Chemical Reactions

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Summary:Chemical reactions are when you have an element reacting to another. For example Lithium and water. Lithium will catch on fire and admit gas when in contact with water. These happen to be examples of chemical reactions. Chemical reactions can change temperature, change color, changing smell and or turning into a solid. If you see any of these things will doing a lab you make be experiencing a chemical reaction.

S&EP: This week we Conducting Investigations. We played this game were we were creating chemical reactions. This was all about looking around the room to find the elements, mixtures, or compounds. It was like a big puzzle where you have to find the right fit. Investigations are just further discovery which is what I believe chemistry is all about. Discovering new things based on looking closer than ever before. That's what I believe the game was teaching us. You need to look at all the clues to discover the way out.

XCC: This week we worked with Cause and effect.  Lets put liquid nitrogen and water together. Pow you are suddenly engulfed in a thick white smoke. You now have a masterful disguise on your hands just like a ninja. So does this mean Ninjas are actually chemist in disguise? Thats a theory for another day but lets look a little closer at this " magic trick". So first lets say we have a cup of water/H20. What causes this H20 to turn into this thick white smoke? Well thats easy the effect of adding in liquid nitrogen. Cause and effect is everywhere in chemistry you just have to look beyond the "magic" to see the magicians tricks.

The Periodic Table

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Summary: My favorite element is Bismuth. You may be wondering how this has to do with the Periodic Table and what i've learned; but what if I told you it has everything to do with it?! Bismuth is one of the 118 elements on your current periodic table.  The periodic table may look pretty messy and you may have trouble even finding this element on it but fear not it is not as complex as it seems. The periodic has order to all is madness for example it is made up of rows and columns. Each row represent energy levels. For example the top row with Hydrogen and helium is row 1 becasue it only had 1 energy level in its atoms. Next we have columns and these columns represent families.  Bismuth is a part of the "other metals family" This family consists of  Aluminium,  Bismuth, Gallium, Indium, Lead,Thallium, and Tin. How are these ever related? Well that's becasue the all react similarly just like a family would. They share traits!

S&EP: This week we used mathematics. I have been taught from a young age that mathematics is the center of everything. Well in Chemistry you couldn't be more right. You can think of the elements as the pieces hat make up the world around us. They are your water, you ai, and more. In Chemistry we use math to define theses pieces of our world. For example we see that a hydrogen  particle is different from a helium becasue of the addition of protons and neutrons. We also can organize these pieces using those electrons n the outside of the nucleus. Math is so important to this world especially to the worlds building blocks.

XCC: This week we used Systems and System models. Systems are everywhere. It is how we understand things and in this cause how we understand the Periodic Table. As I said before our table is set up in rows and columns. Well lets look at those rows. So what is an energy level? Well and energy level is a level of electrons outside of the nucleus of and atom. These energy levels have rules. Each energy level except the first can only hold up to * electrons. Once that level is filled to 8 then it full. These energy levels can determine two things. One what row of the periodic table that element will be put on. Also it could represent wat elements that element can combine with. For example we can have one Hydrogen. This hydrogen has only 1 energy level and one electron. SO the only thing that can mis with this is another Hydrogen. This would make it full since the first energy level only hold 2!

Intro To Chemistry

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Summary: Atoms, Elements, Compounds molecules,and more. What do these all have in common? Thats easy they are all a part of chemistry. Let's start with the atom. The atom is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Atoms are the basic building blocks for everything. Now using these atoms we can create elements. These are different combinations of atoms. For example Hydrogen it has one proton and one electron. While maybe Bismuth has 83 protons.  Now may be wondering I have covered atoms and elements, so what are these compounds and molecules? Well lets see compounds. Most favorite compound is sugar. Sugar is a compound because it has multiple elements put together t to create something such as the formation for glucose, Then we have molecules that are like 02 it doesn't have multiple different elements but more so multiple of the same.

S&EP: Using Mathematics: This week we used mathematics when we found cations and anions. First a Cation is when an atom loses electrons. Then of course Anions are when they gain electrons.For this we had to use our skills in subtracting negative numbers. Such as 5 -(-2)= 7. To get the proper number you need to remember that a negative next to a negative creates a positive.

XCC: This week we used Stability and Change. When you have an atom its very important that you  make it balanced. You don't want an atom to have Cations or Anions. So you actually see when we were doing the gizmo that when you add protons or electrons to you elementit can change that stability. This change could make it either more positive or more negative. Especially with the protons which are a major depending factor upon what the element will be. If you think about tit to make Hydrogen you must always have only one proton. IF there is more added that's a completely new element.

Invasive Species Project Blog

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Summary:  The New Zealand Mud Snail is an invasive species. What is an invasive species you may ask? Well , an invasive species is a species introduced into an area that its not native to. Plus on top of this invation they harm the ecosystem. Specifically for the New Zealand Mud snail they harm by taking resource. How much resource could this little snail consume? Well actually they consume half of the resource! These little snails repopulate extremely fast meaning there could be billions of these snails. Can't you see these snails could cause a crisis!

Backwards Looking: What process did we go through to produce the video? To make this video it took a lot of preparation. When you are creating an informational video you need to make sure all of your facts are set in stone. This is the kinda of thing that is supposed to help people, to save people. This project didn't just take a while to create but the research was a huge aspect. So I would say step wise you start with a basic idea. For example just picking the animal. Then you do not brief but deep research on many different websites and get all the information. This information can go from fun facts, tips, or just an explanation. Then of course we make a project that you are proud of.

Inward Looking:How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work? This project is really something great in my opinion. I felt like we did a really good job and actually thought the near due date just made my productivity better. One thing I did really like about the project is when I made the video even though it was due soon I felt there was enough flexibility that I was still comfortable. That's why the theme of our video is more about the entertainment. I did dislike though that I felt like I still could be 100% confident with it. I didn't know if it was too unserious. Over all I feel if I could do it over I would find a way to boost my confidence I this video we made.

Outward Looking: Did I do my work like others did? I have a feeling form the presentations I saw we did our final product differently. I don't think anyone else made a video in the class. I think people has an idea that a video would have to like an infomercial and all serious. I think that's why not many people picked it. It all about making it your own. That's why I thought making a video would  be the best option. Videos give you that full range of creativity. I know this mostly comes from that I was looking at this project the entire time as something to do and make fun. I strive to engage the audience not just inform them. This trait is evident in my work and I hope others notice that.


Forward Looking: What would I change if I could do it again? If I could have changed one thing I would have probably done the video sooner. I feel like we had just finished editing it right before the due date so I felt unprepared. It would have been better if we just did it before the Saturday we worked on it. I think we maybe underestimated some of the time we had to be able to work on putting it all together. Over all this was a great project but being prepared tops all.

Invasive Species Project

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Summary: The New Zealand Mud Snail is an Invasive species. An invasive species is a species that is introduced into a nonnative area and harms the ecosystem there. These snails are a perfect example of an invasive species. They can reproduce at tremendous rates. For example one paring of male and female can create up to billions of offspring in only 4 years. These snails also take up half of the resource in the river usually when they live there. So half the food half the shelter etc. These little pests are crazy and could really end up destroying the water habitats we know and love.

S&EP: This week we used  Asking Questions and Defining Problems. We did this by asking things like; How does this effect the water ecosystem? How fast do they spread? What is the main issue and how do we fix it? All these questions had to be asked and answered so we could make our video. To understand the full story you must think of all the benefits and problems. Asking questions always helps but the answers are what you really need.

XCC: This week we used Cause and Effect. I think our environment is full of cause and effect. You see when we ask our questions we need to see how does this invasive species negatively effect the environment. For the New Zealand mud snail they cause lack of resource which effects the over all populations of  the ecosystem. Also we may ask how one pair of male and female can cause an explosion in the population. This explosion may cause again a resource problem. You can always find a way to make a cycle into simpler steps because a cycle is just cause and effect.