Happy New Year 2012!!

Happy New Year!! Aren’t you glad that God gives us a chance to start all over again? I pray that this year you’ll grow more than any other in your walk with our Lord Jesus. I pray that you’ll be determined to follow Him, no matter if you have to walk by yourself. I can promise you – He’ll never forsake you.

Happy New Year!!

β€œAnd they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” Psalm 9:10

….”I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. Though none go with me, I still will follow. No turning back, no turning back.” John Clark

buds in snow
flickr photo by to.wi

Merry Christmas!!

REJOICE, a Savior is born!!

Well, exams are over, grades are in and Edline has been updated. I pray that you’ll have a wonderful, restful, and joyful Christmas break. Thank you for your hard work and diligence this semester. You are the greatest students in the world!

I love you! Merry Christmas!!

Christmas 1

flickr photo by Darwin Bell

Good Luck Tomorrow!!

Good luck on your exam tomorrow! Need coffee? I hope you’ve been practicing what you’ve learned this semester. This exam is tough, but if you’ve worked hard in preparing for it, you’ll do great. Check out old vodcasts from past classes, if you need help with something. Chemistry and Hon Chemistry – don’t forget sciencegeek.net. Great practice there. πŸ™‚

I’m proud of the work you’ve done this semester. Keep going strong all the way through tomorrow! Holler if you have any questions. I’ll be up for a little while. And I’ll be praying for you!!

If you need another copy of the exam review, I’m attaching it here:
Chemistry Exam Study Guide
Honors Chemistry Exam Study Guide
Physics Exam Study Guide


flickr photo by Raymond Larose

Hon Chemistry 12-7-11 Fission & Fusion

HON CHEMISTRY: Good luck studying for the laaaaaaaaaast chapter test of the year! Here’s the lecture from today – fission and fusion. Be careful and don’t take the test for granted. It will cover the beginning part of chapter 3 (through average atomic mass), chapter 21, and you will also have a set of chemical formulas to write and name.

For chapter 3, check out the Chapter 3 Study Suggestions sheet here and now on Edline (make sure you get the one labelled 2011 – and thanks to Katherine for letting me know it wasn’t showing up!).

For chapter 21, make sure you practice half-life problems and nuclear equations. Also, make sure you’ve memorize the nuclear symbols for alpha particles, beta particles, positrons, neutrons, and protons. And then there are tons of notes on the conceptual stuff. Properties of radioactivity, people, types of radioactive decay, applications of radioactivity, definitions, definitions, and definitions!

By the way, did u get the notice about the help session tomorrow morning – 7:15ish A.M. Practice everything! And did I mention, PRACTICE!! I’ll be praying for you!

Science Exams First Thing Tuesday – December 13!!

Good luck in studying for your chemistry, honors chemistry, and physics exams! How are you studying? Best advice? Practice, practice, PRACTICE! Be active in studying – don’t just read over the material. Watching vodcasts of old lectures might not hurt either! πŸ™‚

Don’t forget to bring your completed exam review packets when you come on Tuesday. Click below for a copy, if you need it. I’m praying for you!!

CHEMISTRY Exam Review Packet

HON CHEMISTRY Exam Review Packet

PHYSICS Exam Review Packet

easy button

flickr photo by Bravo213

Hon Chemistry 12-6-11 Applications of Radioactivity

HON CHEMISTRY: Hmmmmm…..so what do you do when you forget to upload the day’s lesson to blip.tv? You post an old lecture from another year! This actually might turn out to be a good thing – the beginning of this old lecture has some half-life problems practice that might turn out to be useful for you. As for the rest – it doesn’t have everything, but it does have most of the applications that we talked about today in class.

So it turns out there are some pretty useful applications of radioactivity! Let’s finish talking about fission and fusion tomorrow, okay? Oh, and help session tomorrow morning, 7:15ish A.M.

Chemistry Help Session Wednesday Morning, 7:15ish A.M.

CHEMISTRY: Good luck studying for your test! Do you need any extra practice? Help session tomorrow morning at 7:15ish.

Have you checked out the study suggestion sheet on Edline? Chapter 3 Study Suggestions 2011

Worst thing you can do? Just read over your notes – even if you do it a million times. Best thing to do? Practice! Take your notes and make practice test questions with different colored highlighters. Practice the memorization by making quizzes for yourself. Practice working the average atomic mass problems, practice using isotope symbols to find protons, neutrons, electrons, AND practice writing and naming chemical formulas! Good luck studying – I’ll be praying for you!

Hon Chemistry 12-2-11 Half-Life Problems

HON CHEMISTRY: So what do you figure is the half-life of a banana? But I digress…. Here’s the lecture from Friday on half-life problems. (I’m still not sure what happened to the Power Point!) Keep thinking these problems through and you’ll do great!

Have fun with the half-life simulation lab! The report will go in your lab book – Title, Objective, Procedure, Observations (with data table), Conclusion, and Questions. Don’t forget that your graph needs to be drawn on graph paper, folded in half, and attached in your lab book. It can be stapled or taped.

flickr photo by Caro Wallis

Physics 12-2-11 Simple Machines

PHYSICS: Happy Friday! Here’s the lecture from Friday on simple machines. We’ll add this little bit of chapter 7 to the chapter 5 test. At the very beginning of the vodcast, I say something completely wrong, and although we correct it later, let me do so again here. The two categories of simple machines are inclined planes and levers. Got it? Sorry about that!

I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with efficiency and mechanical advantage problems. How do you think the efficiencies of machines compare? Could you design a method to test that? Lab Monday and test Wednesday. Have a great weekend! πŸ™‚


flickr photo by AndrΓ© Banyai

Chemistry 12-2-11 Atomic Number & Isotopes

CHEMISTRY: Can you believe atoms are that small – and the nucleus even waaaaaay smaller! Here’s another picture of atoms from the IBM Almaden Research Center. These are iron atoms on top of copper. Being able to move atoms around like this was a giant leap in the field of nanotechnology! (Sorry about that, bad pun! πŸ™‚ ) Here’s the lecture from Friday on atomic number and isotopes. It’s the last lecture for this chapter – and for this year!!

What did you think about Lise Meitner’s story? Amazing, huh? How are you doing on writing nuclear symbols? Also make sure you can use them to determine the number of protons, neutrons, electrons, etc. And now you’ve finally got the formula for average atomic mass. Use it to do the problems tonight.

Did you get a copy of the Carbon Isotope Mini-Project? Holler if you have any questions? Have a great weekend!


Image source IBM Almaden Research Center