Monday, 8.30.10

                Today in class we did an alka-seltzer lab. We had to come up with the problem (what we needed to find out), a hypothesis (an “if..then..” statement predicting what we thought would happen), the independent, dependent, and control variables for the experiment, and a step by step procedure. After we found that, we could begin the actual testing.

                Our group tested for how quickly the film canister exploded when different amounts of water were placed inside. We also crushed up our alka-seltzer to create more surface area which would make the canister explode more quickly.

Problem: Finding out how quickly a film canister explodes when ½ of a crushed alka seltzer is added to different amounts of water.

Hypothesis: If we put less water in or crush up the alka-seltzer, the film canister will explode more quickly.

Independent Variable: Amount of water in the canister

Dependent Variable: Speed of the explosion

Control Variables: Canister size and the amount of crushed alka-seltzer

Procedure:

1)      Fill the container with water

2)      Put in ½ of a crushed alka-seltzer tablet

3)      Close cap

4)      Flip canister upside down

5)      Time how long it takes to explode

Data:

1)      ¼ filled with water + ½ of a crushed alka-seltzer – 6:50

2)      ½ filled with water + ½ of a crushed alka-seltzer – 13:14

3)      ¾ filled with water + ½ of a crushed alka-seltzer – 16:30

4)      Fully filled with water + ½ of a crushed alka-seltzer – 9:67

Conclusion: Besides when the canister is full, the more water there is in the canister, the longer it takes for it to explode.

When the whole class was finished with the lab, we had some extra time at the end of class so Mr. Paek showed us some more cyber bullying videos.

Friday 8.27.10

What we tried to figure out in class today was, how long it would take an alka-seltzer rocket to react as quickly as possible while placed in a certain amount of water.

MATERIALS

* 1 or 2 Alka-Seltzer
* 1 Film Canister
* Water supply
* Safety Goggles
* Stop Watch or Clock

First, we filled in our film canister with cold water about a quarter way, then we placed in two alka seltzer in the canister. After that, we closed the film canister and timed to see how long it took for the alka seltzer to react. On our first attempt, it only took about 10 seconds to react. Next, we retried the first step but this time we filled it in about half way. This attempt took about 15 seconds for the alka seltzer to react. On our third attempt, we filled up the film canister with about 75 percent of water in it, this only took about 7 seconds. We then later tried to flip the canister so that the top would be resting on the bottom. With the water only 75 percent of the way filled, this only took about 13 seconds to react.

Independent Variables

* amount of water in the film canister
* either 1 or 2 alka-seltzers in the canister
* cold or hot water added in the canister

Dependent Variables

* how long it took for the the film canister's cap to pop

Controlled Variables

* Temperature of the water
* amount of alka seltzer's in the canister
* how much water was put in
* flipped or not

It might be different for other groups, but the amount of water that made the fastest rocket was when the water was 75 percent full.

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/img/cache/bcb9b8db117ee64376aedaf7af3595ca/03-06-06-alkaseltzer_rocket-08.jpg
http://www.chem.fsu.edu/chemlab/chm1050lmanual/masspercent/alkaseltzer.jpg
http://i.ehow.com/images/a04/qp/a8/build-alkaseltzer-popper-200X200.jpg

On My Mind

Post whatever you want here that relates to something in class.  Have a good story that relates to the  disease unit? Write it here.  Don't understand something?  Blog it here... hopefully a fellow classmate can help you out. 

Anything and everything that relates to p1chem2010, here's a place to write whatever you want that's... on your mind.

Chem 2 Texting

We will be creating our own class version of the textbook.  I am hoping this will help you immensely.  Again this is for you, written by you.

Each time a reading is assigned, a texter will be assigned to summarize the section of reading assigned.  It will be your job to explain this section as well as you possibly can so that the whole class can read your summary and feel as though they understand the main points of the section.  Feel free to include any visuals that would help bring clarity and understanding you the section.

Googled

Copied in it's entirety from Seth Godin's blog.

---

A friend advertised on Craigslist for a housekeeper. Three interesting resumes came to the top. She googled each person's name.

The first search turned up a MySpace page. There was a picture of the applicant, drinking beer from a funnel. Under hobbies, the first entry was, "binge drinking."

The second search turned up a personal blog (a good one, actually). The most recent entry said something like, "I am applying for some menial jobs that are below me, and I'm annoyed by it. I'll certainly quit the minute I sell a few paintings."

And the third? There were only six matches, and the sixth was from the local police department, indicating that the applicant had been arrested for shoplifting two years earlier.

Three for three.

Google never forgets.

Of course, you don't have to be a drunk, a thief or a bitter failure for this to backfire. Everything you do now ends up in your permanent record. The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you're on Candid Camera, because you are.

Digital Ethics

Much of what is written here is from a teacher experienced with using the web as a forum for us to share our learnings and reflections.  Darren Kuropatwa writes, "Blogging is a very public activity. Anything that gets posted on the internet stays there. Forever. Deleting a post simply removes it from the blog it was posted to. Copies of the post may exist scattered all over the internet. I have come across posts from my students on blogs as far away as Sweden! That is why we are being so careful to respect your privacy and using first names only. We do not use pictures of ourselves. If you really want a graphic image associated with your posting use an avatar -- a picture of something that represents you but IS NOT of you."


Reflect as you watch this.



Two teachers in the U.S.A. worked with their classes to come up with a list of guidelines for student bloggers.

One of them, Bud Hunt, has these suggestions, among others:

1. Students using blogs are expected to treat blogspaces as classroom spaces. Speech that is inappropriate for class is not appropriate for our blog. While we encourage you to engage in debate and conversation with other bloggers, we also expect that you will conduct yourself in a manner reflective of a representative of this school.
2. Never EVER EVER give out or record personal information on our blog. Our blog exists as a public space on the Internet. Don’t share anything that you don’t want the world to know. For your safety, be careful what you say, too. Don’t give out your phone number or home address. This is particularly important to remember if you have a personal online journal or blog elsewhere.
3. Again, your blog is a public space. And if you put it on the Internet, odds are really good that it will stay on the Internet. Always. That means ten years from now when you are looking for a job, it might be possible for an employer to discover some really hateful and immature things you said when you were younger and more prone to foolish things. Be sure that anything you write you are proud of. It can come back to haunt you if you don’t.
4. Never link to something you haven’t read. While it isn’t your job to police the Internet, when you link to something, you should make sure it is something that you really want to be associated with. If a link contains material that might be creepy or make some people uncomfortable, you should probably try a different source.

Thoughts on the videos or on these guidelines? Any other guidelines you'd like to add?

Scribe Post Guidelines

Scribeposts are meant to be a daily summary of what was learned in class today.  It will be written by you, for you and your classmates.   You will only have to write 3-4 of these per SEMESTER.  Please do yours the best that you can.  Your class and others are depending on you and will appreciate it.

A few guidelines.

1.  Create a summary of what you learned in class.  Use any pictures, graphs, worksheets, UP pages and/or any other resources that will enhance your post.
2. Include any thoughts and personal reflections connecting the learning to what you already know or personal experiences.
3.  Must have 3 labels.  Your name (first name and last initial or an alias only!),  scribepost, and unit name.

Wednesday 8.25.10 - Welcome to Chem!

Period 2, welcome to our blog!  This is going to be a site by you and for you.  It'll be a place to share your knowledge with fellow classmates, to reflect on what you've learned, and to learn concepts that you may have missed in class.  We'll talk more about the details later.

Just remember, you must add at least 3 labels to every post.

1. Your blog name
2. Either scribepost, texter, onmymind
3. Unit the post is about