Vinegar and Baking Soda

What happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda?



Materials:
1/2 cup of Baking Soda and Vinegar

Process:

1. Have the 1/2 cup of Vinegar in a beaker
2. Then add the 1/2 cup of Baking Soda
3. You have a finished product

Scientific:
When these to reactants mix the product is a mixture with both but the color of the product is a pinkish red not like the reactant that is clear. Also bubbles form.

Photo Credit to Chantel Yip

How to Make Clay

CLAY

Mix together:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
Food coloring, optional

Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is dough like

Scientific:
With heat, flour, salt, and water as reactants you get clay as a product.

Photo Credit to Chantel Yip

ChemStd Lewis Dot Structure

Lewis Dot Structure

Lewis Dot Structures(also known as Lewis dot diagrams, electron dot diagrams, and electron dot structures) are diagrams that show the bonding between atoms of a molecule, and the lone pairs of electrons that may exist in the molecule. A Lewis structure can be drawn for any covalently-bonded molecule, as well as coordination compounds. The Lewis structure was named after Gilbert N. Lewis who introduced it in his 1916 article The Atom and the Molecule. They are similar to electron dot diagrams in that the valence electrons in lone pairs are represented as dots, but they also contain lines to represent shared pairs in a chemical bond (single, double, triple, etc.).

The chemical symbol for the atom is surrounded by a number of dots corresponding to the number of valence electrons.

For example,

• Hydrogen (H) has 1 valence electron, on a picture for the Lewis Dot Structure it has 1 dot
  
• Nitrogen (N) has 5 valence electrons, on a picture for the Lewis Dot Structure it has 5 dots
  
• Neon (Ne) has a full shell (8) of valence electrons, on a picture for the Lewis Dot Structure it has 8 dots

The formation of many common compounds can be visualized with the use of Lewis symbols and Lewis diagrams. In a Lewis symbol, the inner closed shells of electrons can be considered as included in chemical symbol for the element, and the outer shell or valence electrons are represented by dots. The dots are placed in four groups of one or two electrons each, with 8 electrons representing a closed shell or noble gas configuration. Lewis diagrams are useful for visualizing both ionic and covalent bonds.

In the idealized ionic bond, one atom gives up an electron to the other, forming positive and negative ions.

The conditions for bonds are that the total charge is zero and that each atom must have a noble gas electron configuration.

In the idealized covalent bond, two atoms share a pair of electrons, closing the shell for each of them.












The atoms share a pair of electrons, and that pair is
referred to as a bonding pair. The pairs of electrons which do not participate in the bond have traditionally been called "lone pairs". A single bond can be represented by the two dots of the bonding pair, or by a single line which represents that pair. The single line representation for a bond is commonly used in drawing Lewis structures for molecules.

Check Out This Video!!

Mills Creek Canyon Field Trip

Mr. Olson took all of his chemistry students, including me, to Mills Creek Canyon. My fellow classmates and I walked about 3 miles to the Canyon and all around it. It was beautiful, I climbed picnic rock and expolred the creek. It is cool to know that nature is hidden right in our backyard.


View Mills High School to Mills Creek Canyon in a larger map

Bending Glass

I was taught by Valerie Yermakova(the blonde girl in picture) on how to bend glass. I formed many cool shapes with the glass.

Steps:

1. Put on Safety Goggles

2. Get glass

3. Turn of the lighter than the gas and light the burner

4. Put part of glass that you want to bend in flame

5. When hot it enough the glass will start to bend

Science:

When glass is put into the flame, the glass part in the flame becomes malleble. (Bendable or mendable)

Photo Credit: Chantel Yip

IProposeWe Make Handheld Fireballs

IProposeWe Make Handheld Fireballs

Links:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/funfireprojects/a/fireballs.htm

http://video.about.com/chemistry/Handheld-Fireballs.htm

Materials:

• 2" x 5" strip of cotton cloth (like from a t-shirt)


• 100% cotton thread


• needle


• naphtha lighter fluid (ex: Ronsonol™ or Zippo™)


• match or lighter

Procedure:

1. Thread the needle with cotton thread.


2. Tightly roll the cotton strip into a ball.


3. Pierce the ball with the needle and wrap the ball with the thread. End by running the needle through the ball one more time and break off the thread. And tie a not at end of thread.


4. Soak the ball with lighter fluid. Don't soak your hands.


5. Don't ignite the the fireball while you are holding it. Set the ball on a fire-proof surface. For example, a frying pan.


6. If you want to hold the fireball, you should pick it up with tongs and carefully/slowly set it on your hand. That way you'll be able to tell if you can take the heat or not. If you believe you can hold it, pick the fireball up using your fingers.
   

Safety precautions:
No loose clothing!

It's fire be responsible!

Don't soak hands with fluid, if hands get soaked wash immediately

It's best to use 100% cotton fabric and thread. If the fiber is synthetic (like nylon or polyester) it might burn or melt, with unpleasant consequences

The fireballs are reusable. Put them out when they run out of fuel or else the cotton will burn (you can tell this is happening when the ball starts to blacken and produce sooty smoke). If you get to the point where the cotton itself is burning, the fireball will be too hot to hold. Ideally you want to extinguish the fireball before it consumes all of its fuel. Simply soak it in more lighter fluid and relight it to reuse it.
Scientific Principles:

Fire is capable of being touched and not being burned using a special lighter fluid (naphtha).

St. Francis

I was invited to St. Francis for a meet. I did really bad I think. I got 4th place in both and I wish I would do better. I was so frustrated. The top 3 got shirts with placing and I was just one place away from getting it. I guess I just have to do better and hope that centripital force helps me with discus. I pr.ed in discus. Which means I beat my record, so I need to keep doing that.