Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Week 3 Post #2

Today was the unit test. I walked into the classroom feeling stressed and unprepared, but I actually felt better after the test was over. It took me most of the hour to complete it but I feel like I did well. Some of the questions I recognized from the pre-test we took before this unit and some I recognized from our last quiz. Last night I had a major study session over everything we've learned so far and I had to teach myself about chapter 19.3 which we didn't go over in class. 😁 I was the most worried about that, but luckily there wasn't a whole lot of questions pertaining to chapter 19.3 on the test. Whew! Well here we go onto the next whirlwind chapter of chemistry, unfortunately, I don't think this is ever going to stop.

Nomenclature review

What's a Geiger counter?

Alpha and Beta Decay

Half-Life Practice Problems

Gamma Decay

Radioactive Decay Practice Problems

Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Week 3 Post #1

Yesterday in class we started the Dating-Radioactive Style Lab. We had to cut up pieces of paper and then shake them around in a plastic cup and then dump them out and separate the pieces that landed colored side up from the ones that landed white side up. The pieces that landed colored side up were set off to the side, while the white side up pieces went back in the cup,  Then, the process began all over again. We repeated this 6 times. The purpose of this lab was to learn about half-life and how radioactive dating can help scientists dating past crimes. Today in class we learned how to graph our data in a Microsoft Excel document, and then answered the post-lab questions that were posed to us about the experiment. The lab was slightly confusing at first, but once I understood the concept it was relatively easy and I liked it because I got to practice how to calculate half-life.

Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Week 2 Post #2

The lecture in class was difficult for me to understand and hard to follow, at times. Last night, I read over chapter 3.2-3.4 and took notes which really helped to clear up my confusion. Now I understand the scientists and their theories much better, and the vocab terms like atomic number, mass number, and isotopes are much clearer to me. Now off the top of my head I can determine, describe,and find mass number and atomic number. Atomic number is equal to the number of protons in a nucleus, and is represented by the A in the A over Z and then element symbol equation. While mass number is the sum of the number of protons and number of neutrons in a nucleus, and is represented by the Z in the A over Z and then element symbol equation. The book work problems we were assigned on page 87 were also very beneficial to me and I was able to test myself on how well I really knew the information.

Atomic Mass

Mass Number

Atomic Number

Average Atomic Mass Practice Problems

Atomic and Mass Number Practice Problems

Isotopes

Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Week 2 Post #1

Today we did the beanium lab during class. We were given White beanium, Black beanium, Red beanium, and Pinto beanium. Then we had to find the number of atoms of each isotope present, the total mass of all the isotopes, the the average mass for each isotope, and the percent abundance of each isotope. Once we found the average mass per isotope and the percent abundance per isotope, we used that information to find the average atomic mass. In order to do that, you multiply the the average mass of one isotope by the percent abundance of that isotope and add it to the next isotope average mass multiplied by its percent abundance.
I really enjoyed this lab, it was easy and fun, and it also helped me learn how to calculate average mass and percent of abundance of isotopes. It was also good practice for finding the average atomic mass for beanium.

Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Week 1 Post #2

In today's lecture we learned a lot about scientists and their theories on Atomic Structure and Radioactivity. Most of the scientists got some characteristics wrong because certain things had yet to be discovered. Though as time progressed the scientists' theories became more and more accurate. We also learned about the Law of Constant Composition, which states that a given compound always has the same composition, regardless of where it comes from. This law was established by a scientist named Dalton. J.J. Thomson, another scientist, created the plum pudding model, also known as the chocolate cookie model.  It states that electrons are embedded in a positively charged spherical "cloud", much like chocolate chips are embedded in the cookie dough.


Dalton's Atomic Theory

Rutherford's Experiment

Thomson's Theory  

Dalton's theory flashcards

Thomson's flashcards

Rutherford's theory flashcards

Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Week 1 Post #1

9/15: Today we took our pre-test for the Atomic Structure and Radioactivity unit. I knew hardly nothing on the pre-test, so it looks like this unit will be entirely new information for me. I recognized some terms like alpha-decay and beta-decay but I don't know what they mean. I also recognized half-life as something we had learned in physical science, but I don't remember anything about it or how to find it. Hopefully the text focus assigned to us tonight, and the lecture tomorrow will help clear up my confusion.