CHEM IS COOL

A couple of things to take care of:

Mateo has one "t".

The upside down "y" thing that is a symbol for wavelength is called a "lambda", and the "v" looking thing that is a symbol for frequency is called a "nu". In case you were wondering, which I was.

If you still do not understand the electro-magnetic spectrum, here's a quick song to ingrain it into your brain:

So today, we did some stuff. Like chemistry stuff. Like really complicated electron orbital stuff.

We began with the rather disheartening concept of not really being able to know where a specific electron is at a given point in time. What we do know is that there is a certain area around the nucleus where we will "probably" find the electrons. However, as Kaitlin astutely observed, there is a small small chance one of our poor electrons are lost somewhere, searching desperately for their owner.

From there, we moved on to Quantum Mechanics.

Mr. Lieberman stressed the difference between electron orbits and electron orbitals. In fact, electron orbits don't actually exist. This means that everything you learned about how atoms look is wrong. Everything that our middle school teachers taught us is wrong. And above all, Jimmy Neutron was wrong.

So now that everything you have learned has been upset, we are learning a new way to define an electron's location: orbitals. As stated previously, we cannot know for sure where an electron is in relation to its nucleus, or in relation to anything at all, so scientists decided to create a thing called an orbital. Basically, an orbital is an area where there is great er than a 90% chance of finding an electron. In pictures it looks more like a fuzzy sphere kind of thing. However, Bohr's electron is much more conducive to the imagination and is thus still taught in elementary and middle schools today.

Instead of equating the location of an electron with a sort of solar system looking model, scientists like to look at the location as sort of a seat in a stadium, or concert hall, or auditorium. Except in an altogether different fashion. Tickets typically have four pieces of information on them in regards to where your seat it, the gate you enter in, the section, the row, and the seat. Each one getting more specific, and no two tickets to the same seat.

Much like the ticket analogy, we "locate" electrons with a series of QUANTUM NUMBERS. Each number gets sequentially more specific until we can know the relative energy of the orbital, its shape, its orientation in space, and which direction its spinning.

The first number we must concern ourselves with is the value "n". Thankfully, "n" comes only in integer form (that is, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11...) basically, anything positive that is not a decimal or a fraction. It aids in determining the energy level of the electron; the larger the "n" value, the higher the energy. Unfortunately, we have only really found up to 7, though I guess we are fairly close to obtaining the eighth.

The next number is represented by the letter "l" (thats "L", only lower-case). This, fortunately, also comes in integer values. These are limited however, to a range extending from 0 to n-1. "n", if you recall, is the relative value of the energy of an electron. "l" is the energy sublevel of an electron, sort of like a more accurate way of defining an electron's energy. If you think about it, the number of sublevels is the same as whatever energy level it is in. If that doesn't make sense, the book says it like this:

In the nth principal level, there are n different sublevels.

So scientists think that it would be easier to memorize letters than numbers and gave us this:

sublevel: 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.....

letter : s | p | d | f | g ... and from here it goes on in alphabetical order. Furthermore, when defining a sublevel (using the s-p-d-f system), you put the principal (the n) value before it. So for example, if you were in level 4, sublevel 2, you would have 4d. If you were in level 5 sublevel 6, WAIT THATS NOT POSSIBLE. Its not possible because the sublevel values are confined between n-1 and 0. HA. But if you were in level 5 and sublevel 4, you would say 4g, like sprint.

Next variable: m_l. m_l is also made up of integer values, and its range extends from "l" to -"l". That's positive "l" to negative "l". This defines the orientation of the orbital. The higher the sublevel, the higher the number of orientations. For example, in sublevel 3, you can have m_l values of 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2 , -3. and they all represent different orientations of the electron cloud. Look at this picture if you still don't get it.

The final number is represented by m_s. Basically, it has nothing to do with the other values. It just shows which way the electron is spinning. It either has a value of +1/2 or - 1/2. Or sometimes referred to as "spin up" and "spin down". Each orbital can have 2 electrons, each one spinning a different direction.

This is a fun song, if you are working out, are just walking, or just sitting down, and it has a rather fitting title, considering it's the end of the post.

This is a tough unit, so don't worry if you don't get it right away. I'd be willing to help if you need it.

Anyway, stay awesome period six.

Next scribe is going to be.. peter w.... PPEEUTTUUHHRR DUUUEEHHBBLE-YUEEWW

SO. whats up.

Today in chem we got our tests back. Not too many of us did very well on that. DLiebs himself said the average score was "not too good". But still, life goes on.

After taking our questions on the test and refusing to give any sort of curve on the test, Liebs began our new unit. Thermodynamics.

We began by discussing energy. We divided energy into kinetic energy (energy due to motion) and potential energy (energy due to position). To demonstrate this concept, Liebs used the example of a ball thrown in the air; as the ball slows on its ascent, it loses the initial kinetic energy it had in movement, and gains potential energy with its height. As it begins its decent it loses potential energy and gains kinetic energy as it falls faster and faster.

New Law: Conservation of Energy. Same deal as most other conservation laws. Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transformed. There is a limited amount of energy in the universe, but there's a lot of it.

We also learned that heat and temperature are two different things.

Temperature is the measure of kinetic energy of particles' random motion. (Measured in °C, °F or K)

Whereas heat is the total amount of energy transferred from an object of high temperature to one of low temperature. (Measured in J or Cal)

Another good thing to know is heat capacity. Heat capacity is the amount of heat required to raise a substance by 1° celsius. Heat capacity is different for each sample. For example a metal has a lower heat capacity than water, and a larger sample has a greater heat capacity than a smaller sample.

Specific heat capacity is a physical property measured in J/g°C. Basically, it is the amount of heat required to raise 1 gram of a substance by 1°C. (denoted by C_p

The Ultimate formula is as follows: q=m*C_p* ΔT.

Or heat = mass * specific heat * change in temperature

Thats it. I need to make cookies.

Good night y'all. Do the prelab and the worksheet he gave us.

Kathryn J can scribe next.

Another exciting day in the sixth period chemistry class

Today at the beginning of class, Mr. Lieberman handed back our labs and quizzes. The latter he claimed was a gift to get our hopes up, soon to be crushed by our next quiz on Wednesday. And frankly, i wouldn't put it past him. However, at least he was honest.

We then had a very pleasant surprise: a shootout between Ben, Brandon, and Kaitlin, aiming at a target on the screen using Mr. Lieberman's handy-dandy uzzi-- which is a gun for those of us who don't know. The competition went smoothly except for a single misfire, which thankfully did not harm anybody. The result was a tie between Brandon and Ben each with one point, and Kaitlin in second with zero.

now a few definitions:

• Accurate: hitting what you are aiming for (the target)
• Precise: being consistent every time; your work is reproducible

Nobody was accurate, because nobody hit the bullseye. However Kaitlin was at least precise, hitting the same spot on the floor every time.

Other than that, today was a typical day in the classroom: lecture notes.

We now (in theory) know the metric system: 1g=10dg=100cg=1,000mg=1,000,000um (micrograms)=1,000,000,000 ng=1,000,000,000,000 pg=.001 kg.

The hierarchy of metric prefixes goes like this:

kilo=1000

(none)=1

deci= 1/10

centi= 1/100

milli = 1/1,000

micro= 1/1,000,000

nano= 1/1,000,000,000

pico= 1/1,000,000,000,000

And there is mega and giga and tera, but if you care about those, you probably know what they mean.

We also learned about temperature: Scientist use celsius, in some cases they use kelvin, we use farenheit. The conversion equation is: t(f)=9/5c+32. The way I remember it is how to get from 100 to 212 using 9/5 and 32: multiple by 9/5 to get 180, add 32 to get 212, maybe that helps.

And last but probably not least, taking measurements: Always estimate one digit past the last readable digit. So that means if you are measuring in millimeters, you want to measure to the point "x". If a box happens to be about 11 mm, plus a tiny bit, you would record 11.1 mm.

If you did not understand this I am embedding the notes for todays lecture here:

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YUS, it worked. If you do not understand, comment.

This is Matt P, and always will be.

Michelle T. you have been privileged with the honor of being our next scribe.