November 2-6, 2015- Isabel Nowak

This week in chemistry class we prepared and took a test on ionic and molecular compounds. We concluded that ionic compounds are made up of a non-metal and a metal. Whereas a molecular compound is made up of two non-metals. We learned how to solve both the ionic and molecular equations. I have previous knowledge about how to calculate these equations from AP chemistry because we learned this material in our June online homework assignment. However, we were able to use a periodic table with the names of the metals, transition metals, and non-metals which made it extremely helpful because we didn't have to also cram that material in our head. For ionic compounds you use roman numerals to represent the first element in the equation, only if it's a transition metal. For molecular compounds you use prefixes such as "dioxide" to represent two oxygen. We took our test on Thursday and we had a Tuesday off, and I wasn't present on Monday so I mostly had to study on my own. I think I did fairly well. The only part where I questioned myself was the multiple choice because I just felt like some of the wording was weird. That's the only part I'd say I needed help with. I think there was like a three element compound that was molecular and I didn't know how to name that compound too. Another thing that I thought was super helpful was our pink sheet and it was named the "Common and a Few Not-So-Common Ions". Basically we had a portion of the test where we just had to name the formula and so the answers were basically right in front of us. On Friday we started Unit 7 and first we started the Nail Lab. It's a three day lab but all we did was put copper (II) chloride and distilled water to the beaker. Then we placed three nails into the copper chloride solution. We observed that the solution turned blue. Originally the cooper chloride was just a green powdery substance. Once we placed the nails into the solution we found that small bubbles were appearing on the nails. Not above the nails were bubbles showing or on the surface of the solution but specifically on the nails. The last assignment that we did for the November 2-6th week was the reaction equations worksheets. You basically just have to balance the equations out. You can visualize the balancing through either particle diagrams or writing the equation for the compound over and over until it's balanced. I would say that our participation this week was well. I always think that our table works very well together. Typically when one of us is stuck on a problem we always problem solve easily. I would rate my understanding of the week pretty well. I think I knew most of the material. We didn't focus on much other than the test though, but I think that most of the class probably did well because we were prepared and it was mainly just the ionic and molecular compounds we focused on and their equations.