Finishing up the Lab

The class today was in a fairly good mood when Mr. Lieberman started us off by congratulating Kathryn on her wonderful scribe post and notified me about mine. We continued to talk about the blog and functions such as the photo issue that is now resolved, and immediately after, went to finish the "Observation Lab."

We were told to complete part B of the experiment by creating our own experiments to discover what reagents, when mixed together, caused certain reactions. Of course, we were told to record all observations in our handy "Scientific Lab Notebooks." My lab group, and most other lab groups, executed a total of five experiments and for some, more than that. It was fairly easy work, and the results were astonishing. For example, when the four reagents, sodium bicarbonate, calsium chloride, water, and phenol red, were combined in the plastic bag, we came up with an opaque, yellow, fizzy liquid (shown in the picture). Very interesting stuff. Aside from the two glass beakers shattering on the floor, all went well.

The class, at their own desks, took up netbooks and registered themselves to ChemThink, in order to complete the assignment Mr. Lieberman assigned.

Homework: ChemThink and worksheet "Particulate Nature of Matter," and the eight Post Lab Questions.

Pretty easy day, it was very relaxed and enjoyable. Who knew Mr. Lieberman was into Weezer?

The next Student Scribe is Brandon L.

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!