Week 6: PTVn Labs & Particles in Motion

          Through the course of last week, we conducted various experiments testing the ideas of pressure versus temperature, number of particles, and volume, as well as the particles in motion of a liquid, solid and gas. To research the movement of particles we incorporated some of last week's experiments into this past week’s lessons. I think this past week has had to be one of my favorite weeks because I really enjoyed the type of hands on work that our groups had to do.

To begin last week, referring to an experiment conducted in previous weeks(hot and cold water with dye), we tested out the idea of how hot and cold molecules work through a liquid. When putting drops of the dye in the cold water, the dye was very resistant  in moving throughout the beaker of water. Contrary to the results of the cold water, hot water had more movement of the dye throughout the beaker. Going along with the results of the molecules in the solid, the heat from the water transferred to the dye which allowed the molecules in the dye to have more energy. Hence, more movement. The cold molecules slowed the molecules from the dye down once coming in contact with the water, which caused the dye to fall in one main direction. we focused on the movement of particles and went into depth of how the motion of particles work, being affected by temperature. Next, we worked on how this concept would affect a solid. After watching a video on how the motion of particles are affected, I learned that temperature is a proxy for the relative speed of molecules. The best way to explain this is by using the example shown to us in the video. If you take a balloon filled with air and set it outside of a hot summer day, the heat from the air transfer to the particles in the balloon. The molecules heat up and have a tons of energy. Similar to how if you give a child a bunch of candy, they begin “bouncing off the walls”, heat molecules act the same way. When they begin doing so, the increase in movement of the particles caused my the heat, forces the balloon to expand. On the other hand, cold temperature acts as the opposite. If you place a balloon filled with air outside on a cold winter night, the molecules move slowly. Cold molecules do not have nearly as much energy of hot molecules. The way the cold temperature affects the balloon can be best thought of as the way winter affects penguins. When it is cold, they waddle around very slowly and begin to huddle together to try to stay warm. These molecules act the same way. The molecules move closer together, causing the balloon to contract. Watching the video and having a class discussion about what we observed was our way of understanding the molecular motion in a solid. In continuation, of the lessons of this past week, we also focused on pressure and how it affects temperature, volume and number of particles.

In order to research or test these ideas, our class ran 3 labs. Our first lab was about pressure versus volume. In this lab we had a syringe hooked up to a pressure sensor. To begin, we filled the syringe with air up to 5 mL. After recording the pressure given to us by the pressure sensor, we continued tested pressures of volume. Once testing 5 different volumes, we also began graphing our information onto the computer. I found this part very interesting because we were able to learn how to graph information onto the computer. A major part of the relationship between pressure and volume was how the graph would look. Would the graph be linear, would the graph line be curved, or would the graphing line have a negative relationship, facing downward? These were all questions that our class had to answer. Each table group had a different hypothesis for the outcome of each lab. For the pressure versus volume lab, our table group thought the graph would have a negative relationship(still being linear). For the second test, we did pressure versus temperature. This experiment was a little bit more intense because we tested 3 different temperatures. To do so, we took a beaker filled with hot water, cold water (mixture of ice and alcohol), and room temperature water and put a smaller beaker into each one. The smaller beaker was hooked up to the pressure sensor which measured the pressure of each temperature. For example, in this picture, it shows hot water being measured for how much pressure it has. Again, these line of experiments were all recorded in computers and were graphed. my table group hypothesized our this graph to have a positive linear relationship. Lastly, we tested pressure versus the number of particles(puffs). For this lab we used the syringe again and adjusted the end the syringe to differentiate how many “puffs” had pressure, more or less.  The graphing for this lab was expected to replicate the pressure versus temperature results, to have a positive linear graph. In the end we were able to find out the real relationship of each subject being tested. Here are the correct results that my table group collected:   Here is the resulting graph of the pressure versus volume experiment. Here is the results our group got from the pressure versus temperature lab and lastly, here are our results for the pressure versus number of particles(puffs) lab:

My overall experience with the material for this past week, I’d say was positive. I really enjoyed the activities we did in order to understand the information given to us. From a scale of 1-10, my understand of the information would be an 8. My questions for this past week would just be what the difference is between a molecule and a particle. Other than that, I’d say I grasped the concepts pretty well and enjoyed to lesson taught to us.

Unit Test & New Topic

   I found this week to be very interesting. On Tuesday we took a unit test.  I entered the test feeling pretty positive about my results and understanding on what we were being tested on. Although, I did have reservations because some ideas weren't really clarified. I wouldn't say it was expected but I was kind of in "awe" when I realized I had failed the test. I don't really know what to really think about it other then say do test corrections. I guess I had the wrong understanding of the information being taught throughout these past few weeks. This didn’t sit well with me so I definitely plan on fixing my mistakes. Nonetheless, I continued onto new experiments and lessons.

      After the unit test, on Thursday and Friday our class began experimenting on a new topic. We did an experiment with cold water, hot water and dye. First starting off with a beaker filled with cold water, drops of dye were placed into the water. My table group and I observed as the dye resignated in one general areas of the beaker and slowly fell to the bottom. We agreed that the dye mainly stayed the in the middle of the beakers. Afterward, we tested the beaker filled with hot water. We observed as the dye and the hot water mixed there was a more of a diffusion process. We explored the reasoning for how and why the actions took place during class white boards discussions. During the discussion, our class came to a conclusion for why these reactions happen. The hot water particles have more energy so they move around a lot faster. When the dye touched the hot dye is acted as the water and move around quickly. This differentiates from the cold water particles because they move much slower, so when the dye touched the water and moved slowly and stayed one area. (cold on left, hot on right).

As a class, we observed a second experiment similar to our first one. This experiment was conducted by the teacher. He started off with a beaker of water filled with ice cubes. In this beaker, there was a tube of alcohol that was connected to a thinner tube which acted as a thermometer. The red liquid(alcohol) started off low. After class discussion, Dr. Finnan took out the ice cubes and turned on the hot plate which the beaker was sitting upon. With close observation, we found that as the water began to warm up, the alcohol began to rising. With deep discussion within the class, we found that this meant there was a heat transfer between that hot plate and the water, and the water and the alcohol.

      This week no one truly specified the topic for our next lesson but I think it could possibly involve: diffusion, osmosis, and heat transfer. I definitely look forward to finding out more information and purposes to these experiments in the upcoming week. For the unit test, I plan on doing test corrections and hopefully, correcting the information I wrongly thought about the tested topics.   

Gas Density

This week, we took last week’s main focus of density and incorporated it into this week’s lesson. After learning that the formula for density is p=m/v, and testing the idea on matter and water, we learned how to graph this information. The mass is the dependent variable; this means the data goes along the y-axis. The volume is the independent variable; this means the data goes along the x-axis.  The slope of the graph is described as the density (change in y/change in x).

Once we learned this concept, we applied this idea to gas. We did this through doing a Gas Density lab. The objective of this lab was to extract gas from the chemical reaction of Alka-Seltzer and water and calculate the resulting density. The procedures we took for this lab were fairly simple and easy to follow. First we put 1-2 pieces of Alka-Seltzer in a cupcake tin and a bottle with filled some water and took the mass of both subjects. My table groups resulting mass (before) was 71.44g. After recording the mass, the top was placed onto the bottle and connected to a thin blue tube. This blue tube was connected to a larger bottle of water which was placed upside down in a large bin of water. Once everything as put into place, a table member of mines cautiously shook up the water to create a reaction with the Alka-Seltzer. I observed as the gas rose to the top and through the blue tube. When this happen, the water level in the larger bottle of water began to decrease. Once my group and I were sure the reaction had fully ceased, we unconnected the thin blue tube from the bottle mixed with water and Alka-Seltzer and weighed its remaining mass. The remaining mass was 71.27g. With this, we were able to calculate the mass of the gas which was –0.413g (71.44-71.27). Since the objective was to the find the density, we still have to calculate the volume. We took the rest of the liquid and poured it into a cylinder and found it was 338mL. Using the formula for density and significant figures, we calculated the density of gas to be 0.00121g/mL. This was interesting because we noticed that it was 600 times less dense than water.

This week we learned how to find the density of gas and the correct procedure toward doing so. I found it very interesting and a simple concept to understand. I think I have all of the concepts to a fair understanding but once doing a worksheet or taking a test, I seem be a little bit confused once receiving my results back. Personally, I think from 1-10, my understanding of this week's lesson is an 8 or 9. Hopefully, it will show in this upcoming unit test because I feel pretty confident about the main ideas.

 

 

 

Mass Volume & Density

       During this week our class has been experimenting with the relationship of mass and volume, and the different measurements. The main idea of this week has been the relationship of mass and volume. To fully understand the property of mass and volume, our class conducted an experiment and worked through a pogil within their table groups.

       To start off with understanding the concept, we tested the idea of mass and how it affects matter in previous weeks. Later, the idea of volume then came into play. We tested the different volume measurements of water and recorded our information. Once filling a cubed container with water, my table and I measured the length, width and height. We then graphed our calculations into our journals. Knowing that volume is measured in cubic meters (cm^2) or mililiters (mL) and mass is measured in the unit of grams, we furthered our knowledge of these two ideas by carrying out an experiment. This was very interesting because we were able to combine these two ideas into one. We started off doing an experiment with measuring the mass of 5 pieces each of steel, acrylic and aluminum. After doing so, we measured the volume of all 15 pieces. The process of finding the volume was very interesting. For each element (5 pieces each), we carefully put it in a cylinder filled with water. When the water rose, we calculated the before and after measurements and recorded the difference in journals. This is where graping became apart of our research. We were able to use a graphing app on our laptops to our tables information of each element. I feel this process was informational because we were able to figure the property of relationship is density. Density is how packed an object is. For example, an water bottle half filled with water is more dense than an empty water bottle, yet a full water bottle is more dense then a half filled water bottle. This is because denser objects have less empty space in them.
     
       Our research on the subject wasn't over yet. We followed up the experiment with a pogil. Each table group worked through 3 problems and held white-board cessions for each problem. Each problem asked us to determine which figured had more mass, volume and density. I really enjoyed this part of the learning process because I, along with my other classmates were able to not only debate but understand each other views about the two ideas. One problem that kind of split the class in two was third problem in our pogil for this week. We discussed if figure E was more or less dense than figure F. I personally felt that figure E was more dense because density is the mass of a substance and how much space it takes up (which defined as volume). Hence, the relationship being density (p) = g/mL. This being the case, E would be the correct answer.

       I found this week to be very interactive and insightful. I enjoyed being able to collaborate with my table members to do experiments and work through certain roadblocks. I also enjoyed our white-board  table discussions as a class. Being able to learn from one another and ask questions, I feel it allowed us to be more responsible for how own learning. My concept of the main idea is pretty good. I'd say from 1-10, my understanding of the topic is a 10. Although being a ten, I wouldn't mind doing more practice and figure out a problem or doing a worksheet about the topic of density independently. Overall, I feel positive about how the week went and look forward toward what is to come.