Forensic Archaeology Lab

Today in class, we completed the forensic archaeology lab. In order to complete the lab, we had to cut out 567 squares, and simulate the process of half lives by dumping the squares out and removing the colored pieces of paper, representing decayed atoms. Then, the process was repeated 6 times in order to narrow the numbers down from 567 to about 12. The whole purpose of the lab was to correctly identify a fictional skeleton based on radioactive decay of the bones.

http://marionlocal.k12.oh.us/hs/studentwebs/2009-2010/MM/winner/CPChanges/PhysicalChanges.html

Next, we made a graph of our data in excel in order to show our results. The graph was very beneficial to me because it really helped me visualize the pattern of half lives and the severity of the drop off when half lives are accounted for.

Helpful links to reinforce knowledge of half lives:
HyperPhysics
Half Lives and Carbon Dating Video
Half Life basics

Radioactive Decay

Today in class, we learned about the three basic forms of radioactive decay: alpha, beta and gamma. The main difference between each type of radiation is their effect of the mass number and atomic number of the element. In alpha radiation, the mass  number is decreased by 4, and the atomic number is decreased by two; in beta radiation, the mass number is unaffected and the atomic number increases by one; in gamma radiation, neither the mass nor atomic number is affected due to the light energy that is given off in the gamma radiation. The basics of radiation are fairly easy for me to grasp, since there are only two big things that you have to remember for each type of radiation.

Beanium Lab

Today in class, we conducted the Beanium lab. The purpose of the lab was to determine the average atomic mass of a new element, Beanium. First, we divided up each of the isotopes of the Beanium into 4 groups; White, black, red and pinto. Then, we measured the mass of each isotope, then divided the total mass of each isotope by the number of atoms of the isotope present. Next, The average mass and percent abundance of each isotope was calculated, which gave us what we needed to find the average atomic mass of the Beanium. The average atomic mass that we calculated was .271g.

The total mass of the pinto isotope was 5.87g

Our sample was sample D, contain 42 Beanium atoms

Intro to Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Unit

Today in class, we learned about the basic theories of the first people to learn about atomic structure. These people included Dalton, Thomson and Rutherford. Each of the men contributed to the theory on atomic structure in a different way, yet all of them had very important ideas to what we think and know today. Today, I also learned about the Law of Constant Composition. This law requires that a specific compound always comes in the same ratio, or the proportion by mass.

Additionally, I learned of a new project that we are starting in class. The project is mainly about the composition of solar bodies, and a spectrum analysis of each. Space is a very interesting topic to me, so I am interested to learn about all of the solar bodies that I will be researching. Although this is another project, I think it will be much easier than the Frontier Chemistry Project, and it will definitely be more interesting.

Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Pretest

The pretest for the Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Unit was extremely difficult, as expected. Because I've never learned anything about the atomic structure or radioactivity in chemistry, I did not know the answer to the majority of the questions. However, I am excited to learn about these topics and class. Radioactivity is relevant to me, knowing how close our school is to a nuclear waste site. Also, I want to learn about the atomic structure of atoms because I really enjoy knowing how and why the atoms bond and how they work the way that they do. Although I expect this unit to be tougher than the previous one, I truly am excited to learn about this specific topic.

Final Thoughts about Nomenclature

The nomenclature unit was very beneficial to me. It taught me the basics of chemistry that I will be using all year long. Although the unit was pretty easy for me, I know that I will benefit greatly from this material. Knowing the polyatomic ions was probably the hardest part of the unit for me, but the result of knowing them will yield me great results in the future. Also, the Frontier Chemistry Project was along project. I learned a lot about native plants, but it took me forever to complete it. Procrastinating on the project was a terrible idea, and doing a majority of the project the night before it was due is not recommended. Writing out the information about all of the plants probably took the longest to complete, and the hardest part was finding all of the information throughout the book and on the internet. Overall, the Nomenclature unit was a great way to kick off the year.

First thing I learned in Nomenclature

The first thing that I learned in the Nomenclature unit was how to name Type I Binary compounds.  Type I compounds include both a metal cation and a nonmetal anion. The cation is always positively charged, and the anion is negatively charged. We learned the periodic table and how to classify the cations and anions. At first, I believed that this would be a tough unit, but it turned out to be relatively easy to name Type I compounds. There are only two elements in each compound, so the names tended to be obvious.