Boat Race

Today we tested our biodiesel boats! Throughout the week we worked on building our boat (S.S. Megan2) and figuring out how to incorporate the motor, making it float, and a spot to put the biodiesel. A few days before my partner and I tested our boat and it went very fast; however, today's runs didn't go so well. We tried going second but realized our motor had a hole in it because it would work. We tried another motor but that too had a hole in it. Finally we found one that worked and did our first run. The time was okay but not as fast as other days. We decided to add bumpers to our boat so it would go straight and not bump into the sides of the gutter. Our second trial went better but still not as fast as our first day. There were many interesting looking boats and I really enjoyed this project! Our class had a wide range of times. Throughout all the classes, we had the fastest and slowest boats of the day.
Example of Boat Races

Biodiesel Day

Today we made our biodiesel to use for our boats later! It was really cool to think that we were Making fuel that works in cars. All we had to do was take oil (either from chick-fil-a or corn oil) and add KOH in an E. Flask with a stir bar in it. Then we put it in a water bath and let it heat and stir for 20-30 minutes. It was surprising that that was the basic process for making biodiesel. After it was done, we put it into a cup and let it sit overnight. Tommorrow we will take off the glycerol fat and leave the good biodiesel to use later. My partner and I were 1/4 groups between all the classes to use corn oil instead of the Chick-fil-a oil.
How to Make Biodiesel

Our Biodiesel Video

This week we were working on building a video to promote the use of biodiesel. We started by researching what it was, how it is made, and what the benefits are from using it. Our video had to provide all this information in under a minute. Our final product can be found on youtube if you search "A Better Alternative to Petroleum" or click here. This project was not hard, however, it took a lot of effort and patience to understand the program we were using. Uploading was very tricky, but we were finally able to get it! For website for the video competition, click here.
Two Examples of Biodiesel videos;
Example 1
Example 2

Chemical Bonding Test

Personally, I did not think the test was that hard. I studied long and hard to make sure my first grade for the quarter would start strong. There was a wide range of questions covering every topic we covered and even a little more. Many of the questions were taken directly of the schoology quizzes so I was able to spend less time on those and focus on the harder questions.

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It scared me when I first looked at my grade after the test because she had put the wrong grades in and mine was much lower than I thought it would be. Thankfully, she fixed the grades and I did fairly well. Most of the questions I missed were because of a stupid mistake. For example, one question asked what was the shape of Y and I looked at the shape of X. Overall, I didn't think the test was too terribly hard.

Some websites I used to study are:
Resonance
Chemical Bonds and the Shape of Molecules

Chemical Bonding Activity

Today we met in the library and working on chemical bonding problems with three other people. We sat on these little bean bags that we a little uncomfortable at a little table but that was the only bad part. This activity really helped me to understand the many different parts of the unit. By talking it through with partners and drawing it out on the table, I was really able to visualize the concepts that we learned in class. 

Types of Bonds, Bond energy, and Lewis Structure

Covalent vs Ionic Bonds
Covalent Bonds

• result of the sharing of electons by two nonmetals
• both atoms involved in the bond share electrons to fill their particular octet

Ionic Bonds

• involves the giving and reciving of electrons between a cation and an anion
• oppositely charged ions then attract to each other forming a bond

Octet Rule

• Atoms cannot have more than 8 electrons 
• A full 8 electron shell is considered stable
• Some atoms don't need 8 electrons

Exceptions to the rule:

• hydrogen and helium only requires 2 electrons
• boron only requires 6 electrons to be stable, but it will form 4 bonds when necessary
• beryllium will have fewer than 8 as well, it likes 4 electrons in its valence
• elements in period 3 and beyond can have expanded octets because the d sublevel becomes available (ex. sulfur, phosphorus, xenon, krypton)

Lewis Strucutre for Atoms

• figure out how many valence electrons are needed for the atom
• write the atom's symbol in the center
• place electrons singularly on each side before doubling up the electrons until all valence electrons are placed
• EX: Nitrogen has 5 valence electrons which are placed in the Lewis structure below
  

Bond Length and Energy

• Single bonds: longest and weakest bonds
• Double bonds: shorter and stronger than single bonds
• Triple bonds: shortest and strongest bonds

• read from right to left
• the lowest point on the graph is high energy and where the bond forms
• 0 energy is when the two atoms are isolated from each other
• energy being absorbed is the same amount of energy being released

Periodic Table Trends

Trends in Atomic Size

• As you move down a group, the atoms tend to get larger. (electrons are being added to larger orbitals and inner electrons tend to shield the nucleus so the outermost electrons tend to fell less pull or attraction from the nucleus)
•  And as you move across a period from left to right, the atomic size decreases. (adding more protons without much increase in shielding)

Trends in Ionization Energy

• Ionization energy- the energy needed to remove an electron from a gaseous atom
• removing an electron results in the formation of a cation
• The energy required for removal of the first electron is known as the first ionization energy. The energy required for removal of the second electron is known as the second ionization energy.

Trends in Electron Affinity

• Electron Affinity- the ease with which an electron many added to an atom, forming an anion
• Increases as you move up and to the right.
• 
  

Trends in Electronegativy

• Electronegativity of an element is defined to be the tendency of an atom to draw electrons toward itself when chemically combined with another element.
• Noble gases are not included

Difference between the two