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

Energy and Phase Changes links

What I had the most trouble with this unit was understanding the different intermolecular forces so here are a few videos that I watched that helped me understand it better:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/organic-chemistry/gen-chem-review/electronegativity-polarity/v/intermolecular-forces-and-molecular-bonds 

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/organic-chemistry/gen-chem-review/electronegativity-polarity/v/dipole-moment

Practice for intermolecular force:
http://www.chem.umass.edu/genchem/chem112/MCQ_Intermolecular_Forces.htm

Intermolecular forces:
http://chemistry.bd.psu.edu/jircitano/IMforces.html

Quizlet:
https://quizlet.com/19765867/energy-and-phases-changes-flash-cards/

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/netorial/rottosen/tutorial/modules/intermolecular_forces/02imf/imf2.htm

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.

Making of Biodiesel

Making the biodiesel itself wasn't as difficult as some of our other labs. The process of transesterification was quite simple really. We started with the waste oil (from Chick-Fil-A) and added a base of KOH. Then we heated and stirred the solution so the reaction would occur. The reaction yielded biodiesel (methyl esters) and glycerol. We will be testing the purity of the biodiesel and then using the biodiesel that we created to race putt putt boats.

Bio-diesel Video

I already really like this unit! Making the video was really fun because it was a creative project that we had to understand the information to do. Our video featured a cat and hedgehog (animals courtesy of Haley Cundiff) and the cat convinced the hedgehog to convert to biodiesel as a fuel source. Filming the animals was hard because they didn't want to do what we wanted them to do, but it was still fun. Editing the video was probably the worst part because we had to pick certain parts of the video where the animals were cooperating and then we had to voice over to make it seem like it was the animals talking (even though it didn't look like the animals were talking).

Here's the link to our video