Stoichiometry Test and Iron Lab

Before we took the unit test, we did the Copper Chloride and Iron Lab. This lab consisted of adding Copper Chloride to an iron nail and watching how it transformed the mass of the nail. The copper chloride quickly rusted the nail, and left it around 1 gram lighter in mass. We then had to figure out if we used an iron nail that was 3+ or 2+ . Ours ended up being 3+. The real focus here is the test though. Once again I felt somewhat confident coming into the exam, but once I start the test I just seem to forget everything. I don't think it's possible to get a worse score than I did on the last unit test. I am nervously awaiting the results.

Last Lecture Of Stoichiometry

In the final lesson of Stoichiometry, we learned about percent yield. The formula was: % Yield = 100 x Actual Yield / Theoretical Yield. It was fairly simple and easily comprehended. It was also a very short lesson, given how easy it was supposed to be. Now I have to prepare for our test, and I'm feeling a bit better about this one then the last one. This is also our last unit before the semester ends which is exciting. 

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Helpful Information and Examples

Practice Problems

Help For the Whole Lesson in General

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Different Approaches

Using the lecture supplements again, we learned of 2 different approaches to finding the limiting reagent. In approach 1, you look at the number of moles of each reactant. This approach seemed to take a little longer and was a little more confusing. In approach 2, you calculated and compared the amount of product each reactant will produce. This approach was much more simple and faster. After doing some practice problems, the lecture was pretty smooth.

Additional Help With Finding the Limiting Reagent

Great Information on Limiting Reagents 

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First Day of Stoichiometry

This lecture was a bit different because we use lecture supplement sheets that our teacher gave us instead of copying down a million notes in our notebook. I really prefer this note taking method over the old one. We learned about the backbone of stoichiometry. How you have to use the molar mass of substance A then use the coefficients of A and B then use the molar mass of substance B. It was a goof lesson that I understood pretty well.


Additional Info and Help with Stoichiometry

Unit Test

Well... this test wasn't the best. It It stunk a lot more, than all of the rest. Learning the lessons never seemed too hard, but when I was through with the test it would leave my grade scarred. My preparation prior wasn't outstanding, this would lead to a rather rough landing. Oh when I first saw the test I knew it was bad, as I could feel this collection of papers making me sad. The majority of questions that went into my brain, got lost in there and caused some real pain. This exam resulted in a big fat F, and it's not like sports where I can blame it on the ref. A look on the bright side will reveal I can't possibly do worse than that, and you are probably thinking "Well duh! You did worse than my rat!". All I can do now is move forward with time, I hope you all enjoyed my sequence of rhyme.

Molecular, Complete and net Equations

We just learned about the three steps to chemical equations. Molecular is first, complete ionic is second, and net ionic is third and last. After figuring out your final product, or net equation, you can determine who your spectators are. It was generally a nice and easy lesson that was easy to comprehend. I feel fairly confident about doing these problems.

Additional Info on the Topic



Video on the three equations

Driving Forces

Today we learned about the very important driving forces. There are four categories of driving forces which are: formation of a solid, formation of water, transfer of electrons and formation of a gas. Two compounds will react if there is at least one driving force present. We then moved on to even more crucial lessons. Double displacement reactions are the backbone of this lesson and thankfully they aren't incredibly difficult. The simple equation for them is AB + CD -----> AD + CB







Double Displacement Reactions: Examples

Double Displacement Reactions Video

Starting Chemical Reactions

We began the unit learning about chemical reactions and it wasn't too shabby. I learned what endothermic and exothermic reactions are and how to classify chemical equations into them. That was pretty important and fairly easy. We then learned about the CHO Method which is a huge concept. It is neccessary for you to understand the CHO Method because it will be used quite often. Seems like it will be a pretty good unit.


CHO Method

Endo & Exo Thermic Equations

The Big Bad Test

Phew. That was a tough one. I don't think I have ever done so much math on a science test even if I were to combine every science test I've ever taken. It was very time consuming, and nearly the entire class was still working when the bell rung. Overall, it was a pretty difficult test, but I did get a good score on the quiz so that is great. I am hoping that this test isn't a total disaster in the grade book, and that my grade stays right around where it is at. For the next test I need to prepare on doing the questions quicker and finding shortcuts to save time. For now we will just have to wait and see what the result is.

Final Lesson

Next we dove into the final lesson of this unit. It turned out to be a fairly easy one for me, I felt like I understood it pretty well. We were learning about percent composition and empirical formulas. I remember seeing empirical formulas on the pretest and wondering what in the world that was, but now I knew that it was the lowest whole number ratio of elements in a compound.  We compared and contrasted empirical formulas to molecular formulas, and I ended up taking about 3 pages of notes which is pretty crazy. Even though it was a lot to take in, I felt pretty confident that I could do these kind of problems on the test coming up, but I need to do some more practice.



% Composition Help and Practice

Percent Composition Quiz!

How to Calculate the Empirical Formula

Hydrated Compounds

Now we are moving on to some even bigger and badder problems. Finding an unknown value for hydrates in an experimental type scenario. You would be given 3 masses that were used in the experiment and you would have to use them to find the mass of the: hydrate, anhydrous salt and the water driven off. These problems tended to be longer and require more work, but I favored them as opposed to the regular mole calculations.



Practice!

The Mole

This unit began with the highly anticipated mole. I did not expect this lesson to involve this much math and so many conversions. Initially, the whole process seemed like the hardest thing in the world. The Mole Road Map was a huge help in simplifying the process and making it much easier to remember the equation. After doing a few practice problems and memorizing the Mole Road Map, I really got the hang of it. I was now more confident when faced with these mole questions.



Mole Road Map Practice

More Mole Equation Practice

Last Meal Party Day

Boy oh boy was it spectacular getting to feast on food two Friday's in a row. All of my friends were filled with jealousy. They were asking me "What kind of class is this that you have a party every Friday!?". Then when I told them Chemistry they questioned why I was having so many parties in Chemistry class and I just smiled. I made brownies as my treat, and my classmates seemed to enjoy them. I was very intrigued by the puppy chow! Two people brought it and I had about 4 bowls of delicious puppy chow. I then walked around selling my brownies to my friends and some teachers which was really fun as well. It was so great to have a day like that following a test. Hopefully, we can have more days like that in the future!

Brownie Recipes                                                                                            Puppy Chow Recipe

Matter and Measurement Unit Test

Coming into the test I did not have the most confidence. This is mainly due to the poor result I received on the quiz earlier in the week. This unit test had more of the newer stuff we learned compared to the significant number questions on the quiz. I don't know how or why, but it felt as if everything was clicking for me on that test. I'd have to say it is probably the best I've felt on a test or quiz in here all year. I'm awaiting the (hopefully good) results.

Help with Significant Figures

Mole Day: Project and Party

My initial thought of this entire subject was "What? Are you serious?". I was wondering why on Earth we were SEWING a mole for chemistry class. My parents were also baffled at the idea. In all, it was pretty fun. I had a fairly good idea being my MoleZOU (A Mizzou Mole) except that I am not the best seamstress, and that resulted in a not so great looking mole. Everyone said it looked much more like a fish than a mole. I spent a lot of time on it for people to criticize my fish/mole. :( Their were some fantastic and creative moles that I saw on Mole Day, and the party was awesome. My friends and I talked about Fantasy Football and ate a whole lot of yummy treats. It was a delightful Mole Day.

 Importance of Moles in Chemistry

Pre Test Thoughts After The Lesson

This time I wanted to combine some of the confusions and unknown information from the pre-test with the new things I learned from the lesson. The biggest topic that came up throughout the test was significant numbers. I was thinking that I could have a pretty good guess at what they were, but once I got to learning what they actually were in the lesson, I found out I was way off. There are many rules to these significant figures making it hard enough, but then you have got to deal with addition and subtraction. That adds a whole new level of confusion to this lesson. Overall, I think I am getting the hang of it pretty well, and I feel pretty good about the quiz on Monday.

Rules with Significant Figures, Adding and Multiplying

Significant Figures Practice

Archeology/Half-life Lab

For this lab there was no question. That guaranteed me getting to participate in this one. That being said, we ran out of class time so my partner had to take it home and collect the data. It turns out that I didn't really get to do another lab. Which might've been a good thing since this lab seemed very strenuous. We had to cut out over 500 squares and then my partner had to take those small squares home and imitate a decaying process. He had to dump all of the squares out and count how many landed on the color side. The other ones were decayed in a sense. The lab was a great way to think about half-lives and the decaying process differently. Hopefully the next lab will be more fun.




Handy Dandy Half-Life Calculator
 Half-Life Practice Problems
Additional Notes on Radioactive Decay and Half-Lives 
Types of Decay Notes

Beanium Lab

Well this wasn't the best start to the pre-lab questions. I was one of the few who answered incorrectly and ha d to sit out on the lab. I had simply forgotten the formula to calculate the average atomic mass and I had to guess. I guessed wrong and had to pay the punishment of sitting out of the lab. I didn't get the privilege of actually doing the lab, so I had to use data that Mrs. Frankenberg gave us. I am going to make sure I get the question right next time.

Steps on how to find the average atomic mass

Next Lesson in the Unit

We are now learning about the mass of subatomic particles. We know that protons and neutrons = 1 amu, while electrons = 1/1840 amu. We defined an isotope as having the same number of protons but different number of neutrons, a proton as a part of the atom that gives an element its identity, and an electron as a part of the atom that gives an element its chemical reaction. We then learned how the mass number is the sum of protons and electrons while the atomic number is the number of protons. It is also helpful to know that protons and electrons are always equal. After doing some examples with that, we moved on to Atomic Mass, and how it is the weighted averages of all the isotopes of the element. Most elements have decimals as part of their masses. The last thing we learned was very important. We learned an equation for calculating the total average mass of an element given its percent abundance and its mass. The equation is just [(Mass)(%)]+[(Mass)(%)] for however many elements there are. That is one thing I need to study and keep in my head.

First day of Atomic Structure and Radioactivity

First, we learned about Dalton's Atomic Theory. He made some great points like, that all elements are composed of atoms and all atoms of an element are identical. Also in his theory he stated that atoms are indivisible and aren't created or destroyed in a chemical reaction, but the most important thing was that Protons=Identity. Next, we learned about the Law of Constant Composition and how a given compound always contains the same proportion by mass of the elements of which it is composed. We then had to calculate the percent composition of each component in a sodium oxide (for example). Na2O was split up and then we multiplied their charges by their atomic number, so 2 • 22.99 for sodium and 1 • 16 for oxygen. Sodium came out to a total of 45.98 which was added to Oxygens total of 16 to get 61.98 g/mL. Finally for the percentage, sodiums total of 45.98 was divided by the overall total of 61.98 then multiplied by 100 to get a final result of 74.19%. Oxygen came out to 25.81%. Now we looked at JJ Thomson, and how he discovered the first subatomic particle the electron. He used a cathode ray tube to show the atoms of any element emit particles with a negative charge. Rutherford, a student of Thomson, discovered the nucleus and the proton. Lastly, we looked at the current atomic model and how it resembled a cotton ball with fluffy edges and that a mathematical equation is used in it.


Dalton, Rutherford and Thomson Help

Thoughts on the Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Pretest

Honestly, it was a lot better than I expected it to be. I felt like I had a pretty good idea of the half life stuff. The tables and graphs were also fairly easy in my opinion. On those two topics I felt like I had a good understanding of what the correct answer was and how to find it. On the other hand, nearly everything else on the test was just a guess to me. I feel like I may have a had a bit of the right idea when guessing on the alpha and beta emissions, probably not though. I didn't have a clue what do to do on the equations, or anything to do with decaying. I am looking forward to this upcoming unit though. My goal is simply to improve from the previous unit.

First thoughts about Nomenclature

My very first thoughts when being introduced to Nomenclature was "Oh, this isn't that hard!" Learning about the 3 types of binary nomenclature compounds seemed somewhat easy and understandable. Type 1 contained a metal and a non-metal with no changes to the name off of the periodic table. Type 2 were generally found in the transition block, and roman numerals are in between the first and last name and used to illustrate the charge on the cation. Type 3 used pre-fixes to name the elements, going all the way up to "hepta" for 10. After being comfortable with this lesson, I would have to quickly realize that nothing else was going to be this easy.

Toughest part of Nomenclature

The hardest part of this unit was without a doubt, the Frontier Chemistry Project. It was very time consuming and tedious. It was a bit of shock coming from just learning about the types of nomenclatures to finding out which medicinal plants in which habitats do what. Finding the correct medicinal plant for either the Eastern Deciduous Forest or the Tall Grass Prairie was hard enough. Then, you had to find the active chemical in that plant and state the formula and a picture of its structure. Doing this for 25 different maladies was very grueling, and I know that it's not going to get any easier from here on out. Therefore, I really have to work hard on these projects and study for the tests to make sure I get the grade I desire. 

Introduction Page

Hello, I am Jackson this is my blog for Pre-Ap Chemistry. I like to play and watch all kinds of sports. I enjoy basketball and football the most. My favorite college is Mizzou. In the future I want a career and occupation that involves sports somehow.My dream is to become a rich sports agent who gets to interact with the biggest names in sports.