Tuesday 26 2023: My apologies for such a late entry. I did predict that the turn around from Tuesday to Thursday might prove difficult.
Assignment: A Capsule of Covid Chemistry was assigned. You may cut and paste the questions right off the link found under the notes tab of this website.
Type up your responses. Recall this is about beginning your training to read something a bit more scientific and to draw out appropriate information.
Also, for lab bring in some well water you wish to have tested, for lab. If you don't have a sample of interest, I will provide you with a sample or two to be tested.
In this lab (water analysis) we shall apply some of the work regarding chemical changes and continue work on separation of mixtures.
We are up to page 21 of the notes.
Anyway, this shall be short - as Tuesday's lecture was tightly focused on learning how to identify and/or differentiate between a chemical reaction and a physical change. We segued quickly into endothermic and exothermic energy exchanges.
Recall the day I told you that often, chemistry can work with: " You know what something is by what it is not" .
Don't stress memorizing everything regarding chemical reactions vs. physical changes. If you can recognize a chemical reaction, due to new bonds being produced, then you are on target. New bonds are not made in physical changes such as melting, dissolving etc...
We did a little practice with vocabulary - and on Thursday we shall do a little more practice.
We took a fast turn into exothermic and endothermic energy exchanges.
Exothermic changes are those which release more energy as new bonds are made than is absorbed by the reactants as old bonds are broken.
Endothermic changes are those which absorb more energy to break the bonds of the reactants than is released by new bond making in the products.
The energy term, kilojoules (kJ) was introduced. One kilojoule is 1,000 Joules. (The prefix kilo, means 1,000).
Okay, we shall pick up all of this on Thursday! Write me with any concerns.
Thursday 21 2023: Well, last night's lecture did not go quite as I planned - but I thoroughly appreciated your questions, remarks and thus, the resulting conversation.
So last night really focused on one line of notes :-) .
Essentially, we were working to grasp that:
A chemical reaction occurs when NEW bonds are made, and the making of these new bonds requires some sort of change in the electron clouds of the chemical species.
With that statement we spent a fair amount of time, looking a number of ideas:
1) For an atom, the number of protons (positive or + subatomic particles in the nucleus) must be equal to the number of electrons (negative or -, subatomic particles surrounding the nucleus)
2) We use the term, ion to describe a chemical species when the # of protons does NOT equal the number of electrons.
3) We took a look at how electrons can be organized around a nucleus, echoing issues with what is called the Bohr Model of the atom
4) We discussed that the outer electrons, those farthest from the influence of the positive nucleus are like the wild child of a family ...
5) We saw that some outer electrons can be more attracted to the nucleus of a second species, than their own nucleus .... I used the metaphor of a great party going on next door ... You (an electron at one position) might just travel over (be attracted) to the cool party at another place.
6) We focused on ionic bonding last night ... Ionic bonding involves the complete transfer (the complete loss and gain) of an electron.
In ionic bonding, it is common for neutral atoms to loose / gain electrons and turn into oppositely charged ions. The opposite charges then attract, and a new, neutral (in charge) compound is produced.
7) We looked at the Concept of Charge. We will definitely do this again - so don't worry. But as an offshoot of our work, I tried to explain, what +1, or +2, or -2 meant.
The big idea here is that the "charge" tells use what type of subatomic particle is in excess. The symbol of "+" means proton and a, " -" represents electron. The number tells us how many.
Okay, how does that sit with you? I really valued the interactions and the questions for you. Do you think we can keep this going?
LMK. Write with questions.
Write if you want help learning about making tables with MS Word or Excel.
See you Tuesday!
Tuesday 19 2023: Don't forget your Measurement/Density Lab is due on Thursday. I have had a few requests for another data table.
I am linking the table here. Click on it, and you should get a printable copy. Density Data Table
We are well into a look at petroleum products, as mixtures. We are page 13 of the note packet.
Hopefully we will pick up some speed - but the conversations/questions have been pretty darn good - so if you feel you are moving forward as an educated consumer/citizen - our pace is okay with me. You need to let me know however, as to whether these lectures are of interest.
We began with the video about Alice Ball's work regarding her separation of chaulmoogra oil (a mixture) into active ingredients to fight leprosy.
We took a long look at the Covid vaccine as a mixture.
Generally,
1) It takes time for our body to ramp up a defense against an invading virus. The best means of defense must be found. Then supplies of the defense must be made. This takes time … and as we figure out how to fight the invader, the virus is multiplying and on the move! The job of any vaccine is to prep our defenses for the virus, in advance of contracting the virus.
2) Scientists took the genetic blueprint of the spike protein of the coronavirus (That blueprint is the mRNA of the spike protein)
3) The vaccine contains no part of the actual virus. It does though CONTAIN the blueprint (the mRNA) for the spike protein. The spike is how the virus attaches to our cells. You cannot contract the virus from the mRNA or the spike protein. The spike protein does not possess the infectious parts of the virus that can cause covid. Besides, the vaccine doesn't even have the spike protein, the vaccine only has the blueprints for making the spike protein.
4) Our body detects this mRNA blueprint and begins to make it at our ribosomes, because that is what our body does! At no point does the mRNA enter the nucleus of our cells. It does NOT/CANNOT mutate our DNA.
5) However, as it begins to make the spike protein (which is NOT infectious), our body recognizes that protein as foreign, (Like: WTH are your doing you dumb ribosomes??!) , and our body mounts an attack against this protein, by developing antibodies.
6) This attack takes time to ramp up, and eventually the body begins to destroy this foreign protein it just made. Thus, the vaccine can have some side-effects which make us feel as though we are fighting off a real invader. So, we may develop chills, fever, aches, and pains as our body works to destroy the protein. So within about 2 weeks, everything associated with the vaccine is actually excreted from the body!
7) The body eliminates this spike protein, but specialized memory cells of the immune system can recall what to do if the body ever detects this protein again. So now the body can respond to a real viral attack, much, much more quickly. Our immune system has essentially been trained or “primed” to know how to best attack the protein if it is ever encountered again. So the vaccine DOES NOT prevent you from contracting the virus, but it certainly can help prevent the cascade of health issues which puts you in the hospital
Thus, the vaccine is a mixture of 8 or so components. It is NOT a single compound or element .
Keep in mind:
NO! You cannot develop Covid from the vaccine, because, the vaccine does NOT contain the virus. The vaccine doesn't even really contain the spike protein. It contains only the mRNA of the spike protein. Again, we cannot get Covid from the spike protein or its mRNA.
NO! The virus CANNOT cause mutations to our DNA. The mRNA is used at our ribosomes, which are in the cytoplasm of our cells. It does NOT go into the nucleus of a cell.
NO! The technology for this vaccine is not exactly new - It as been in the works for about 30 or more years. The problem was protecting the mRNA long enough for it to be replicated. Scientists (especially a female scientist Katalin Karikó ) cracked the needed methodology in 2019/20.
NO! The vaccine does NOT contain, live virus, dead virus, mercury, lead or anything like that.
The vaccine is essentially a MIXTURE of mRNA for spike protein, fats, sugar and a few salts which act as something called a buffer.
The fats help protect the mRNA until it can be used and then destroyed. The sugar and salts help keep the mixture safe from decomposing.
We then moved onto the king of mixtures - oil, being one example of petroleum products (fossil fuels: coal, natural gas [methane], propane and of course, oil)
We discussed a little bit about the geological timeline.
Most of the oil we are consuming was produced between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Eras. Primitive reptiles, plants and the all important diatoms are the members of the Paleozoic Era.
We reviewed the anoxic theory of oil production.
We then moved into the products produced from the refinement of 1 barrel of oil. We are, as one online commentator mentioned, bathed in oil.
The products listed on page 13 are made from chemicals we separate out of the oil mixture.
Yes - Oil is a mixture of hundreds of compounds and elements.
Okay, I think that's it. Did I miss or forget anything? LMK! I can always add to this. Write with questions.
Thursday 15 September: Okay, it is Sunday morning ... this was supposed to be published Saturday - but all hell broke loose at this end ... Well, anyway, here we go!
I began asking if you are understanding the work. Remember, I asked you what steam was? Hmmm? Bring in those questions... it's all important.
Thursday evening's lecture was focused upon separation of mixtures. I ran essentially, four demos.
1) filtration of a mixture
2) evaporation of a mixture
3) introduction to electrolyte solutions
4) mass defined as intertia (quarter dropping into cup)
We veered also into just about as much as I plan to, into gravity. I am struggling to get us very far into the notes - but I think your imaginations are being captured. Your participation and questions in class were studpendous! As I said, in lab, I thought you were terrific.
(As to the density lab, anyone wanting help with the arithmetic, just give me a shout out)
Okay, so I tried to give you those everyday applications to mixture separation .
Recall that with filtration, whatever is water soluble tends to pass through the filter, and whatever is water INsoluble, tends to remain in the filter.
Notice how I am introducing some new vocabulary. Have you figured out what the terms mean?
soluble = a substance or mixture of substances which dissolves into another solid, liquid or gas. Solutes are often, smaller in percentage of the total mixture.
insoluble = a species which does NOT break apart/dissolve when mixed with another solid, liquid or gas.
So, making a cup of coffee is not really a chemical reaction. It is really all about separation of a mixture!
Evaporation of water from a solution made by dissolving something into water, causes the dissolved material to drop out or to re-crystallize.
I used the classic evaporation of saltwater. Your classmate asked a wonderful question when she asked why crystallization of the salt was occurring along the edges of the watch glass.
Recall the watch glass is a concave structure. Hence more aqueous solution was in the deeper middle, and less was at the edges. Assuming a constant temperature of the watch glass, due to the heat of the hot water bath, the water at the shallow edges evaporated first (as there was less water... hence a faster change). I analogized this to the drying up of a pond.
I then took the opportunity to introduce the idea of ions in water (electrolytes). We don't really know what an ion is as of now - but I like to spiral information. So this was just an intro to the idea that electrolyte solutions can conduct an electrical current. We will revisit this.
One of your classmates asked about the conductance of an electrical current in a metal! Another wonderful question!
This allowed me to explain that the two phenomena (electrolytes in water vs. metal), while related (as they both processes involve electrons), occur via different mechanisms. Metal conductivity is best explained by molecular orbital theory / band theory.
I then jumped the lecture gun, as it were, to a discussion of mass. That led to a development of the idea of interia.
You see, inertia is the idea that expresses an object's tendency to resist changes in motion (or rest), until a superior force acts upon it.
Inertia and mass tend to varying together. This brings me to the quarter on a board sitting over the mouth of a plastic cup.
It is akin to pulling the tablecloth out from under table place settings (dishes!)
The discussion of inertia led to a conversation re: gravity ... somehow ... I can't quite recall!
Anywho - I tried to describe how orbiting around the Earth worked, and that the astronauts were in a pretty constant state of freefall.
Take a look at Dr. Arvin Ash on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd4hGKFV-Bc&t=81s
You need only watch from minute 1 to about 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
He uses the International Space Station, and breaks the forces into a vertical (Earth attracting the Station and the Station attracting the Earth ... the Earth wins) ... as well as a horizontal factor.
Okay, Write with your questions. Catch you all on Tuesday.
Tuesday 12 September: Don't forget there are sorta kinda two different assignments in operation:
Assignment: Your first laboratory report is due on Thursday: Be sure it is typed/word-processed . You are responsible for questions 2 (work must be cited), 5 and a reflection in addition to the remaining format of the report, as expressed in the Introductory Packet. If you have questions, drop me a line!
Additionally, you need to read over the next lab re: Measurement (and density). Recall that we are only doing the parts of the lab dealing with the determination of the density of aluminum rods. We are NOT doing the other parts. I have my reasons and my methods. I will explain during out pre-lab.
Well, we are on page 11 of the notes. We went quickly through this work and I will pick up the pieces on Thursday.
Also, someone remind me that I promised the filtration and separation of a mixture as mini-demonstrations. I am getting too old to recall it all.
We actually ended up doing a fair amount of work I had scheduled for later in the unit. We ended up speaking about humidity (water vapor, or vapour if you're British), pressure, vaccum cleaners, air conditioners, dehumidification. It may not seem so, but we are covering significant amounts of applications of chemistry and physics. My worry is wondering as to how well you are catching what I am pitching. Keep me honest - ask questions!
I believe it was Einstein who said " You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother".
That's good! So what if I asked you to simply explain how a vaccum cleaner worked ? Can you do that?
Can you use the idea of the motor, air pressure inside the machine relative to air pressure outside the vaccum? Think about it.... Let me know as to how much you are actually internalizing. Do you want me to cover something again? Ask!
Well, we began the class with a re-examination as to how we can identify whether a substance is an organic or inorganic compound, when written on the board, or on a website...
For us, with very few exceptions, I have taken a biochemical approach. Thus we are going to look at the presence of C - H bonds or derivatives of compounds having C - H bonds, to help identify a compound (on paper at least) as an organic compound.
One class member asked whether having only one C - H is sufficient. I gave the example of chloroform (CHCl3). Generally, basically, yes, we can consider a compound with a single C - H is sufficiently organic. There are a few problems, but I promise I won't get busy trying to trick you with exceptions. That is not what this course is all about.
We then moved onto mixtures; physical combinations of two or more substances (elements or compounds) , variable composition (no set subscripts), the components tend to maintain their own characteristics, etc...
Recall: Mixtures are made of substances but are not A substance.
I introduced the concept of an aqueous solution (aq), a mixture with water as the solvent.
Alloys are mixtures with some metal as the solvent (stainless steel, brass [from lab], sterling silver, 14 K gold)
Tinctures are mixtures with alcohol as the solvent.
But I stressed the idea of a tossed salad when thinking of mixtures.
Or perhaps, better yet how about a multi-vitamin? Think of all the compounds compressed into a multi-vitamin tablet. Some multi-vitamins have more of one active compound than others - That's why we shop around.
However, each of those compounds in a multi-vitamin does their own thing! Vitamin B-6 does what it needs to do, while B-12 does it's own thing.
We take the mixture (multi-vitamin) and then OUR BODY, separates the compounds of the mixture from each other and absorbs the vitamins and minerals to do what they do.... How's that for an example?
We can separate the components of a mixture (one of the mini-demos for Thursday), relatively easily. We will see this in our third and fourth labs, chromatography and analysis of water, respectively.
So, separating out the components of a mixture is relatively easy., compared to breaking chemical bonds.
Recall how I discussed that when boiling water, we merely push the molecules of water away from each other. We DO NOT break the bonds between H and O. That takes even more energy than our stoves can generate via boiling water! That O - H bond is STRONG and plays a role in climate change! Just wait...
We then spoke about the "sweating glass" phenomenon, due to one class member's question about removing or lessening the humidity in a room.
I provided a few options; use a dehumidifier (remove water vapor and turn it into liquid water), run an air conditioner (condition the air, by condensing out water vapor from warm moist air and returning drier and thus cooler air to the room), or try a big bag of ice is a tall glass vase placed in a shallow container.
The warm moist air (air that has lots of water vapor in it) comes in contact with the icy cold glass surface and condenes to liquid water!
This is a very inexpensive dehumidifier ... but we experience this phenomenon far more frequently with a "sweating glass" on our decks or our bathroom mirrors after a hot shower. That hot shower sends lots of water vapor into the air. That hotter water vapor cools on contact with our colder mirrors, and toilet tanks and condenses out as liquid water droplets. (Hey! There's a new thought!)
We then looked at the process of distillation for the separation of a mixture. That is predicated upon the liquid components of a mixture having different boiling points. I brought up triple distilled vodka and tried to explain what that meant, in our "everyday" world.
We looked at filtration, chromatography and I had to end class. It went fast. We really did a great deal.
How are you doing? Do you feel that you are learning new thing? Any questions?
Thursday 7 September: So sorry for the tardiness of this post - The weekend has been - interesting.
I am now back on track and I hope to capture the essence of the conversation from Thursday's lecture.
But, first - may I commend each and every member of the class, for the excellent job you did with your first laboratory of the semester! Bravo and Brava! Everyone kept on your goggles - you were safe. Folks asked for clarification and advice - so appropriate. It also looked like your product came out pretty well. Not bad! Really it was a great experience, from my point of view - so again, congratualations.
Assignment: Your lab report is due NEXT Thursday. Be sure to look at the introductory packet for the format. Write if you wish. Be sure to include an objective, and your work re: questions 2 and 5, as well as a reflection.
We are on page 10 of the note packet.
Okay, so Thursday evening we were really engaged with chemistry. I picked up our work with showing your how I put the type of elements on your Periodic Table . Hence you need to know about metals, nonmetals, metalloids and noble gases - but you don't need to memorize them. You need only look them up on the Periodic Table on this site.
I then attacked the idea of compounds.
Beginning at the top of page 8 I introduced the nature of a chemical bond - being an expression of energy (specifically potential energy). This conversation will develop far more deeply, as we begin work on potential energy shortly.
I emphasized that compounds can be decomposed into smaller compounds or even elements.
I then offered up a formula for the removal of skunk odor from a pet:
To some water, combine,
Baking soda
Hydrogen Peroxide
Dawn Dishwashing liquid.
Be careful of your little pet's eyes and ears - and wash him/her in the mixture. The baking soda aids the decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. The oxygen has the ability to degrade the disulfide bonds of the stinky compounds (of which there are generally, three different ones!)
This led to a conversation regarding mercaptan. This is a chemical we deliberately add to natural gas (methane gas), as well as propane in order to let us know when there is a leak.
From this point we dove directly into a look at organic compounds vs. inorganic compounds.
I took a second to introduce what chemists mean by a C - H bond. We drew on simple structural formulas for methane, octane, propane.
We discussed that the combustion of these organic compounds producing, as a rule, carbon dioxide and water.
We established the requirements for combustion: a fuel, oxygen and some sort of initiating or activation energy.
I then showed how metals can be combusted, with the steel wool pad. The iron was the fuel. Oxygen is plentiful in our atmosphere and the activation energy was provided by a 9 V battery.
I then lit our methane (natural gas) in the room and we spoke at length about combustion.
We wrapped the evening up with some practice re: identifying organic compounds vs. inorganic compounds. We will practice more on Tuesday.
Write with your concerns, comments, questions! See you all soon.
Tuesday 4 September:
Assignment: Prepare for your first lab on Thursday: Read: Alchemy, in your lab manual.
We will take a few minutes on Thursday to check out the lab safety equipment, get our goggles, and pre-lab. You are to have an idea as to what you need to do, however.
Well, I tossed out to you, a lot of chemistry this evening. If you had the sense that I was going back and forth between metaphor and "real" chem, you ain't wrong. I also didn't take that time to have a little "closure" - asking you to "tell me what of the tossed material, did you catch?" So, I need to do better with that.
I was trying to show you how the metaphor(s) will apply to the chemistry we are going to study - and I was trying to introduce actual chemical ideas to you.
I tend to spiral the information of my lectures. So, ideas that were discussed on Tuesday, will come back around. You do not need to worry. But I do want you to read over the following blog and ask yourself ... Did I catch that idea?
I am still focusing on Big Idea #1, the law of the conservation of matter and energy. For me this is a such a primary concept, I see it impacting first year students at all points.
We are done with page 8 and ready to move onto page 9 of the notes.
The idea is that if you did not put in certain chemical species. (elements, compounds), then you cannot get them out.
If you did not have some form of copper (Cu) in the reactants, at not point can you get some form of Cu out in the products. We cannot create matter.
What you put in, you must get out ... The chemical species you put in will be rearranged for the most part, as new bonds are made - but what you get out will be related to the species you put in.
To begin with,
1) I spent a fair amount of time on the history of the LCME- with Anne-Marie and Antoine Laurent Lavoisier. I do this - because this is a course designed for everyone - not just the scientist. The history of science/chemistry can be fascinating. As I have intimated over the last two or three nights, these famous scientists, are not necessarily saints - but they are brilliant and the history they helped to write can be a little added value to the study of the course material.
2) I gave a little insight as to the problems at the bottom of page 6. These are the type of issues you should expect on a quiz or test.
3) We moved onto the idea of "chemicals". Everything around us, is at some level chemical. The air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the clothes we wear, are all made of chemicals and are themselves reactive, under the right circumstances. There is really no such thing as "chemical free" in our culture. As a consumer, think about that.
4) I introduced the terms homogeneous and heterogeneous.
5) The term, substance was introduced and further described as elements or comounds.
All subtances are considered to be homogeneous, by definition of the term substance..
Subtances (elements or compounds) tend to have specific melting points, or normal boiling points. A substance tends to have a specific density. We can use these constants to help identify the substance.
6) Elements can be recognized as having only 1 type of captial letter in its chemical symbol
O2(g) is an element. The symbol indicates two atoms (the subscript of 2), but there is only 1 type of capitalized letter. The (g) indicates that the element is existing as a gas.
Na(s) is an element. Yes, there are two letters in the symbol, but only 1 is capitalized. This element is a solid (s).
P4(s) is an element. Like oxygen, this element has only 1 type of capital letter in its symbol - yet, unlike oxygen, there are 4 atoms making up this chemical species. The (s) tells us that we consider phosphorous, to be a solid, at normal temperatures and pressures.
An element is a substance that :
a) has atoms of identical atomic number (# of protons)
b) cannot be chemically broken down into simpler substances. We cannot chemically convert atoms of Na(s) into different elements. Remember, that "chemically convert" means messing around with the electrons of the electron clouds surrounding the nuclei of the sodium atom.
c) is found on the Periodic Table. There are 118 recognized elements.
d) is organized according to increasing atomic number, on the Periodic Table.
Depending upon whom you ask, there are 4 large categories or types of elements.
Metals, Nonmetals, Metalloids and Noble Gases. We will see more of these elements later. However, I did try to help with the idea that, metals and nonmetals tend to be opposites in terms of physical characteristics and chemical activity.
7) A compound is made of AT LEAST 2 or more DIFFERENT elements, bonded to each other, in a specific ratio. (That ratio is represented by subscripts). If no subscript is written, you may assume the number to be 1.
So, H2O(l) and H2O2(l) are two different compounds!
There are at least two different elements (so they are compounds), but the ratio between H and O is different (hence they are different compounds).
You were introduced to sythesis reactions and decomposition reactions (all the while, the law of the conservation of matter was emphasized)
Compounds CAN BE chemically broken down (decomposed) into smaller compounds or into elements
That is, by messing around with their electrons (reaction chemistry...) we can take larger compounds and break them into smaller compounds or into elements.
At this point, I spent a bit of time discussing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 (l)). It is generally found in a brown bottle sitting in your medicine cabinet.
H2O2 (l) can be chemically decomposed into H2O(l) and O2(g). We discussed why mom's treated wounds with hydrogen peroxide. We also discussed deep wounds need to be seen by a physician due to possible contamination with Mycobacterium tetanae.
It seems that hydrogen peroxide is not as recommended as it used to be to treat scrapes, because the peroxide may harm healthy tissue, as well as inhibit anaerobic bacteria. But again, there is a difference between an everyday scrape and deeper cut or a puncture wound! Be smart - get your kid to a doctor!
We noted that the prefix "an" in front of a word, tends to mean, without. Hence, anaerobic means without oxygen . (Aerobic excercise makes you breathe heavily, bringing oxygen into the body... get it?)
So we did quite a bit of chemistry! We didn't delve deeply, as I was only trying to introduce a series of ideas and to reinforce your underestanding of these ideas.
How's it going? Let me know... write with comments or questions.
Thursday 31 August: Well the conversation ran a gamut of topics - all wrapped around our work on Matter and Energy! From the Law of the Conservation of Matter, Energy and Charge, to the drugs Viagra, Lunestra (like I said, the commercial with the butterfly or moth in your room) , muscle contraction, learning via metaphors (synectics), ...so let's review.
I tried to focus the lecture on identifying matter and identifying energy (often, you can know what something is by what it is not...).
Along with the identification of matter, we can discuss the possession of mass and volume.
Along with the identification of energy we can interpret the identification in terms of making a change or doing some sort of work on an object.
So we began with a little exercise designed to get you to think about your preconceptions as to what is matter, and what is energy. (It's good to analyze our preconceptions) . This led us to a means to identify matter ....but also energy!
Again, we can often know what something is, by what it is not.
1) Matter is just about anything we can put in and/or store in a balloon, and because it is matter, it must possess a mass and a volume.
2) Energy is the ability to create a change and/or to do work.
We first focused upon the ability to create a change. For instance, light is a form of energy ... it can create a change!
Exposure to sunlight initiates the tanning process in humans . We tan as a direct result of exposure to sunlight.
Photosynthesis is the process by which light helps drive the reactions which change carbon dioxide gas into glucose.
As a student offered - solar panels use light to help create electricity. (Bravo!)
Work is a mathematical construct - but we can deal with it generally, by suggesting that work is moving an object over a distance. This requires energy!
Toss a pen, move furniture, lift weights, contract muscles. In this last example HPX students did indeed share a general understanding of how muscle contracts....doing work... moving the the fibers.
3) The Law of the Conservation of Matter, Energy (& Charge) is our first Big Idea of the year. It is an overarching concept in chemistry which demands we account for the matter going into a reaction and the matter produced.
Essentially it is a concept which captures the idea proven via experimentation, that the mass of chemicals reacted, must equal the mass of chemicals produced - Or, more rather, the number of chemical species that are reacted (atoms, or ions) must be the same number of species found in the products. Chemical species will be rearranges, old bonds will be broken and new bonds will be made - but the matter must, must, must equal out.
Matter cannot just appear. Matter cannot just disappear.
Recall the metaphor; you cannot get someting clean, without getting something else dirty.
This idea has implications throughout chemistry - throughout life. From chemical reactions to throwing out the garbage - Yes, even that garbage is made from atoms of celestial bodies. Everything is made from the stars! And, if the activity of a supernova and the subsequent flinging of atoms across the universe, did not destroy those atoms, then tossing them into the garbage isn't going to do much...not even burning that garbage does much. We may convert solids into gases, but the atoms still exist.
Matter is conserved.
4) Energy cannot just appear and / or disappear - but energy can be transferred from one form to another.
We are going to develop these ideas over the next few lectures, by looking at the dimensions of matter, as well as taking a deeper dive into energy.
It may not look like much - but you did some very important work last night gang! Thanks for the attentions, the involvement and for allowing me to get us up and moving through some of these primary and yet, important ideas.
Write with any questions. See you on Tuesday! Have a great weekend....Happy Labor Day!!!!!
Tuesday 29 August: Okay! We are underway. Thank you for staying with me as we did the necessary pieces of the course. With the exception of the lab rules, we completed the Introductory Packet. Each student is to review that packet indepth for Thursday's class. We moved onto the first note packet (Unit 1 The Dimensions of Matter). We are on page 3 on the first note packet.
Your takeaways should be, among other things:
1) There is an assignment. Be sure to carefully familiarize yourself with the introductory packet. Bring in your questions on Thursday. Eventually I will ask you to sign and turn in that last page.
2) Your attendance at lecture is very much valued.
3) Your attendance at lab is imperative. I do have a few things up my sleeve to help - but remember, if you miss two labs, that earns an F.
4) The questions to be answered in your term paper presenation are in the introductory packet.
5) I will work to be available to help you - keep me in the loop by dropping an email or stop off to speak with me.
6) The rules of the class are the rules ... you can question, we can talk - but be aware of what I plan on doing.
7) You and I are the stuff of stars.
8) Science is knowledge. It is not just information. It is a process / a means of looking at the physical universe which allows us to make predictions and/or provide explanations.
9) Not only are you are the stuff of stars, you are my client. You have rights and obligations. Your rights include asking me to spend time with you to help you write, study , learn.
10) Chemistry studies matter, the reactions of matter and the energy associated with those reactions.
11) There are two huge areas of chemistry; Reaction Chemistry and Nuclear Chemistry. We focus upon Reaction Chemistry.
Write with questions. Nice to meet each of you!