Stoich Test

The test was not terrible. I felt very confident and was busy the night before so I didn't spend any time studying.. Hopefully that doesn't bite me in the butt. I need to do alright on this test to keep my A and drop my final. Hopefully I pulled through and the final can be gone!

http://www.sunnyskyz.com/images/webpics/2012-11/98fl3-happy-face.jpg

Here are some helpful links that helped me through the Stoich Unit: 

Practice Problems

Review Video

Yield Help

Copper (II) Chloride and Iron Lab: Day 2

Today we took the nail that was soaking in the copper chloride yesterday and rinsed off the copper from the nail in the baby food jar. Our group was able to collect a pretty large amount of copper. We then proceeded to clean the copper and dry it off. Next day we will take measurements and then calculate if the iron is 2 or 3!

Here is a photo of our copper:

Semi-dried Copper

Copper(II) Chloride and Iron Lab: Day 1

This lab we reacted Cooper 2 Chloride and an iron nail. It was an interesting lab that reacting quickly. You could see the copper attaching to the nail immediately after the nail was placed in the solution. The objective of the lab is to determine whether the nail is Iron 2 or 3. We will be able to determine this based on the theoretical outcome and the actual outcome we achieve. It is a 3 day lab so I will give you an update soon!

Here is a photo of the start of the reaction:

Day 1

Stoichiometry Quiz

I personally didn't think the quiz was terribly hard. The only problem is that there was only 10 questions. This limits you to one missed question for an A. And to add to the troubles there was a couple questions that went along with each other and if you miss one you miss the other.. I felt alright about it so hopefully my score reflects that belief. :-)

http://img1.123freevectors.com/wp-content/uploads/new/icon/075-smiley-face-vector-art-free-download-l.png

Chemical Reaction Test

I personally thought the test was tricky.. I did the practice test bank questions and thought those were fairly simple and I understood them. Although, when I started the test the questions were very different and I struggled a little bit. Hoping for the best!

http://ronstadtinsurance.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Nervous-Face.jpg

Studying for Test

Just thought I'd throw out some links that helped me! Also, don't forget the question bank for chapter 7 and 8, those help a ton too!

Redox
Double Replacement Reaction
Acid Base Reaction
Balancing

Activity Series Lab

Today we performed a lab that tested about 6 different elements with different solutions to see if we obtained reactions. The number of times the element reacted gave us a good idea of how they fall on an Activity Series table.

Here is a photo of the lab:

You can see the Calcium reacting to a solution.

I am currently working on the equations but this was definitely good practice! I learn better with hands on experiments and this is doing the trick for me. 

Acid Base Reactions

I was unfortunately out of town for this lesson so I struggled when trying to learn from others. No one can match the teaching abilities of Frank the Tank. Although I am trying my best to catch up!


Here is a link that helped me learn Acid Base Reactions

http://dl.clackamas.edu/ch105/lesson%207%20images/abstr02.jpg

Chemical Reaction Quiz

The quiz was a little tricky! It is very nerve racking with little questions because any mistake will take your grade down decently far. My results weren't terrible but there is always room for improvement.

Here is a link to review: balancing equations 

http://www.fitnessrepublic.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/article_665_248/inside-there-is-always-room-for-improvement-the-kaizen-principle-1323.jpg

Chemical Composition Test

The test was hyped up as the day went on.. The word on the street was it was impossible. I felt alright about it though, hopefully my grade reflects! 

Helpful Review Links

I stumbled across some review links as I was studying for the test! Here are a few of my favorites.

Mole
Molar Mass Calculation
Hydrated Compounds

Hydrate Lab

Many ionic compounds, when crystallized from water solution, take up definite proportions of water as an integral part of their crystal structures.  This water of crystallization may be driven off by the application of heat.  The number of moles of water of crystallization driven off per mole of the anhydrous compound is a simple, whole number.  If the formula of the anhydrous compound is known, you can then determine the formula of the hydrate. 

In simpler terms, we dehydrated a hydrate and created an anhydrate which was essentially a compound with the H2O taken out of it. We were able to calculate the moles of water(n) in the hydrate.

Here

Hydrate Lesson

This lesson was probably the biggest doozie of the year. It wasn't impossible but very hard to follow. It is making me nervous for this lab! I will have to review this weekend. Here is a helpful link!

Hydrate Help

http://www.webassign.net/labsgraceperiod/tccgenchem1l1/lab_3/manual.html

Chemical Composition Pre-Test

So this is what I expected the pre-test to be like.. I heard the next unit is incredibly hard and the pre test says it all. I would be lucky to get 5 of those right off of guessing... Looks like this unit it about to be a grind. 

http://tedlillyfanclub.blogspot.com/2012/04/sad-baby-face-sad-baby-face-baby.html

Last Meal Project

Our project for this unit was the last meal project. It was pretty simple, all we needed to do was convert recipes from customary to metric. We then had a party to celebrate all of our hard work! Here is a photo of a sample of my work.

Here was a link that was incredibly useful when converting: Metric Kitchen

Measurement Unit Test

The test wasn't entirely hard but it was tricky. While I was working the worry of: am I doing this right continuously ran through my mind. I'm hoping for the best though! #sigfigs

http://sarahandthegoonsquad.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/worries_worried_face-300x300.png

Sig Figs

The sig fig lesson was almost a refresher. I learned them at some point in my schooling career but forgot it all from years of not using it. Sig figs in general would probably piss of any math teacher in this school because it defies every rule we have learned in math. It is confusingly simple. If you need a refresher here is a link! 

Sig Fig Refresher

Asprin Experiment

Aspirin Lab

The last two days I have been creating Aspirin in the lab. Aspirin is a synthetic organic derived from salicylic acid. In the experiment acetic anhydride is added to a measured mass of saliylic acid in the presence of a catalyst (sulfuric acid). The mixture is heated to form acetylsalicylic acid and acetic acid. After cold water is added to destroy the excess acetic anyhydride and cause the product to crystallize. Below are some photos from our experiment! 

 Day 1: Heating the mixture of salicylic acid and acetic anhydride.

Day 2: Filtering out the crystals from day 1.

Day 2: Photo of our product in the Buchner Funnel being dried out. 

Helpful Links for Test!

While I was studying for the test tomorrow I found a couple of online resources that helped me fully grasp some of the ideas of the Unit! They are listed below.

Half Life
Radioactive Decays

Hope they help you guys!

Forensic Archaeology Lab

Today in class we made excel graphs depicting how radioactive elements decay over time. The entire lab was an overview of half-lives. We cut up 567 tiny paper squares and pretended that they were atoms. We jumbled them up and poured the out and the papers that had the colored side faced up were considered to be a decayed atom! We would remove them and redo the process! It was a very tedious lab, although it did help me get a full understanding of half-lives!

Heres a link that helped me undestand!  http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nuclear/halfli.html

Beanium Lab

The Beanium Lab was made to help us realize that not all atoms are the exact same for each element. There are many different types of Isotopes for each element. We essentially counted out different beans and used them as examples of different isotopes and got different masses for each bean.
 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CA

We were able to calculate the average atomic mass for the element "Beanium" by using the Atomic Mass Formula.

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-Average-Atomic-Mass
Helpful Link for Atomic Mass Averaging:http://www.wikihow.com/Find-Average-Atomic-Mass

Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Quiz #1

I didn't think the quiz was very hard, a lot of it was memorization. Not much application besides a few of the math problems. Good start to this new chapter!

http://blottytinesrunemagic.blogspot.com/2012/04/runes-of-fire.html

Heres a hands on activity that reviews how to calculate average atomic masses! http://algebralab.org/practice/practice.aspx?file=Algebra_AverageAtomicMass.xml

Radioactivity Pre-Test

It was an interesting test. I recognized a lot of words but I didn't know how to do the actual problems. I remember learning about a lot of that stuff in physical science but that was a while ago and I do not remember it enough!

Here is a resource that helped me refresh on Alpha Particles: http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/alpha.htm

http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/alpha.htm

How I felt about the Nomenclature Test

I personally did not think the test was terribly hard. I did get tripped up on the Type 3 a little more than anything. It also did get sticky when I needed to remember the charges of the poly-atomic ions and I blanked a couple times.

How I feel about Nomenclature

Nomenclature was always intimidating before I was actually introduced to it. Before I started chemistry it all looked like a bunch of gibberish. After I started learning how things are named it started to make a lot more sense.

Introduction Page

My name is Matthew Pulcine. This is a photo of me showing my excitement for Chemistry at the very young age of 2 weeks old. Yes, my hair is still rad.