Pressure

      The main ideas we learned this week are pressure, and how volume, the number of particles, and temperature affects pressure. These main ideas connect because over this past week we were using volume, number of particles, and temperature to see how they affected pressure. Some important details were learning how to use a gas pressure sensor and learning how to use a data analyzing and graphing software called Logger Pro. We did three experiments this past week all involving pressure. The first one was Pressure vs. Volume, then Pressure vs. Number of Particles, and lastly Pressure vs. Temperature.

Graphs of Pressure vs. Volume, Number of Particles, and Temperature 

Experiment 1- Pressure vs. Volume
The first thing that we did was attach the gas pressure sensor to the Logger Pro interface. Then we changed the Logger Pro settings to fit the experiment. Then we put the syringe that was attached to the gas pressure sensor at 10mL. Then we clicked the green run button, and the wheel button that marked the point on the graph. We then repeated this process four more times making sure to only move the syringe by 2mL between each reading. When taking the reading it was important that we held the plunger very steady in order to get a accurate reading. For this process my group had two people taking the reading. One person was holding it still and the other was working the computer. We learned that Volume negatively affects pressure.

Gas pressure sensor and syringe

Experiment 2- Pressure vs. Number of Particles
The first thing that we did was attach the gas pressure sensor to the Logger Pro interface and set up the Logger Pro graph options just like in the Pressure vs. Volume experiment. To start we put the syringe at 5mL and hit the run button and the wheel to record the data. We the moved the syringe to 7mL and pushed it back down to 5mL and recorded it. We the repeated the steps three more times only moving the syringe up by two each time and then pushing it back down to five. It is important that you take out the syringe when changing the volume and then put it back in before you push it down to 5mL. You can also do lower volumes and bring them back up to five. We learned that number of particles positively affects pressure.

Experiment 3- Pressure vs. Temperature
The first thing we did after setting up the experiments like the past ones was to put a stopper in a flask, then put the flask in a 600mL beaker. Then we put a temperature probe in the beaker. Then we clicked the wheel button and this gave us the temperature reading of room temperature. Then we added hot water into the beaker to get a reading. To get an accurate reading in a liquid you have to make sure you swirl the flask in the liquid. You also have to wait to graph the reading until the temperature becomes stable in order to get an accurate reading. To get a warm reading pour out half of the hot water and then add slightly cool water to the hot water. To get the cold reading pour out all the water in the cup and add all cool water. Then we added a couple cubes of ice to get a temperature reading. To get the very cold reading you pour out all of the water and submerge the beaker in a tub of a frozen mixture of alcohol and water. This mixture's reading should be colder than the ice reading. We learned that temperature positively affects pressure.

Lab setup for Experiment 3

Reflection-
We came to know and understand the ideas we learned last week through experiments. I still have questions about why temperature affects pressure. I think my participation in class this past week was really good this week. I need to work on allowing other people to do the work and encouraging them to do be able to do the work without me. I would rate myself a 9 out of ten because I understand almost all of the concepts. I still need to work on reflecting more in my notebook about the experiments we do. My ideas have changed because now I know some of the variables that affect pressure.

Particles

     The main ideas we learned this past week were the states of matter and their energies. This week we focused on proving that particles move and that hot particles move faster than cold particles. These two main ideas go together because learning about particles helps us learn more about states of matter and their energies. Some important details of the main ideas are that the  three states of matter, solids liquids and gasses, move differently. Solids move in a constricted, aligned formation. Liquids move with more fluidity and then gas moves even more freely. We did two experiments this past week, one called The Popcorn Experiment and The Dye Experiment. We also watched a series of short videos on the particles of solids liquids and gasses.

  The Popcorn Experiment-
The popcorn experiment was an experiment to prove that particles or molecules moved. The first thing we did was have Dr. Finnan pop a bag of popcorn. Then he went into the corner of the room and opened the bag of popcorn. He told us to raise our hand when we smelled the popcorn. Since I was very close to Dr. Finnan and the popcorn bag I was one of the first people to smell the popcorn. Over time everyone in the class raised their hand. This proves that gas particles moved, because the gas particles moved from in the popcorn bag to across the classroom. To make sure the popcorn particles weren't being pushed by any outside forces Dr. Finnan closed the doors and turned the fan off. Because gas particles move so fast it allowed the smell to travel relatively quickly throughout the class room. Then my group white boarded the popcorn traveling around the room.

Our group's whiteboard representation of The Popcorn Experiment

 The Dye Experiment-
The Dye Experiment was an experiment to prove that particles or molecules that are heated move faster than particles that are cold. The first thing we did was fill to vials with green food coloring and two beakers with water. The first beaker should be filled with hot water and the second beaker should be filled with cold water. Then you put the green dye in both of the beakers. We noticed that the green dye in the beaker with the cold water mixed in slower that the beaker with the hot water. This proves that hot water particles move faster than cold water particles because the green dye mixed faster in the hot water. My group then white boarded the experiment. We used the technique called story board where we drew the representation of four different stages in the experiment.

Dye just added to hot and
 cold water

Our group's story board
 whiteboard representation 

Hot and cold water after given time to mix

 Reflection-
We came to know and understand the ideas we learned this week through experiments and watching short videos about the ideas we focused on in the experiments. I don't have any pressing questions this week because in previous science classes we learned about the stages of matter. I think my participation in class this week was very good. I think I was focused and on task. I would rate myself a 9 out of ten on the ideas we learned last week because I understand them very well.  My ideas have changed because now I know about the particle differences between solids, liquids and gasses.

Density and Thickness

        The main ideas that we learned this past week were density and thickness. These main ideas go together because the experiment we did with thickness had two different types of aluminum foil, and one was more dense than the other. Some important things to know about density are the different ways to find density. One way to find density is to use the formula density=mass divided by volume. You could also use the formula that Dr. Finnan taught us, and if you have a graph you could use the slope of the line as the density. We did two experiments this week to help us learn the material. We did a experiment called density of gas, and thickness of a thin layer was the other.

       Experiment 1- Density of gas
The goal for the density of gas experiment was to find the density of gas and find how it compared to the density of water that we already know is 1g/mL. In our previous Alka-Seltzer experiment we saw that there were bubbles of gas floating out of the water. This shows us that gas is less dense than water, but we want to know by how much. The first thing that we did in the experiment was put 3/4 of a Alka-Seltzer tablet in a mini cupcake liner and filled a plastic bottle with 40mL of water. We put the plastic bottle and liner on the scale and got the mass of 68.944g. After that we put the tablet in the bottle with the liner. This is where the liner is important.  It is important because it allows the tablet to not touch the water and not react. While the tablet is floating on top we gently screwed on the top. Once the top was secured we started to shake, and swirl the bottle to make the tablet react. When the tablet was reacting the gas that was produced from the Alka-Seltzer went out a tube and into a larger plastic bottle filled with colored liquid. The gas may tip over the plastic cup so it is important to hold the cup. After we saw no more bubbles we marked on a piece of tape where the gas ended. Then we poured the water out. Next, we filled up to the line with water and found the volume with a graduated cylinder. After that we took the smaller plastic bottle with the 40mL of water and measured its mass again. The mass that we found was 68.556g. In order to find the density of the gas we had to use the formula mass divided by volume. The mass was the first mass subtracted by the second which was .388g and the volume was the number we found on the graduated cylinder which was 225mL. We divided .388  by 225 and got 0.001724g/cm3 with the four repeating. Since the numbers we divided only had three sig figs the final density of air is 0.00172g/cm3. We compared with the class and found that air is almost 600 times less dense than water!

40mL of water and 3/4 of a
Alka- Seltzer tablet

Dropping tablet in

Finding the mass of the tablet and water

Gas bubbles as we stir

Marking where gas starts

Holding down bottle

Pouring out colored liquid

Finding mass after reaction

Finding volume of water up to gas line

Our class' data

       Experiment 2- The thickness of a thin layer
In this experiment we are trying to find the thickness of something without using a ruler.The goal of the experiment was to find the thickness of regular tin foil vs. heavy duty tin foil. To start we had two equal sized squares of both kinds of tin foil. Then we massed both of them. With the mass we could calculate the volume. We then measured the length and height of both squares. After that we divided the length and height from the volume for both. That how we found the thickness.

Mass of regular foil

Mass of heavy duty foil

Our math done on the whiteboard

       Reflection-
We came to know and understand the ideas we learned this week by doing experiments, comparing with the class and taking two quizzes. The two quizzes were on density and reading scales. I still have questions about where the gas in the Alka-Seltzer comes from and why after mixing it with water it loses mass. I think my participation in this week's activities and experiments was very good.  Myself and one other person in our table group did most of the work. I would rate myself an 9 on the ideas we learned in class last week. I still need to work on word problems with density, mass, and volume. My ideas have changed this week, because now I know so many ways to do the same thing. Now I can measure the thickness without a ruler, and now I know so many ways to find density. A new thing I have to think about is how to go about finding the thickness or density and how to do that the most efficient way possible.

Measuring Mass and Volume

         The main ideas that we learned this week were how to find the volume of a liquid in different containers, how to graph our results, and how to mass and find the volume of acrylic, aluminum, and steel. The main ideas connect with each other because all the experiments we did this we required us to find the mass and to find the volume. Also, for both of the experiments we had to graph our results. Some important
Experiment #1-
For experiment number one we had to take the volume of five different amounts of water with three different measuring tools. The three tools we had to use were a plastic rectangular box, a graduated cylinder, and a beaker. The differences between each tool are the box has no lines to measure volume so you have to calculate it by measuring, the graduated cylinder has very specific volume lines, and the beaker has less specific volume lines. The first step to the experiment is to pour an amount of water into your clear plastic box. To find the volume in the plastic box you have to find the width of both sides of the rectangle and the height of the water. The difficult part of this measuring portion is the ruler does not start at exactly zero and the rectangle sides and bottom have plastic areas were water does not fill. These issues cause variations in our classes data. Then you have to multiply the three measurements and that's your final volume. Your units should be cm3 because you multiplied three cm measurements together. The next step in the experiment is to pour the water from the box into a graduated cylinder. For this step it is important to be careful not to spill the water when pour or this will change your volume. Once the water is in the cylinder you read the lines and find the volume. You will notices there is a meniscus and you always measure from the bottom of the meniscus. After you have found the volume in the cylinder you pour the water carefully into the beaker where you do the same thing as you did with the graduated cylinder except for you have to make a rough estimate because the lines aren't as exact as the cylinder. The repeat the previous steps five times with different amounts of water. After finding the volumes of all five amounts of water and recording in our notebook we then graphed our results on a whiteboard. We had cm3 on the x axis and mL on the y axis. The next day we copied our graphs into our journals. The whole class had similar graphs.

Getting volume in
graduated cylinder.

Getting volume from rectangular
box

Our whiteboard graph of our data

Experiment #2-
For experiment number 2 we had to find the mass and volume of rods of different materials. The materials were steel, aluminium, and acrylic. There were three bags each filled with different sized rods of the three materials. The first thing we do is mass all of the rods and record them in our notebook. Since we had a very sensitive scale we had to be very still to get a accurate reading of the rods mass. After massing and recording the rods we then find their volume. To do this we filled a graduated cylinder with water checked it volume, put the rod in and then checked the volume again. To find the the volume of the rod u have to subtract the second volume from the first. This works because the water allows us to know how much space the rod is taking up. Then we recorded our volumes in our journal. The next step is to graph. For this graph we used a online program called Logger pro. We used Logger pro to put in a line of best fit and it also gave us the correlation and slope. The next day we printed out our graph and put it in our journal. Then we compared with the class. We compared the slope of the steel, aluminum,and acrylic graphs and we all have similar slopes besides two groups whose slopes were consistently too low.

Graduated cylinder for measuring
volume

Our classes data

My groups graph on Logger

Mass, Volume, Density worksheet-
In this worksheet we had to compare some rectangular figures. In the figures their are dots. These dots represent particles of matter. You then have to compare the mass, volume, and density of the figures. Then we shared with the class our answers on the white board. Surprisingly all whole class had the same answers for all of them.

Problem #1

Problem #2

Problem #3