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| Adalberto setting up the Petri Dishes |
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| Lighting the chemicals |
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| The Scientists |
Thursday, October 28, 2010
"Magic Show"
This morning my class met in the Little Theater because today we were going to present our experiments to a live audience. First thing was first every group got together with their scientist and helped set up for the demonstrations. The scientists put on their lab coats and goggles and were ready to perform. The Lab Techs helped the scientist prepare then watched patiently in the audience. The stage hands helped set up the lights and curtains and the reporters, like myself, also sat patiently in the audience ready to document the demonstrations with words, pictures, and videos. Each group went out and performed their experiments some were really interesting but some did not collaborate as planned. Then it was my groups turn, I was a little nervous on how well my group's scientist, Adalberto, was going to do speaking to the audience because yesterday we had no time to rehearse what he was going to say. I had nothing to worry about because he did great he spoke loudly for the audience to hear him and even mixed some Spanish in. Our experiment Colored Flames worked out great. Overall, every group did very well and what made it most interesting is that many of the groups presented their experiments in two languages!! Congratulations to all who performed today.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
October 27, 2010
Today we added our finishing touches to our experiment Colored Flames. Then, some of the groups got to test their experiments like the Methanol Canon. It was amazing it produced a colored flame inside a Galen with a mixture of blue and green and looked incredible. We also got to try one of our flames for our experiments. We tried Sodium Chloride and it produced a yellowish orange color it looked very cool.
October 26, 2010
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| Buhaha!! |
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| Adelberto weighing the chemicals |
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| weighing chemicals |
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| BOO!! |
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| SCARY!! |
Today we began weighing our chemicals for Colored Flames. It wasn't too difficult to measure them but the scale sometimes messed the amount of grams up. Then, we put the chemicals in Petri Dishes and labeled them according to the color the chemicals would produce and chemicals used to produce the color. After, we were asked to try out one of the solutions but we could'nt because we had still not received Methanol to start the the flames. So the testing would have to wait until tomorrow. Stage hands were asked to carve pumpkins for the "Magic Show" and they came out looking very nice.
October 25, 2010
Today my group began preparing for the "Magic Show" staring by measuring the materials we were going to be using. First, we went to the library to print out a list of the materials we were going to be using. Then, we grabbed our goggles and headed to the back room to start gathering the chemicals. Since our experiment Genie in a Bottle had to be eliminated due to unavailable chemicals (Manganese Dioxide) we began measuring the chemicals for Colored Flames. We needed about 10 different solutions but luckily Mr. Wold helped us find most of the materials needed. Next, we began measuring all the chemicals, but we had to cut the amount in half because there was not enough. Just as we were about to weigh our chemicals the bell rang so we had to leave the weighing until tomorrow.
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| Michelle reading off the chemicals to Mr.Wold |
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| Miguel viewing the chemicals |
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Oct.18, 2010 Materials
Genie in a Bottle
Materials:
There are a few way in which this demo can be presented. The first way is to present the story of Aladdin's magic lantern. For this method, place a small amount of MnO2 in a kem wipe and tie the kem wipe together with a piece of string. Hang the string from the opening of the bottle and secure the string with a rubber stopper so that the kem wipe and MnO2 rest just above the level of hydrogen peroxide. As you tell the story of Aladdin's magic lamp, the rubber stopper can be removed to allow the kem wipe to fall into the hydrogen peroxide. Steam and smoke will vigorously pour from the mouth of the bottle. Then you can go on and explain the reaction.
The second method that can be used for groups with more chemistry background is to set up by explaining the function of a catalyst within chemical reactions. Be sure to stress that a catalyst is not used in the reaction, it only supplies an alternate pathway that does not require as much energy to overcome. Mention that since the catalyst is not used, it can be recovered when the reaction is complete.
Without the catalyst, the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide will occur, but the reaction time is on the orders of years to go to completion. By using the MnO2, the reaction time is speeded up so that it occurs instantaneously.
Colored Flames:
Colored Fire Chemicals
dark red = lithium chloride 100g
red = strontium chloride (found in emergency flares) 100g
orange = calcium chloride (a bleaching powder) 500g
yellow = sodium chloride (table salt) or sodium carbonate 1lb
yellowish green = borax (sodium borate, a common insecticide and cleaning agent) 1lb.
green = copper sulfate (found in some pool and aquarium chemicals) , 500g
blue = copper chloride (lab chemical, but other copper compounds found in algicides and fungicides may work) 125g
violet = 3 parts potassium sulfate, 1 part potassium nitrate (saltpeter)
purple = potassium chloride (sometimes sold as a 'lite' salt) 100g
white = magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) 12"
Prepare the Flame Colorants
If you were just coloring a campfire or other wood fire, you could simply sprinkle the dry metal salts onto the fire. Copper chloride is especially nice for this since the sodium that is naturally present in wood causes this chemical to produce a mix of blue, green, and yellow flames. However, for the gas flame in a burner, you need the salts dissolved in a flammable liquid. The obvious choice here is alcohol. Common alcohols found around the home could include rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) or ethanol (e.g., in vodka). In some cases, the metal salts will first need to be dissolved in a small volume of water and then mixed with alcohol so that they can be spray onto a flame. Some salts may not dissolve, so what you can do is grind them into a fine powder and suspend them in liquid.
Links:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Genie-In-A-Bottle/ and
http://chemistry.about.com/od/funfireprojects/a/coloredfire.htm
and http://www.sciencecompany.com/sci-exper/flamecolors.htm
and http://www.chem.umn.edu/outreach/Genie.html
Materials:
- Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) 30%
- Manganese dioxide (MnO2)
- Mortar and pestle
- Clean two liter bottle
There are a few way in which this demo can be presented. The first way is to present the story of Aladdin's magic lantern. For this method, place a small amount of MnO2 in a kem wipe and tie the kem wipe together with a piece of string. Hang the string from the opening of the bottle and secure the string with a rubber stopper so that the kem wipe and MnO2 rest just above the level of hydrogen peroxide. As you tell the story of Aladdin's magic lamp, the rubber stopper can be removed to allow the kem wipe to fall into the hydrogen peroxide. Steam and smoke will vigorously pour from the mouth of the bottle. Then you can go on and explain the reaction.
The second method that can be used for groups with more chemistry background is to set up by explaining the function of a catalyst within chemical reactions. Be sure to stress that a catalyst is not used in the reaction, it only supplies an alternate pathway that does not require as much energy to overcome. Mention that since the catalyst is not used, it can be recovered when the reaction is complete.
Without the catalyst, the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide will occur, but the reaction time is on the orders of years to go to completion. By using the MnO2, the reaction time is speeded up so that it occurs instantaneously.
Colored Flames:
Colored Fire Chemicals
dark red = lithium chloride 100g
red = strontium chloride (found in emergency flares) 100g
orange = calcium chloride (a bleaching powder) 500g
yellow = sodium chloride (table salt) or sodium carbonate 1lb
yellowish green = borax (sodium borate, a common insecticide and cleaning agent) 1lb.
green = copper sulfate (found in some pool and aquarium chemicals) , 500g
blue = copper chloride (lab chemical, but other copper compounds found in algicides and fungicides may work) 125g
violet = 3 parts potassium sulfate, 1 part potassium nitrate (saltpeter)
purple = potassium chloride (sometimes sold as a 'lite' salt) 100g
white = magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) 12"
Prepare the Flame Colorants
If you were just coloring a campfire or other wood fire, you could simply sprinkle the dry metal salts onto the fire. Copper chloride is especially nice for this since the sodium that is naturally present in wood causes this chemical to produce a mix of blue, green, and yellow flames. However, for the gas flame in a burner, you need the salts dissolved in a flammable liquid. The obvious choice here is alcohol. Common alcohols found around the home could include rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) or ethanol (e.g., in vodka). In some cases, the metal salts will first need to be dissolved in a small volume of water and then mixed with alcohol so that they can be spray onto a flame. Some salts may not dissolve, so what you can do is grind them into a fine powder and suspend them in liquid.
Links:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Genie-In-A-Bottle/ and
http://chemistry.about.com/od/funfireprojects/a/coloredfire.htm
and http://www.sciencecompany.com/sci-exper/flamecolors.htm
and http://www.chem.umn.edu/outreach/Genie.html
Friday, October 15, 2010
Oct.15, 2010 Reflection
Reflection:
Today in class we were asked to create gmail accounts for each member of our group. For me it was fairly simple because I already had a gmail account and for the rest of my group members it seemed they had no struggle at all. On the other hand, creating the group blog was a little more difficult. I struggled with all the information I had to put together but, I got through it. Writing this blog was probably the most difficult thing to do. It was overwhelmed getting all the information for the experiments, but I managed to complete the blog. In the end I found this to be helpful practice for the next blog.
Today in class we were asked to create gmail accounts for each member of our group. For me it was fairly simple because I already had a gmail account and for the rest of my group members it seemed they had no struggle at all. On the other hand, creating the group blog was a little more difficult. I struggled with all the information I had to put together but, I got through it. Writing this blog was probably the most difficult thing to do. It was overwhelmed getting all the information for the experiments, but I managed to complete the blog. In the end I found this to be helpful practice for the next blog.
Oct.15, 2010
While doing research on, "Colored Flames"and "Genie in a Bottle", the experiments chosen by my group, I discovered how to properly conduct the experiments and the different effects produced by each of them.
The experiment "Colored Flames" is explained step by step in the web page http://www.sciencecompany.com/sci-exper/flamecolors.htm. You start off by cleaning the Platinum or Nichrome wire used to conduct the experiment. The purpose of this is to prevent any contaminants from interfering with the experiment. Next, you test the experiment by placing a powdered chemical into a wired loop and placing it on top of a Bunsen burner. The effect of the experiment depends on what kind of metal salt is being burned. The internal energy makes the electrons in the metal atoms to go higher when burned, creating different colors for each metal salt. For example 125g of Cupric Chloride create the color blue and 100g of Lithium Chloride create the color red. Heres a great video that demonstrates this experiment .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8hpUtRnsYc
The experiment "Genie in a Bottle" is explained on the web page http://www.chem.umn.edu/outreach/Genie.html. To start off you will need to apply Manganese dioxide to a wet nap and tie it with a string. Next fill a litter bottle with a bit of Hydrogen peroxide. Secure the wet nap on topp of the bottle with a rubber stopper and then let it drop and open it. This experiment will produce steam to burst out of the bottle as if a genie were coming out. Here is a video demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q5bzHckSIM.
The experiment "Colored Flames" is explained step by step in the web page http://www.sciencecompany.com/sci-exper/flamecolors.htm. You start off by cleaning the Platinum or Nichrome wire used to conduct the experiment. The purpose of this is to prevent any contaminants from interfering with the experiment. Next, you test the experiment by placing a powdered chemical into a wired loop and placing it on top of a Bunsen burner. The effect of the experiment depends on what kind of metal salt is being burned. The internal energy makes the electrons in the metal atoms to go higher when burned, creating different colors for each metal salt. For example 125g of Cupric Chloride create the color blue and 100g of Lithium Chloride create the color red. Heres a great video that demonstrates this experiment .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8hpUtRnsYc
The experiment "Genie in a Bottle" is explained on the web page http://www.chem.umn.edu/outreach/Genie.html. To start off you will need to apply Manganese dioxide to a wet nap and tie it with a string. Next fill a litter bottle with a bit of Hydrogen peroxide. Secure the wet nap on topp of the bottle with a rubber stopper and then let it drop and open it. This experiment will produce steam to burst out of the bottle as if a genie were coming out. Here is a video demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q5bzHckSIM.
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