October 19-23, 2015 - Isabel Nowak

This week during chemistry we learned about conductive and nonconductive elements. We did the "Let's Conduct Maestros" lab and went around the classroom and decided whether it was conductive or not. The items tested could be solids or liquids. From this lab we concluded that conductive items contained metals in a aqueous or liquid state. We also concluded that non-confuctive materials were solid metals and non metal compounds. In part two of that lab we used a U-tube which contained graphite rods on both sides. It was filled with Copper II Chloride (aq). The graphite rods had alligator clips attached to them and they were plugged into a socket. It was the electrolysis of the Copper II Chloride also known as the compound CuCl2. We will be concluding part two of that lab on Monday but near the end of class it was bubbling and smelling like Chlorine (that was the positive side). The other side on Monday should be Copper. We can conclude that we are separating non-conductive and conductive metals apart from each other. Another lab we did this week was the Tape Lab. Although we turned the worksheet in with the substitute we basically created a positive, negative, and neutral charge. We attached tape together and we took it apart and that was basically charging it up. But we would try to put a charged tape against a charged tape or a negative verse a negative and it would repel. But when you had a charged verses a non-charged piece of tape it would attract. Then we had strips of paper and that acted as the neutral material. So whenever we put a piece of tape to it, it wouldn't do anything because it didn't have a charge at all. We also made particle diagrams during class to represent the lab. Since the top piece of tap was the positive and charged side and the negative side was the bottom we made particle drawings of before the adhesion and in contact and separation in order to show the difference. The participation this week with my group went well, I think we all have clear understanding on what we learned throughout the week. We only did a few labs so we didn't work together that much. It was mostly just making sure that all of us understood the main concepts. I knew about the main concept of attractions with negative and positive charges but I think that doing the tape lab was the most helpful visually to see what occurred with a better understanding. A lot of people from my group were fasinated including myself.  One concept I'd still like to have a better understanding on would be the concept on the back page of the Unit 6 Sticky Tape Post-Lab worksheet where we did particle diagrams why there's still some particles on one side where the top tape is near the charge. Even though I know that the top tape is going to be attracted when it's closer by why are there still some particles that aren't? Lastly, we learned about different abbreviations that are included with compounds. Such as H20 (s). This means that it's a solid. (I) means liquid state and (aq) means that it's dissolved.