The Odyssey

Yesterday, we gathered in the Chemistry Lab for two experiments. We have 5 facilitators, who are from Temasek Junior College, out of which 3 are our seniors from the SPARKS programme. They guided us throught the 2 experiments.
1st experiment:
We were to determine the presence or absence of sugar in a sample of Coca Cola and Coca Cola Zero. We were given two cups each, X and Y. We were to drink each cup and predict which cup contains Coca Cola and which cup contains Coca Cola Zero. I predicted that Sample X is Coca Cola Zero while Sample Y is Coca Cola. WE conducted an experiemnt which involved heating and the pouring of the Benedict Solution. After several minutes of boiling, the colour of Sample X did not change while the colour of Sample Y changed, turning from brown to reddish orange. My predictions turned out to be right!! I've learnt that Coca Cola Zero contains less sugar than Coca Cola, but still, it is unhealthy for us.

2nd experiment:
We were to compare the calorie content in healthy and unhealthy food. We were given 3 samples:
Peanuts
Cereal
Tidbits (Roller Coaster)
First, we have to record the initial temperature of water in the test tube. Then we were to burn the peanuts first, before placing the burning peanut in an evaporating dish under the test tube. We then recorded down the highest temperature reached. We were to repaeat these steps for cereal and tidbits. Due to time constraint, I was unable to complete the experiment on cereals. The facilitators told us that the temperature change in water for peanuts and tidbits should have a higher change than cereal as they are more unhealthy than creals.
From this experiment, I've learnt that having a higher change in the tempeature of water means that the food is burning off lots of oil which determines that the food is unhealthy. I think that these experiments are really interesting ways to find out about healthy and unhealthy food. I do hope that we are able to conduct such experiments in the future!!

Yeah!! Finally post a post on the same day as Science lesson!! Ok, let's focus on today's lesson. Basically, today was not really a lesson. Mdm Riza gave out info sheets which contains what our assessment consists of and the marking rubrics for the posts in the discussion forum on the GROUPS page. We were in the Living lab again and we used the laptops to enter our blogs. Mdm Riza went from table to table to view our blogs and giving comments. Ok, that's the end for today's lesson. So short....

Yesterday, the lesson was held in the Living lab. We had to make predicitions before an experiment was conducted. Only that we are watching a video of an experiment as Mdm Riza said it was too dangerous to conduct live. The experiment was about dropping 5 metals at a time belonging to the 1st group of the Periodic Table into a water trough. The 5 metals are:
-lithium
-sodium
-potassium
-rubidium
-caesium
We were to predict what would happen when lithium was dropped into the water. I predicted that the metal would rust and sink as i thought all metals rust. (What ignorant thinking!) However, when the video was played, the lithium did not sink and rust. Instead, it produced a bright spark before zooming everywhere on the surface of the water, like a full-speed motorboat. It also produced a gas. I learnt that not all metals rust and that when some metals come into contact with water, they produce gases.

*As each metal was dropped in according to the order above, the spark produced increased in the intensity of light and more smoke was produced each time. A hissing sound could be heard each time the metals are dropped in.

Yesterday, we gathered at the Science laboratory for our Science lesson. We were to conduct two experiments in pairs. I worked with Mingze for the experiments. Mdm Riza briefed us on what we need to do during our experiments before giving the green light for us to begin our experiments.
The first experiment required us to burn magnesium and observe what happens before and after the burning of magnesium. We wore goggles to protect our eyes and we were to look away during the burning of magnesium for the magnesium would produce a bright spark. After the magnesium burned, we observed the current state of it. At first, the magnesium was silver in colour. After the experiment, the magnesium had turned white and powdery.
The second experiment required us to observe what happens when a glowing tip of a wooden stick after burned is placed at the tip of a boiling tube contaning a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and manganese. I added two spatulas of manganese into a boiling tube half filled with hydrogen peroxide. Once the manganese came into contact with the hydrogan peroxide, the liquid began bubbling. After a while, the bubbling stopped. I capped the boiling tube with a stopper while Mingze lit the tip of the wooden stick. Once the stick caught fire, Mingze blew the flame out to leave a the tip glowing. I immediately uncapped the boiling tube and Mingze placed the glowing tip at the mouth of the tube. Nothing happened.
We decided to add more hydrogen peroxide and manganese so that the boiling tube was about three-quarter filled. Mingze lit the tip of the wooden stick and again, after blowing the flame out, placed the tip at the mouth of the boiling tube. This time, the glowing tip brightened and miraculously, lit up!! Mdm Riza told us that this was supposed to be the outcome of our experiment. I was so happy that we had succeeded that i acted a little silly. We completed the worksheet based on the experiments and there, our mission was accomplished!!
I've learnt that when elements are mixed to form a compound, they don't retain their original properties. The new compound gains new properties.

Thursdays are living-lab days so our Science lesson was held at the living lab. On that day, we began our journey into compounds. Mdm Riza would conduct 2 experments but before she does that, each of us were supposed to predict what would happen when 2 liquids/substances mixed. The first experiment required iron filings to be added to copper(II) sulfate solution. Everyone wrote down their predictions and minutes later, Mdm Riza carried out the experiment. The end result was that the iron filings sank to the bottom of the test tube and hardened. Some of our predictions were right while others were wrong. We then had to record our observations down.
The second experiment required the aqueous potassium idiode to be added to lead(II) nitrate. Again, everyone wrote down their predictions before Mdm Riza carried out the experiment. The end result was that when the two colorless liquids mixed, they formed a yellow substance. The surface of this new substance was yellow liquid whereas the bottom of this substance contained yellow powder. Everyone recorded down thier observations before the lesson ended.

On that day, the class was split into 5 groups:
-The Protons Experts
-The Nucleus and Neutrons Experts
-The Electrons Experts
-Atomic Number Experts
-Mass Number Experts

I belong to the Nulceus and Neutrons Experts. We were supposed to present on what we have found out based on our groupings. So the Nucleus and Neutrons Experts moved to one part of the lab to share on our research. Just as the saying goes "Ladies First", the girls presented first. Some were pretty shy and merely showed us the slides. Some were more talkative, reading chunks out of the slides.
The boys were next to present. I hadn't prepared my slides then, so I did not present. Most of the other boys were pretty chatty and were able to present their slides pretty confidently. Some boys were more soft-spoken and, like some of the girls, just showing us the slides without going through what were on the slides. This felt like a tour, going from computer to computer viewing different slides. Most of the slides contained similar information as we were researching on the same topic "Nucleus and Neutrons".
Some people can learn to be more confident on presenting but overall, the presentation session was pretty enjoyable.

welcome to my blog!! i will be updating this blog after every science lessons, which would be about thrice a week..