Curtis Washington

Mr.Olson showed us his new video describing the characteristics of moles in his video "molesong with curtis"

HOW I CONVERT

Today, we rewatched the "how I convert" video" to refresh our minds about cancellations and units.

Salt Lab

Today we did a salt lab trying to make salt evaporate from a pan of water. We filled the pan about half way with water and dumped a half a cup full of salt inside. Using a stick, we stirred the the salt until it thoroughly dissolved into the water. We then left the liquid on the table. When we came back, the salt was all that was left in the pan!

SIGFIG.

The concept of significant figures is often used in connection with rounding. Rounding to n significant figures is a more general-purpose technique than rounding to n decimal places, since it handles numbers of different scales in a uniform way. For example, the population of a city might only be known to the nearest thousand and be stated as 52,000, while the population of a country might only be known to the nearest million and be stated as 52,000,000. The former might be in error by hundreds, and the latter might be in error by hundreds of thousands, but both have two significant figures (5 and 2). This reflects the fact that the significance of the error (its likely size relative to the size of the quantity being measured) is the same in both cases.

A practical calculation that uses any irrational number necessitates rounding the number, and hence the answer, to a finite number of significant figures. Computer representations of floating point numbers typically use a form of rounding to significant figures, but with binary numbers.

The term "significant figures" can also refer to a crude form of error representation based around significant figure rounding; for this use, see Significance arithmetic.

Time to dig out the mole

Think of moles as a "chemist's dozen". Just as 12 eggs is a dozen eggs, 6.02 × 1023 eggs is a mole of eggs. 6.02 × 1023 molecules of oxygen is a mole of oxygen.
The number of grams in a mole is different from substance to substance. If you're like most students, it's this that's confusing you. Picture it this way: a dozen elephants have a different weight than a dozen rabbits- but in each case, you have a dozen animals. Similarly, a mole of oxygen gas has a different weight than a mole of water- but in each case, you have 6.02×1023 molecules.

Why use moles? You often want to know how many molecules you have in a sample of a substance. Counting the molecules individually would be completely impractical. Even if you had a way to see the individual molecules, there are just too many, even in a tiny sample. Moles were defined to solve the problem of counting large numbers of molecules. With moles, you count the number of molecules in the sample by weighing it.

Holy Moley!

A mole is the amount of pure substance containing the same number of chemical units as there are atoms in exactly 12 grams of carbon-12 (i.e., 6.023 X 1023). This involves the acceptance of two dictates -- the scale of atomic masses and the magnitude of the gram. Both have been established by international agreement. Formerly, the connotation of "mole" was "gram molecular weight." Current usage tends to apply the term "mole" to an amount containing Avogadro's number of whatever units are being considered. Thus, it is possible to have a mole of atoms, ions, radicals, electrons, or quanta. This usage makes unnecessary such terms as "gram-atom," "gram-formula weight," etc.

its smelly

Today we did a lab on the different smells contained in a bottle. Each bottle was labeled a different letter and we were given a chart to fill out. We also had to decipher if the smell was sweet or sour. Writing down our guesses, we wafted each smell again to make sure. We then went outside for stronger smells. I have to say, those smelled the worst. Some smelled like cotton candy and others smelled like fish. This was an interesting lab as we made connections. I hope we do more labs like this.

Formulas of the first ten straight-chain alkanes

name: condensed formula:
methane CH4
ethane C2H6
propane C3H8
n-butane C4H10
n-pentane C5H12
n-hexane C6H14
n-heptane C7H16
n-octane C8H18
n-nonane C9H20
n-decane C10H22

Rules for naming acids

An acid is a substance that produces hydrogen ions in a solution. If the anion does not contain oxygen, the acid is named with the prefix -hydro and the suffix -ic attached to the root name for the element. When the anion contains oxygen, the acid name is formed from the root name of a central element of the anion or the anion name, with a suffix of -ic or -ous. When the anion ends in -ate the suffix -ic is used. When the anion name ends in -ite the suffix 0ous is used in the acid name.

molecule test

Today we took a test based on molecules. Learning about molar masses and how to calculate the amount of moles, we were able to figure out how many atoms there were. A lewis structure is a representation of a molecule or polyatomic ion showing how valence elctrons are arranged among the atoms in the ion. A duet rule is surrounded by two electrons while an octet is surrounded by eight electrons. A bonding pair is a pair of electrons that are shared between two atoms forming a covalent or polar-covalent bond. A single bond is a covalent or polar covalent bond in which two pairs of electrons are shared by two atoms.

Time to Get Out

Fighting with your parents are the worst, especially if each side believes he/she is right. This is the case with my mother and I all the time. However, this time it got too far and we ended up yelling things we shouldn't have said. She told me she hated me and how I act and I told her the same. She then yelled "If you're so tired of me, why don't you go out?" I replied by grabbing as much stuff as I could and walked out. I went over to Shirley's and stayed out late at nights. I had freedom and I loved it. Knowing that, my mother asked me to come home. Reluctant, I followed, knowing I would get in trouble if I didn't. In the end, our love for one another came through and we apologized sincerely for our actions.

Halloween is for Nerds

The week of Halloween, all my friends and I discussed what we were going to be, panicking over our costumes. I planned to be Cooking Mama from DS but I couldn't find an orange apron and a cooking hat so I dressed up as a nerd. The day of Halloween, I saw that many others had dressed up as nerds and we formed a nerd clan, ringing doorbells and trying to talk with our weirdest voices, spitting out random equations and answers. After trick or treating, we all went over to Karen's house and attempted at cooking. I ended up burning the dumplings and all our cookies came out soggy. Although we weren't successful with dinner, it turned out to be a treat.

Homecoming!

Oct 24. The day of homecoming was a hectic day indeed. I woke up at nine and got ready for work. It was tiresome and boring but I made it through and got out at three. Rushing home to get all my things, I packed everything into a duffle bag and headed for my friend's house. All the girls were running around trying to find a free outlet for their curlers or a mirror to apply makeup. Once the guys had arrived, the girls panicked even more and began running around waving hairspray and jackets around. Once things settled down, we took a group picture and drove to school. It was really hot and crowded on the dance floor but we had a good time. Someone had too much fun and dislocated her knee, making everyone evacuate. The after party was the best part. I ate so much food and laughed til I cried. A day well spent :)

Sam Park

Last Wednesday, Sam surprised me in class, showing up with two dozen roses. He tried to come in during class but Mrs. Conlin said we were in the middle of presentations. He then waited until after class, along with a crowd of people, giggling and smiling. He then came in and hugged me, asking me out. I had no idea what to say because it was so unexpected! However, I said yes and he makes me very happy :)

Egg-citing Wonders

In Ceramics, a girl brought in a half boiled egg. However, it was interesting how it hadn't rotted or molded after a week! She claimed she had sprayed it with a coat of a secret ingredient. This amazed me and made me wonder what could possibly stop the rotting of the egg. Passing it around, she explained that the egg was neither too soft nor too hard. We felt it ourselves in a plastic bag and she proved to be right. Unfortunately she refused to reveal her secret and left us curious. An egg-cellent class to end the day!

Visible Spectrum Lab

Doing this lab, I was able to see many different colors of light. With each element, the lights of the rainbow differed. Then Mr. Olsen gave us special glasses that allowed us to see the rainbow in any light. Going outside, our class was told not to directly look into the sun. I would have to say this is the second coolest lab we've ever done :)

It's a Hard Knock Life

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been updating my blogs as often but a lot has been going on. We have a ions, lights, and bond types chemistry test tomorrow. I haven't been able to study much because of my other tests, but I will definitely studay all night tonight if I have to. I hope I get a good grade because an A- would really help my GPA. I plan to study a lot of vocabulary and the packet Mr.Olsen has provided us. I have been stressing a lot, having tests everyday and my mother has been constantly nagging about her problems. I hope this week ends with a good note. Time to play some review games! Talk to you guys later :)

TGIF

Today is Friday, September 18. This past week we've been doing many labs based on electrons, protons, and nuetrons. I learned that an element's atomic mass number is the same as the number of protons and electrons it contains. In order to find the number of neutrons, you use the atomic mass number and subtract the number of protons or it's atomic mass number. We also learned the arrangement of electrons.

Measuring Using a Scale and Graduated Cylinder

In the past days, we've completed one lab. In this lab, we had to measure certain objects using a scale and graduated cylinder. One column was for our guesses on how much it weighed. The other was for actual measures. We then used the formula: predict-measured/measured x 100% to find out the percent difference of what we guessed and the actual. To find out its weight, we put the object on the scale and moved the ten marker and hundred marker until it is balanced. For the objects using water, we measured the volume by pouring the water into graduated cylinders.

Penny Lab

In this lab we turned a copper penny into gold. We achieved this by soaking the penny into a bowl of sodium hydroxide. While soaking, the penny changed into a silver shade. If the sodium hydroxide gets on skin or eyes, it burns. I believe this also applies to the penny. Burning the copper color, the sodium hydroxide cleans it leaving a smooth, silver slate. After this process was completed, we used tongs to burn the penny over a bunsen burner. Like when something burns, it turns yellowish-tan. This concept was shown in the change of color in the penny. In conclusion, our penny was gold.

My Goals

My goals for the future:

Get a G35
Attend UC Berkeley
Attend medical school
Apply for a position in the medical field, preferably as a pediatrician
Start a family
Get a house and pay it off
Die in my sleep