Monday, May 9, 2016

Gas Laws Formulas



Conversions to be memorized
Unit
Average Air Pressure at Sea Level
Pascal (Pa)
101325
kilopascal (kPa)
101.325
Atmosphere (atm)
1
Millimeters of Mercury (mmHg)
760
Inches of Mercury (inHg)
29.92
Torr (torr)
760
Pounds per Square Inch (psi)
14.7

Finding Kelvin:

Celsius+273.15=Kelvin

STP (Standard temperature and pressure):

1 atm and 0 degrees Celsius

Boyle's Law:

Charles' Law:

Avagadro's Law:
Combined Gas Law:




Links and Videos

Videos:
I always like to watch the videos by John Green over the unit because they're fun videos that also do a good job of explaining the material

If you like a more serious and informative video you could try Khan Academy

Information sites:

This site contains a lot of the same material we got in class

This site has information over all the laws

Ideal Gas Law

Quizlet

Test Prep:

Quia

Gas Laws Practice Fill in the answer


Weekly Quiz

I thought that the hardest part of this quiz was the concept questions. I think I did alright on the questions with math because I spent a lot of time practicing those from the practice quizzes online. I definitely need to spend more time on really understanding the conceptual aspects of this unit by watching videos or something. I find that Khan Academy has a lot of helpful videos but sometimes I get lost paying attention to them so I need to find other options so I get the best possible understanding. I also think I would have benefited from dedicating more time towards studying for this quiz.

Construction of an Air Bag Lab

I had to sit out for this lab because I left the math for the lab at home. I still can't believe I was so stupid. I don't know why I left it at home really I could've swore I put it in my folder with my procedure. I even tried it at home and everything to make sure I wouldn't fail in class but I ended up failing anyways because I didn't even get into the lab. :( 
You can bet I won't ever do this again, but I guess there's nothing I can do about it now so why stress over it right?



Saturday, April 23, 2016

Specific Heat Capacity of a Metal Lab


In this lab, we heated a metal and poured it into water to see the transfer of heat that we have been studying this unit. This lab really showed us how quickly the heat transfers and showed us that in the real world energy isn't completely transferred as we want it to. We saw that energy is lost into the universe as we pour the heated metal into the water. Doing the calculations for this lab also helped me a lot because we got to use our own data to practice the math in this unit. I think the math was slightly confusing in this unit but this lab clarified what we learned because it took us through the process step by step. 

Energy from Food Lab

I'm kind of disappointed that we didn't get to do this lab, but I completely understand that we didn't have enough time for it. Instead, I'm glad we finished our lecture and went over some problems together with Mrs. Frankenberg. I think that helped me a lot because it clarified a lot of the confusions that I had from both lectures. Even though I learn a lot from the labs by doing the actual application of what we learned in class, it wasn't worth squeezing it into the already tight schedule this week.

Unit Test and Review

I was really scared for this test because I didn't feel like I understood most of the information. The fact that we also had a shortened class period was also stressing me out. To study for the test, I mostly did the practice tests online to study for the test. I also went over the notes and used resources that I found to help me study.

The test wasn't as hard as I feared it would be, but a few of the questions were really hard. I really hope I did decent on the test because I really want to exempt the final for this semester. I found that the questions were mostly concept based and not math based. I'm kind of glad that it wasn't a lot of math because that takes me a while and I wasn't very good at the math questions on the practice quizzes.

Energy and Phase Diagrams
Energy
  • energy is released as heat or work
  • law of conservation of energy: energy is never created nor destroyed
  • Thermodynamics: the study of energy transformations
Types of Energy
  • Kinetic Energy: energy of motion
   
 
  • Potential Energy: energy stored (in the composition of a substance or energy of position)

Temperature and Heat
  • temperature: average kinetic energy
  • heat: transfer of energy
  • Points of view: system (area of focus in the universe) and the surroundings (everything else in the universe)
Endothermic vs Exothermic

Measuring Energy Changes
  • unit for measuring energy: Joules (J)
  • or calorie (little c)= amount of energy to raise temp of 1 gram of substance by 1 degree Celsius
  • 1 c = 4.184 Joules
  • make sure to watch for units
Calculating Heat
  • if mass is not given and density is given, use the density formula: d=m/v
  • density of water at 25 degrees Celsius: 1
  • 1 KJ = 1000 J
Determining Intermolecular Force:

  • London Dispersion Force: when the electromagnetic difference is small (weakest force)
  • Dipole-Dipole: large electromagnetic difference 
  • Hydrogen Bond: only occurs between Hydrogen and Flourine, Oxygen, Nitrogen or Chlorine
Phase Changes




Monday, April 18, 2016

Biodiesel


This unit was more of a real world experience kind of thing and along the way through our research and projects I think we learned a lot.

Here are some links that I used to learn about Biodiesel:
http://www.americasadvancedbiofuel.com/ (this is the link for the actual biodiesel company)

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/biodiesel.html

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/biodiesel.shtml this link analyzes biodiesel as a fuel source

Here are some videos about biodiesel:
Mythbusters Biodiesel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLmF4IA2mfI

Apparently there's a whole magazine about biodiesel


Boat Races

The boat races were really fun and interesting. I think it was cool and rewarding to see the biodiesel that we made actually power something. It kind of showed us that biodiesel is a very real energy source option and showed us how easy it could be to switch to using it. The race also made it more competitive and exciting to try to make the best possible boat design. The extra credit opportunity also motivated us haha. We had a lot of difficulties with ours because our first model only went for a little while and kept getting stuck. Then, our engine had a hole in it. However, we got a different engine and made a different boat model and it finally worked.