Week 2 9/14/15 - 9/18/15 Reflective blog

This week we went over many things. The main idea was we learned the difference between particles, mixtures and compounds and Avogadro's hypothesis. Early in the week, we did a worksheet called Classification of Matter where we analyzed diagrams and attempted to label which are Atoms, which are Particles, and which are Molecules. The diagrams showed different chemical bonds that formed molecules and even showed only atoms. As I kept working on the worksheet, the questions became more specific. The questions on the second page gave me the chemical formula and I had to analyze how many atoms were in that molecule. Questions later on that page asked what the actual letters and numbers represented in the equation. This helped me get a better understanding of chemical equations and what they consisted of.
     We also learned the difference between a pure substance and a mixture on the same worksheet.  We were then asked to classify the chemical equation either as a pure substance or mixture. Then we repeated that process, only now we learned the difference between an element and a compound.
     Then we learned how you would separate a mixture. We started by watching a video of a scientist using a technique that separated two substances. Following this we received a worksheet that helped us understand the different techniques and gave us the chance to explain why one technique would be better to separate two specific substances rather than another substance. On the back of that worksheet we were asked to identify mixtures, pure substances, compounds, and elements when we were given 4 pictures. This gave us a better understanding of what the particles represented when there were more than one kind, or when they were connected in a different manner.
     Finally, we learned about Avogadro's Hypothesis. This hypothesis states that gases (at the same temperature and pressure) reacted in simple integer volume ratios. Meaning that as a conclusion, 2 molecules of hydrogen combine with one molecule of Oxygen to form water works only if we assume that each volume of gas contains the same number of particles. We were then asked to represent molecules in diagrams to show our understanding. This concluded the week of learning and as we move on from here, I am excited to see what we are going to learn.