Ethan's Chemistry Blog 1
Over the first few weeks of school, we have been doing experiments just about everyday. This
has been very exciting for me already because I love hands on learning and have been looking forward
to any kind of class I can get involved with kinetically. I learn better when I'm working with material
as opposed to a lecture or have to read and do an assignment from a book.
The first project that we did this year was one that required us to make a boat out of cardboard,
tape, plastic (etc.) and we had to see how many pennies we could hold in our boat. I think that the goal of this was more of a team building activity than anything to do with chemistry. I enjoyed the project a lot because I have not done anything that is that out of the box in a long time. The second activity that we did was a list of chemical experiments that we had to do with a partner(s). I think that the main point that was trying to be taught in this activity was more of the basics of chemistry, such as when a chemical reaction takes place, the molecular structure of the solid/liquid/gas changes from what it was before vs. after an experiment. An example of this would be when we burned the steel wool, it changed slightly in color, size and weight. Our group determined that the wool must have oxidized or gained oxygen atoms, when it was being burned in the Bunsen burner. There was also some examples of physical reactions, such as when we pulled apart the steel wool, that shows that the matter change, but not necessarily the chemical makeup. I think that the point of physical and chemical change was re-enforced with the second experiment. Both activities showed either a chemical or physical change at least one point during the duration of the experiment.
With the Volume Comparison lab, I believe that the main point that was trying to be made was not only how to measure correctly, but mainly to lead us to discover that 1cm3 equals about 1mL. I think that learning this is helpful because it explains a principle that we will be used repeatedly in the feature.
I feel my participation was good these first few weeks and understood all the concepts that were taught to us. I feel that I could participate in the whole class discussion more often so I can take more away from the class, like communication skills and sharing data.
has been very exciting for me already because I love hands on learning and have been looking forward
to any kind of class I can get involved with kinetically. I learn better when I'm working with material
as opposed to a lecture or have to read and do an assignment from a book.
The first project that we did this year was one that required us to make a boat out of cardboard,
tape, plastic (etc.) and we had to see how many pennies we could hold in our boat. I think that the goal of this was more of a team building activity than anything to do with chemistry. I enjoyed the project a lot because I have not done anything that is that out of the box in a long time. The second activity that we did was a list of chemical experiments that we had to do with a partner(s). I think that the main point that was trying to be taught in this activity was more of the basics of chemistry, such as when a chemical reaction takes place, the molecular structure of the solid/liquid/gas changes from what it was before vs. after an experiment. An example of this would be when we burned the steel wool, it changed slightly in color, size and weight. Our group determined that the wool must have oxidized or gained oxygen atoms, when it was being burned in the Bunsen burner. There was also some examples of physical reactions, such as when we pulled apart the steel wool, that shows that the matter change, but not necessarily the chemical makeup. I think that the point of physical and chemical change was re-enforced with the second experiment. Both activities showed either a chemical or physical change at least one point during the duration of the experiment.
With the Volume Comparison lab, I believe that the main point that was trying to be made was not only how to measure correctly, but mainly to lead us to discover that 1cm3 equals about 1mL. I think that learning this is helpful because it explains a principle that we will be used repeatedly in the feature.
I feel my participation was good these first few weeks and understood all the concepts that were taught to us. I feel that I could participate in the whole class discussion more often so I can take more away from the class, like communication skills and sharing data.
