All things honors chemistry! Vodcasts for honors chemistry lectures and homework review.
HON CHEMISTRY: So what do you figure is the half-life of a banana? But I digress…. Here’s the lecture for Wednesday on half-life problems.
Have fun with the half-life simulation lab! Be sure and post your data in the Half Life Lab web post by the time listed on the syllabus. Don’t forget to include pics and your graph! The lab report is to be submitted as a PDF 2X by the due date listed on the syllabus. 🙂
HON CHEMISTRY: Can you guess what it is?/ It’s a picture of uranium ore under UV light. Cool, huh! Here’s the lecture for Tuesday on the properties of radioactive nuclides and the types of radioactive decay.
How’d you like writing writing nuclear equations to represent radioactive decay? Maybe a tad bit easier than writing chemical equations? Don’t forget to memorize the nuclear symbols for alpha particles, beta particles (electrons), positrons, neutrons, and protons. Not nearly as bad as polyatomic ions?!?
HON CHEMISTRY: So ordinarily it looks like just any old hunk of rock, but this is a picture of uranium ore under UV light. Pretty cool, huh?!? Here’s our beginning discussion of the unique properties of radioactive nuclides. And as a bonus, this vodcast has a head start at looking at nuclear equations. Woohoo!!
HON CHEMISTRY: Recognize this symbol?! Here’s the lesson for today. First, a look at some of the homework from last night, and then onward to chapter 21!
Speaking of – welcome to nuclear chemistry! No, really – I think you’ll be surprised how much nuclear chemistry is already a part of your everyday life. And now you know where E=mc2 came from!!
By the way, when you get a chance, read about the life of Marie Cure – fascinating woman of science with an incredible story!
HON CHEMISTRY: Here’s the full lesson for Monday – even the part we didn’t quite get to! Isn’t God awesome to give us minds to understand the world around us – even the parts we can’t see!
Today we talk about isotopes and calculating average atomic mass. Make sure you practice all the ways to write nuclear symbols. Also make sure you can use them to determine the number of protons, neutrons, electrons, etc., AND be sure you can use the formula to find average atomic mass!
Here are some answers for tonight’s homework:
#19) 39.95 u
#20) 10.00 u
#34) 9 x 10^12 more dense
Can you believe atoms are that small – and the nucleus even waaaaaay smaller! The thumbnail is a 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! 🙂 )
HON CHEMISTRY: So how do you feel about mixing chemistry and history? Here’s the intro we did on how we ended up with the atomic theory. Had you ever heard of Lavosier, Proust, and Dalton?
Pretty impressive little theory that Dalton came up with, huh? Were you surprised as you made comparisons with the Modern Atomic Theory? Could you now take it a step further and show connections between the three laws we discussed today and Dalton’s atomic theory?
HON CHEMISTRY: I still say stoichiometry is a lot like baking – sometimes you just have to get in there and get your hands dirty! Here is our overview of the test from today and a look at a couple of of the advanced stoichiometry problems. I also found the rusted iron problem work all the way out from last year, so I’m posting that below as well.
Again I want to emphasize – the majority of the test is basic reaction stoichiomety, limiting reactants and percent yield. Be sure and give that the most of your study time!
Also, review writing and balancing chemical reactions. Most of the stoichiometry problems will require that you begin by doing just that! There will be just one extra jumbo large problem. You’ve got this!! 🙂
Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash
Rusted Iron Problem Worked Out:
Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash
CHEMISTRY: Great job with the limiting reactant problem today! Remember a couple of things – for each problem, you know it’s a limiting reactant problem when they give you the amounts of two reactants, so you are going to have to work TWO different stoichiometry problems. At the end, the reactant that gives you the least amount of product is your limiting reactant. Label it! Also, that answer is the right amount of product. Box it!
And speaking of finding limiting reactants, lets do it for real in lab tomorrow. Will you be ready?
Photo by Calum Lewis on Unsplash
HON CHEMISTRY: So if you have 11 roller wheels, how many roller blade skates can you make? You know, really, limiting reactant is almost that simple. Well, the concept is anyway! You deal with limiting reactants in your life all the time. Now we’re just applying that same concept with chemical reactions! 🙂
HON CHEMISTRY: So what do you think about reaction stoichiometry? Were you able to apply what you remembered about moles from earlier this year? Don’t forget the keys! Now all you need is some practice and you’ll have it down pat!!