Chemistry Entry 2

Kicking off this week, our class dove right into some new material, which I am still getting the hang of understanding. One of the first worksheets we started off with involved masses of elements in pairs of compounds (compound A & B), and we had to use the given information to suggest formulas that account for the written ratios. The first problem was simple enough, and it involved a certain mass of oxygen and carbon written in a ratio, in two different compounds. Using the information provided, we had to determine the value of the ratio in compounds A & B. To find this, I had to put the mass of oxygen over the mass of carbon, divide it out, and then round the answer to the nearest tenth or hundredth, depending on the answer. As we found for this particular problem, the ratio to compound B was twice as much as the ratio to compound A. Below our ratio computing, we were given two boxes side-by-side, labeled "Hypothesis 1" and "Hypothesis 2". In the hypothesis 1 box we were told that the mass of the carbon and oxygen had to have the same mass, and in 2 we were told that the oxygen atoms are heavier than the carbon atoms by the ration in compound A. To demonstrate this, we had boxes in which to draw particle drawings to represent both compounds. Once they were drawn, we had to write out an equation describing the drawing, which could be found by looking at the amount of the atoms for each element, and then writing out the element name as represented on the periodic table, and a subscript of the number just afterwards.



Originally this part confused me, but as I learned these drawings could be reasoned out by changing the ratio we previously found into an improper fraction. By doing this, the numerator represents the amount of oxygen atoms and the denominator represents the number of carbon. Throughout the worksheet, each single problem had a layout similar to this, yet they progressively got more challenging in terms of the given elements in a compound, and the varying ratios.  I would like to continue solving problems such as these as I am not 100% confident on them, and I would like to perfect my understanding by the time the test rolls around. In continuation of the worksheet described above, as a class we began to slowly understand the main idea behind solving these problems. The problem that eventually "clicked" with our class was comparing the compounds of iron and chlorine. Together we found the ratios and compared them, and reasoned that compound B has 1.5 more grams of chlorine then A does. Once we found this, the question we all asked ourselves was "so what?" I didn't see why this information mattered, or how it was applicable to writing out an equation comparing these two compounds. Slowly but surely, it began to dawn on us (with the help of Toby and Megan), that 1.5 was the amount multiplied by A's chlorine to get B's chlorine. As I'm writing this blog and looking over this worksheet, even still I am learning more and understanding this problem. Figuring out this problem as a class really helped to improve my understanding, so hopefully we will do more of that as the year progresses.

Another piece of information I found interesting and useful, was the history behind matter. It is crazy to imagine that scientists years and years ago forged their own ideas to describe matter, and used what they learned to apply to experiments and the world in general. As years passed however, new scientists with radical, unfamiliar ideas had multiple breakthroughs. These threatened the basis of chemistry and how matter was viewed for the "old school" chemists. In particular, Democritus suggesting the idea of atoms, Bernoulli theorizing that gases consists of small particles that are loosely packed in an empty volume of space, and Priestly's experiments with red mercury calx, leading to Lavoisier's discovery of oxygen. Fortunately these theories were proved and are now the footing of what chemists build off of today. This week started off a little bit overwhelming in terms of the new material and equations, but ended up enlightening me as well as providing me with a useful background of the "chemistry revolution" and those behind the fascinating discoveries.