Observing Monday

The very beginning of today's class began with at least 5 students informing Mr. Lieberman that the bookstore was once again out of Chemistry notebooks. Then, we spent the first ten minutes reviewing how to use this Blogger website, mostly for my benefit. Mr. Lieberman showed us exactly how to create a post and how to accept his e-mail invitation to become an author on the blog. He also clarified that if you are assigned to scribe on a Friday night, you must have it completed by Sunday evening and showed us the link to his YouTube channel, where demos would be available on video.

Next, we went over our pre-lab questions for the Observation Lab that we had been assigned over the weekend. We were told again that we MUST where our goggles in the lab at all time, because as John put it, substances might contaminate our "ocular cavity". Oh, and bias is not a part of the scientific method. Science is based on straight facts, not on your own personal opinion.

We then moved on to the art of creating a data table. Mr. Lieberman drew an example for us, and then showed us the lab set up in the back of the classroom.

We broke up into our lab groups, donning our fashionable green goggles from the GBS bookstore. Following the lab procedure, we mixed calcium chloride (snow salt), sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), and phenol red in a plastic baggies. The reaction took place and we discovered that the phenol red had actually turned red (instead of the orange color it was originally) and that most of the sodium bicarbonate and calcium chloride had dissolved. We recorded our observations in the data table we had created earlier.

Next, we began to design our own experiments to figure out why this reaction took place, mixing the difference substances (plus water) together in their own separate baggies to see which individual reactions stood out.

Unfortunately, we did not get much time to finish the second part of our lab. The bell rang, and all the kids in six period Honors Chemistry rushed out the door, goggle marks lining their eyes.

In good news, the 2010 JV Girls' Volleyball Team beat York in the first game of the season! Woohoo!!

See you tomorrow in class! The Observation Lab is due Wednesday. Go Titans!

The next student scribe is...Emilio!

P.S. The pictures aren't loading on my computer, so I'm sorry this is not very exciting. I'll try on a computer at school!