water you could make a bomb. I also learned that when there are chemical reactions, energy is created that makes things hot or explode.
What happens when you do this experiment is the dried ice which is so cold it doesn't turn into water undergoes the process of sublimation. This turns the dried ice directly into a gas and creates a fog appearance.
Looking inward:
The experiment worked out well and we didn't have much problems with any equipment. Although we had a little trouble with finding the right beaker. As for the experiment it went better than I expected, and the bubble looked really cool.
Looking outward:
As a group I think we worked pretty well. We all contributed to the lab and had a good time. I contributed the Idea that we needed a smaller beaker because the one we had before was so large that it couldn't make big bubbles. Joey came up with the idea to use a piece of cloth to make bubbles which was ingenious.
Looking Forward:
If I did this experiment again I would add a dye to the water and see how it looks with color. I also would try to see if I could do it on a bigger scale. This experiment was super sick and I definitely would do it again. Also I would like to stay with Joey and Greta because they contributed a lot.
Take aways:
In the experiment I learned about the basics of how to do a lab. I also learned about how dried ice reacts to water. What happens is that dried ice is so cold that goes straight to a gas. This means that if you close the lid with dried ice and water you could make a bomb. I also learned that when there are chemical reactions, energy is created that makes things hot or explode.
SAfety poster
This drawing was a poster I made for the safety poster assignment. I put a lot of work into this poster and i'm very proud of how it turned out. I think this is a good way to help remind safety, not only by seeing it but also by making them.
ROCKET PLAN and building
How did the launch go:
Afterwards: after we had designed the rocket we attached a motor and tried to launch it. Unfortunately our motor was bad and the top of it burst and burning holes from the inside of the rocket. Although we fail on the motor I was a good lesson and I would definitely do it again. We have made a successful motor and all we need to do is just make another rocket. If I built another rocket what would I change: Next time I would make the rocket about 1-2 feet with large fins. I would power it with a large motor and spend a lot of time on it. I think I would make the base an octagon so that I could make it super round and aerodynamic. |
Planning stage: The first thing I had to decide is, who do I want in my group? I ended up with, Joey and Will. Next we had to decide what should the rocket look like and what should each member contribute. We decided that me and Will will cut the pieces for the rocket and glue and Joey would sand the rocket. Joey did a little less work because he decided he wanted to make his own small rocket. The Process: After we cut the pieces for the rocket we glued the seams and sanded it down. We had decided that we wanted to make our rocket smaller and so we ended up making it seven inches with the tip. After we sanded it we added the fins and the protective tip. When we were done with that I added the launching rings and colored it. Challenges: The Hardest part the the project was adding a piece to the inside so the motor wouldn't fall through and coloring it. The piece that that we had to put inside the rocket kept falling through and getting stuck, and it took me like thirty minutes to finally get it. The reason it was hard to color it was because it was hard to color over the glue on the rocket. Other than these there wasn't much difficulties. What I liked about the project: I though the rocket project was really cool. I liked cutting and gluing the wood, and working with my hands. I was also amazed on how light the rocket was and am extremely proud about how it turned out. What went well, and what didn't go well: The part that went well was the rocket. It was fun and cool to make a rocket with my own design. The part that didn't go well was the motor. I had expected the motor to work, but instead the top came off and burned holes from the inside of our rocket. This kinda sucked because we couldn't launch it again, but it gives me an excuse to build another rocket. |
2-Week plan
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This is my two week plan. In the plan I say what I did each day and what I have to do next. In the beginning I was working on the lab and on the second week I was working on the rockets. So far I feel good about how the year is going, I love the projects and feel like i'm on ahead. I am starting to get used to blogging and have started to enjoy it once I got the hang of it.
CHEMICAL reaction lab
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Looking Back:
First we got a beaker, citric acid, a strip of magnesium and a balloon. We filled the beaker with water and mixed in the citric acid. After this we added the magnesium. When we put the magnesium in the water it started to bubble and create hydrogen gas. Then we added a bubble to the top of the beaker to catch the gas. When it filled up most of the way it floated like a regular balloon. Then we lowered in form a stick to candle to watch it explode. When the hydrogen ignited it burned and made water. |
Looking Beyond:
If I were to do this again I would want to make a bunch of large balloons and watch it explode at night in slow motion. I would also want to see what would happen if I exploded it in water. I also think it would be cool to explode a rocket and then see if you can catch a drop of water. Other then that I would try to make it more interesting.
Looking outward:
I think it worked well. Our group worked well together. It went like everyone else's and the balloon filled up to a normal size. The experiment was easy to fallow and wasn't that hard to accomplish. It was a good experience to work with the group and was interesting.
Looking Forward:
The lab was fun and went well. My group was Greta, Joey and me and we worked well together. I contributed by putting the balloon on the beaker and helping to fold up the magnesium.
Take away:
This was an interesting experiment and went well. I learned how to make water which was super cool. I didn't know you could make water!!! Otherwise I thought we would never have to worry about drought, but it doesn't work like that. Next time I would try to mix up the experiment to make it a little more interesting. Over this was a super cool experiment.
If I were to do this again I would want to make a bunch of large balloons and watch it explode at night in slow motion. I would also want to see what would happen if I exploded it in water. I also think it would be cool to explode a rocket and then see if you can catch a drop of water. Other then that I would try to make it more interesting.
Looking outward:
I think it worked well. Our group worked well together. It went like everyone else's and the balloon filled up to a normal size. The experiment was easy to fallow and wasn't that hard to accomplish. It was a good experience to work with the group and was interesting.
Looking Forward:
The lab was fun and went well. My group was Greta, Joey and me and we worked well together. I contributed by putting the balloon on the beaker and helping to fold up the magnesium.
Take away:
This was an interesting experiment and went well. I learned how to make water which was super cool. I didn't know you could make water!!! Otherwise I thought we would never have to worry about drought, but it doesn't work like that. Next time I would try to mix up the experiment to make it a little more interesting. Over this was a super cool experiment.
The hunt for life beyond earth
An article in National Geographic about how scientists are searching for life on other planets
Cover of the article
Scientist in the artic
This is the Drake Equation for the chance that there is life outside of earth
This is a chart that shows the ideals for a planet to harbor life (Mars is barely in the "box of life")
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Scientists believe that one of the most promising ways to find aliens would be to listen for alien broadcasts, but because our galaxy is so vast scientists are working on other steps to see if there is life out there.
"Based on the discoveries of somewhat larger planets made to date, astronomers recently calculated that more than a fifth of the stars like the sun harbor habitable, Earth-like planets." Because of this it seems extremely likely that there is in fact life out there. Also in the article they talk about how the nearest one could be "a mere 12 light years away, which is practically next door in cosmic terms." To find out more Scientist have decided to explore the extreme environments of earth so see how life may live in planets nearby. Scientist are testing the arctic and poisonous caves in mexico as models for two planets the believe could hold life, Mars and Europa. Europa is a planet that is very cold and they believe under the ice of Europa's shell could contain more water than earth even though the planet is only the size of our moon. If this water was in fact not frozen it could harbor life and bacteria. Mars on the other hand was discovered to have caves much like the one in new mexico and could potentially have life. Although we haven't yet been able to explore these planets scientist agree that for life it essential to have "water in liquid form-a powerful solvent capable of transporting dissolved nutrients to all parts of an organism." Also it's critical to have elements like carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur; as well as an energy source. Because both these planets have all of these aspects it is likely that there was life or still is life in some forms on these planets. Because mars has caves it is possible there is life and water below the surface. Soon we will know if these planets contain life, the Clipper was recently sent by NASA to explore Europa. The clipper, equipped with technology to map geology in 3-D and sense chemicals and more may be a breakthrough that will tell us if we have life nearby. What I did was read the first four pages of the article, annotated it and then blogged it. What I did for this article was read the first four pages annotate it and then blog my findings.
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The martin review
Book cover
*Really good climbing
Trying to grow food on Mars
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Summary: In a storm, astronaut Mark Watson is left behind on mars assumed dead by his crew. In a struggle to live, Mark is forced to ration his food and find a way to grow his own. Through his struggles to survive he must find a way to communicate with earth, so he can be rescued. Meanwhile on earth people are doing everything in there power to get him back. But will Mark determination to stay alive be enough to keep him alive until earth's rescue attempt, or will he die trying? -Nik
Overall 3.5/5. The reason I only think it's three stars is because it is kind of boring and predictable. For example, there's not enough food, but the main character is not going to die, so obviously he's going to find a way to make food. Then when everything is going well, it's obvious that something is going to go wrong. I would recommend it if you are interested in science, or off earth exploration. I would highly recommend it if you liked the movie Interstellar which I think compares as it is about space and is runout. Although I thought it was kind of boring I thought it had some cool science behind it. One of the coolest parts is when he burned hydrogen to make water, because he needed water for his crops. Another part when he used science was when he used radiation as heat. |
How to make climbing holds
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In these video it shows how to make the mold and finish of a climbing hold. I found this video because I was interested in how to make climbing holds, and though it would be a cool chemistry project.
Below I spent a few hours researched the ingredients that goes into how to make the holds. I also found each product and found the price and where to buy it. The ingredients to make a climbing hold: |
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Cost:
Foam: 2 for $4.06 /crimps Silicone: 10.01oz for $7.54 Hardener: $5.77 for .74oz Filler: 454gm for $2.89 http://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-22616-1-Pound-Sand-Tex-Additive/dp/B0002YWYTO/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1456035893&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=sand+finish+paint+aditive Resin: 1 qt for $15.97 https://secure2.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/InterestItemDetailsDisplayView?storeId=10051&listId=89691011&opCode=7&catalogId=10053&langId=-1 |
