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.