Unit Test

Friday's test went pretty well, I do say. It may have been a little more difficult than the quiz as I was a bit uneasy on a couple questions. Some questions asked about acidity and alkalinity, which I didn't really know how to answer, so I guessed on those. This test was much easier than past tests and I feel rather well about this one.

Periodic Trends Lecture

The final installment of the electronic structure unit is periodic trends. The periodic table follows a couple of trends that can provide details about various atoms (only S and P block atoms though). The different trends were a bit hard to differentiate and remember what each one specifies, but I think with some more studying, they will be easily remembered. I'm feeling pretty good about the test on Friday, but I still definitely need to look over this lecture, which I believe may be the hardest lesson of the unit (but still not that difficult).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_trends

Helpful link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK-WTYncldA

Weekly Quiz

We took this unit's weekly quiz. Much of the quiz came directly from the online practice which I use to study. It wasn't as difficult as some of the other units.

Here are some links for future studying: 

http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch6/relativeenergypractice.html

http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/wiki/Quiz:GeneralI001:_Electron_configuration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I58ByiqnXcY

Spectroscopic Analysis Lab

We performed yet another lab. This lab was not nearly as exciting as the flame test lab. For this lab, we adjusted various knobs on a spectrophotometer and found the amount of light in blue and pink solutions. It was really difficult to adjust the knob so that the number read exactly what it was supposed to. This was extremely time-consuming as we had to re-adjust the knobs for every single different wavelength. Additionally, it was dull as all the lab consisted of was a) adjust the knobs and b) record the number.

Lecture on Electronic Structure

We've started a new unit, and it has been going pretty well. At first, the unit seemed a bit confusing, but it all began to make sense gradually. The first lesson of the unit was on wavelengths of light. We learned the formula for the speed of light (C= frequency x wavelength) and for energy (E= Planck's constant x frequency). These two formulas were easy to understand as problems associated with the lesson are pretty basic plug-and-chug. Yesterday, we learned about the electron configuration of elements. This lesson was chockful of vocab and steps to memorize. It was definitely a bit confusing and time-consuming at first to figure out each element's different electron structure and diagram and to memorize all the little rules for different types of elements. However, I soon began to understand it, and I even think it's a bit fun (Something I have NEVER said about chemistry, so that's saying a lot!). 

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Core/Inorganic_Chemistry/Electronic_Structure_of_Atoms_and_Molecules/Electronic_Configurations

Some links for review on these lessons:

http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch6/electronconfigpractice.html
http://www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry/taters/Unit2ElectronNotations.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AFPfg0Como

Flame Lab

Today in class we had another lab, one which may be my favorite lab we've done all year: the Flame Test Lab. Basically, we placed several different chemical compounds and solutions in the flame of a Bunsen burner to see the various colors each one produced. It was really awesome to see the vivid colors that varied among each metal. The smell was really reminiscent of summer (fireworks, bonfire, you get the picture) when we first walked in due to the Bunsen burners.