Friday, February 24, 2012


On Thursday February 23, 2012, we completed a Chemistry lab called Ion Combination which involved mixing solutions, solving out double replacement reaction equations, and net ionic equations. While completing this lab I was not surprised by any of the reactions and how precipitations were formed because I have completed a lab like this in AP Chemistry at my high school. Our lab consisted of solutions that were unlabeled and we had to combine the solutions and analyze the precipitates formed to figure out what we were mixing due to products of the reaction. An observation that led me to believe a chemical reaction was occurring is that a precipitate had formed. There were also color changes that occurred when mixing the two solutions together. These are sure signs that a chemical reaction has occurred. Also when we used the molecular substances and combined those, a chemical reaction had occurred because there was a temperature change and a gas had formed; both of which are another way of knowing that a chemical reaction has occurred. When combining solutions, there were reactions that produced different product states.  Different product states would include when two liquids were combined to form a solid precipitate. Another would include when we combined the two solutions and a gas developed. All of these observations we can conclude from this Ion Combination Lab. When sodium chloride (NaCl) is added to water (H20), the sodium and the chloride dissociate from each other resulting in sodium + ions and chloride - ions. The chemical disassociation equation would be:
NaCl -> Na+ + Cl-

Wednesday, February 15, 2012


                On Wednesday February 15, 2012, two of the main topics we discussed were Coulomb’s Law exam topic reviews and naming compounds.

Coulomb’s Law is the idea that as ion charge increases, the attractive force increase and as the distance between ions increases, the attractive force decreases.
Force=K(charge q1)(charge q2) / distance
NaCl, Na+ and Cl- -> melting point 804 degrees Celsius
MgO, Mg+ and O2- -> melting point 2800 degrees Celsius
The attraction between the particles is greater which means higher melting point.

Acetaminophen: This is an active ingredient of Tylenol, C8H9NO2                      
Caffeine: This is located in drinks such as soda like the Pepsi in my refrigerator, C8H12N4O3
Fructose: This is a sugar found in fruits, such as the pineapple in my refrigerator, C6H12O6
Isopropanol: This is the main component in rubbing alcohol, C3H8O
Methylpyrazine: Is used as flavor in bakery goods and chocolate products from Valentine’s Day, C5H6N2

Ionic compounds tend to have higher melting points because the greater the force of attraction between the particles or as the ion charges increase means it will take more force for the change of state.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Today on Chemistry the main topic we discussed was the atom. The atom has three main pieces that contribute to the entire structure of the atom. There are three pieces within an atom including the proton, neutron and the electron. A proton is located in the nucleus or the center of the atom with positive charge. A neutron, also located in the nucleus, has no charge. Electrons are the third contributing factors with in an atom. They move around the nucleus in a circular direction in the electron cloud and have a negative charge. Electrons behave like light by moving in waves, and have a little bit more mass than a photon. When examining the Iron (Fe) atom, all atoms are made up of spheres that are filled with “heavy” light. It should be noted that the radius of the atom is a thousand times greater than the radius of the nucleus.

Monday, February 6, 2012


The four fundamental forces of our universe include strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, electro-statics and gravity. The two forces that we most commonly feel and experience everyday are the electro-statics and gravity.
                In one situation with the following liquids: water, ethanol, oil and corn syrup, the densities would form multiple layers due to varying density numbers. Water’s density is 1.0 g/cm3, ethanol’s density is 0.789 g/cm3, oil’s density is 0.8 g/cm3, and corn syrup’s density is 1.33 g/cm3. With the following data we can organize how the liquids will settle within a container. The heavier the density, the liquid would settle to the bottom of the container while the lighter the density will cause the liquid to be suspended on the top of the other liquids. By using the previous rules, the order of the liquids from bottom to top is corn syrup, water, oil and ethanol.
                In another situation where two liquids of different densities will form one layer the liquids would include water and alcohol. Water’s density is 1.0 g/cm3 and alcohol’s density is 0.79 g/cm3. If these two liquids were added to a container together, they would mix together to form one layer. This is commonly shown with standard bottles of drinking alcohol.
                The density of osmium is 22.61 g/cm3. The density is lead is 11.32 g/cm3 and the density of aluminum is 2.70 g/cm3.
At this point, I do not have any comments on the material we are working on. My only question is from the OWL homework on scientific notation. The result continued to be zero or error even after calculating it out multiple times so I would like some help on this question. Other than this one issue, I do not have any other questions or comments at this time.