Monday, May 17, 2010

Experimenting with Baking Soda and Vinegar


I will be putting you through the process of mixing vinegar and baking soda. This is a list of the process on how to experiment with the two substances.
  • Pour the baking soda into a container, above any surface that will be easily cleaned.
  • Then pour the vinegar that can be colored in order to highlight the reaction.
The baking soda should bubble up and react with the vinegar, and releases gases from this chemical reaction. Be careful to wear goggles, because the baking soda and vinegar mixture could splash into your eyes causing great pain.

Fun Fact!
The reaction going on is a double replacement, and therefore creates sodium acetate and carbon dioxide as well as producing water. The carbon dioxide released will create pressure, and if the mixture is capped, it will explode! Which is very fun to watch!

Making Rock Candy MiniProject


So, in class we made rock candy which requires these ingredients, and these materials.
  • 2 cups of water
  • 4 cups of granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of flavoring oil (optional)
  • food coloring (optional)
  • glass jar
  • skewer or thread
  • hot plate
Heat the water, and slowly add the sugar one cup at a time until it is fully dissolved. Then add the flavoring oil and food coloring. Once the syrup is cool, pour it into the glass jar, and allow the skewer or thread to hang one inch away from the bottom of the glass jar.
Wait for the sugar to crystallize on the thread, then enjoy.

Caution! BE AWARE OF HOT PLATE

Fun Fact!
The candy is formed by water and sugar that evaporate and leave a crystal of sugar.

PHOTO CRED: DAVID WHEELER

Friday, May 14, 2010

How Temperature, Pressure and Surface Area affects the dissolving process.

Chemistry Standard 6c. Students know temperature, pressure and surface area affect the dissolving process.

There are three main factors that change the solubility of a solution are Temperature, Pressure and Surface Area. Usually when a substance cannot dissolve all of the particles, then it has become saturated. By implementing the three factors, you will be able to change the rate of dissolving a substance, and you will also change the amount of solute that can be dissolved.
The Temperature's effect on the dissolving process is clear. Heat allows for the solute to be dissolved quicker, and also increases the solubility of the solvent.
Pressure, causes the solute to be increased in the solvent, because the pressure forces the remaining gases into the solute. Therefore, pressure increases the solubility, and also changes the reaction rate.
Finally, the surface area exposed to the solvent determines the rate of which a solute will dissolve. For example, a large crystal of salt will not dissolve as quickly as powdered salt, because the powdered salt has more surface area exposed, speeding up the reaction time.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Bending of Glass...With Fire!


So, for my mini-project, I decided to show you the process of bending glass...

  • take any circumference glass tube
  • use filer to determine desired length, and make a crease in glass with filer
  • push along crease with thumbs pointing down
  • light burner and begin bending glass! with tongs of course!
FUN FACT!
Glass is made up of sand originally, and contains other ingredients in order to determine the strength of it. When shaped, the glass is annealed, which means allowing for the molecules to cool slowly, so then they can retain the molecular structure. If the structure is not retained, then the glass will break.

Photo Cred: David Wheeler