Blog Reflection 12/16/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao

In the past week, we learned about thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is a very important topic in chemistry. Some important ideas about thermodynamics are the first and second law of thermodynamics, standard state conditions, enthalpy, heat of formation, bond energy, hess’s law, heat capacity, specific heat, entropy, and gibbs free energy. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can only be converted and not destroyed; the energy in the universe is constant. The second law of thermodynamics states that if a process is spontaneous in one direction, it can not be spontaneous in the reverse direction. Standard state conditions are used for state functions: enthalpy change, entropy change, and free energy energy. The conditions are that all gases are at 1 atmosphere pressure, all liquids are pure, all solids are pure, all solutions are at 1 M concentration, and usually the temperature is 25 or 298 kelvin.  Enthalpy change is a measure of the energy released or absorbed by the substance; when bonds are formed, energy is released, and when bonds are broken, energy is being absorbed. It is calculated by the formula: Enthalpy change= Enthalpy change in products- Enthalpy of products- Enthalpy of reactants. Heat of formation is the change in energy when one mole of a compound is formed from its component pure elements under standard state conditions(usually at 25C). Bond energy is the energy required to break a bond- it is always an endothermic reaction. Hess’s Law states that if a reaction can be describes as a series of steps, then the enthalpy change for the overall reaction is simply the sum of the enthalpy change for the entire process. Heat capacity is how much the temperature of an object is raised when it absorbs heat. A high heat capacity would mean that by absorbing a large amount of heat would result in a smaller change in temperature. Specific heat is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of substance one degree celsius. Entropy is a measure of the “randomness” of a substance. If there are more particles or the particles have more kinetic energy, then it would have more entropy compared to a substance that has less particles and less kinetic energy. Gibbs free energy is a way to measure the spontaneity of a process. This could also be said as measuring how thermodynamically favored a process is. All of these important concepts link together so that reactions can be better understood and so people know how energy behaves.

Many activities allowed me to have a good understanding of thermodynamics. There was a precipitation lab that made students learn about the behaviors of compounds and the characteristics of them. We would test each substance and observe the reaction it had with other substances. Also, whiteboarding helped greatly. I learned a lot from discussing with my table.

I would say my participation was very good. I activity asked questions and I answered some questions from my tablemates. I would rate my participation as a 10/10. My good participation lead me to have a pretty good understanding too. I would rate my understanding as a 9/10. I still am very confused when it comes to things that have to do with equations. I fully understand the other concepts like entropy and or gibbs free energy, but a chemical equation always seems to confuse me. I think I need to rewatch the lectures that have to do with the chemical equations. Then I should do some practice questions that are online or something.

Overall, I have learned a lot from last week. I know a ton about thermodynamics now. I can tell which way energy or heat is going in many everyday processes, like heating a cup of water. It is very cool understanding how basic things in daily works. Now I just want to understand how to use chemical equations to calculate properties from simple reactions. I am still pretty confused on doing that.

Blog Reflection; Week of 10/7/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao

In the past week, we finished learning all the material needed in the trimester. We took the test about intermolecular forces (properties of solids and liquids determined by the intermolecular forces and the structure; the role of bonding in vapor; and Lattice energy). Also we started to focus on the brass lab and got the first lab returned. A better idea of lab reports was given to us since the brass lab is due on monday.

On monday we reviewed for tuesday’s test about intermolecular forces: solids and liquids are both determined by the type molecules it has and the intermolecular bonding. Solids can be a Covalent network solid, Molecular solid, and and metallic solid. Covalent network solid is when the molecules are covalently bonded to each to each other to form a strong and hard to break bond. Molecular solids are covalent molecules that are held with london dispersion forces, thus, they are not very strong. Metallic solids are when the molecules split so that the cations are surrounded by a “sea” of anions. Liquids are very different from solids. Liquids are when molecules spread out instead of being in a clump. Their viscosity is determined by the intermolecular forces: the greater the intermolecular force, the greater the viscosity. Vapor pressure is the pressure the vapor of a substance exerts. The vapor is from the molecules that can “fall out” of the liquid because the molecules are just moving around randomly. Vapor pressure and boiling point are inversely related. Lattice energy is about the energy to separate the ions in ionic bonds. The energy depends on the charge and size of the ions. The greater the charge is away from 0 and the smaller the ion is, the greater the lattice energy is. This makes sense because bigger charges and smaller ions means more attraction.

The ideas add up learned last week not only ended the information need for the trimester, but also it summed up and organized all the ideas learned before now. I know now the importance of periodic trends and bonds in everyday life because I learned about it.

The learning heavily enforced by class activities like pogils, whiteboarding, and discussions. I enjoyed working with my group because they helped me alot. I think asking questions and getting them answered helped me the most.

I would say my participation was a 9/10 because I actively asked questions and worked well with my group. We had very nice discussions that helped greatly. My understanding is about a 8/10. I sometimes do not remember my polyatomics and periodic trends. I still need to study more about bonding in general, I think I don’t a few key details that contribute to some confusion. Maybe I need relook at the powerpoints.

Overall, my understanding of bonding, and chemistry in general, definitely has gotten better. I now know about intermolecular bonds, intramolecular bonds, and much more. I like how knowing this explains the properties of daily things like water and sugar. I now think about everything by their chemical and physical properties.

Blog Reflection; Week of 11/3/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao

In the past week, we finished learning about bonds (since the test is next tuesday or monday). We learned about the properties of solids and liquids determined by the intermolecular forces and the structure; the role of bonding in vapor; and Lattice energy.

Solids and Liquids are both determined by the type molecules it has and the intermolecular bonding. Solids can be a Covalent network solid, Molecular solid, and and metallic solid. Covalent network solid is when the molecules are covalently bonded to each to each other to form a strong and hard to break bond. Molecular solids are covalent molecules that are held with london dispersion forces, thus, they are not very strong. Metallic solids are when the molecules split so that the cations are surrounded by a “sea” of anions. Liquids are very different from solids. Liquids are when molecules spread out instead of being in a clump. Their viscosity is determined by the intermolecular forces: the greater the intermolecular force, the greater the viscosity.

Vapor pressure is the pressure the vapor of a substance exerts. The vapor is from the molecules that can “fall out” of the liquid because the molecules are just moving around randomly. Vapor pressure and boiling point are inversely related.

Lattice energy is about the energy to separate the ions in ionic bonds. The energy depends on the charge and size of the ions. The greater the charge is away from 0 and the smaller the ion is, the greater the lattice energy is. This makes sense because bigger charges and smaller ions means more attraction.

All these ideas add up to form a better knowledge about intermolecular bonding, or the bonding/ attractive forces between molecules. They tell the main ideas of compounds: the melting points, the boiling points, the strength, and the structure.

These experiments were heavily enforced by class activities like pogils, whiteboarding, and discussions. I enjoyed working with my group because they helped me alot. I think asking questions and getting them answered helped me the most.

I would say my participation was a 9/10 because I actively asked questions and worked well with my group. We had very nice discussions that helped greatly. However, I my understanding is about a 7/10 still. I am not too sure about where the molecules bond with each other. I sometimes see molecules that doesn’t seem to have a place to bond. For example, how would water molecules bond with each other in water? Would the oxygen bond to another hydrogen or something? I am very confused about this.

I still need to study more about bonding in general, I think I don’t a few key details that contribute to some confusion. Maybe I need relook at the powerpoints.

Overall, my understanding of bonding definitely has gotten better. I now know about intermolecular bonds instead of just intramolecular bonds. I like how knowing this explains the properties of daily things like water and sugar. I now think about molecules in a bigger picture.

Yay! My guess was right!

Blog Reflection; Week of 10/27/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao

In the past week, we dived deeper into bonds.This included learning about the special properties of the bonds like melting points and strength. Also, the unique properties of ice were taught from models about skating. Another important idea was the types of bonds: Network covalent bonds and metallic bonds. Network bonds is when atoms are held together by a lattice of covalent bonds. The electrons are held in place and cannot move. In a metallic bond, it is basically a group of nuclei surrounded by a sea of mobile electrons. Also, I learned about van der waals forces. There are dipole dipole forces, london dispersion forces, and hydrogen bonds.  Dipole dipole forces is when the the molecules connect a positive end to the negative end so it must be polar. London Dispersion forces occur between non polar molecules. LDFs are not very strong. Hydrogen bonds are like dipole dipole even more strong. The pogils and packets and the book all really helped my understanding of bonds. I really liked how the packets take me step by step and If I have a question I can ask my table group.

All these ideas about ionic bonds can be connected by the different ideas I learned already like the different charges or the periodic trends. The earlier lectures and activities all greatly help me come to a understanding of the ideas this week because it established a good base for it. Thus, I rate the difficulty regarding last week about a 7/10. This is because it was challenging, but not such much that it can't be learned. I still wonder why hydrogen bonds and LDF work because they don’t make too much sense to me.Since that this my only question from last week, I'd say that my understanding is 9.5/10.

    Likewise, my participation was a good 9.5/10 too. I asked question and actively learned. Because of my good participation, my understanding was good.

    I feel fairly confident in memorization capabilities for learning bonds.  But, I still need to work on memorizing on all the visualizations because I sometimes forget. For example, I don’t really get the sea of electrons too much. The concepts taught in last week have made me feel more confident about covalent bonds. I now know the concepts a lot more clearly and I know how to find all the important properties.

    Overall, the past week has been great. I learned a lot. Activities such as worksheets and white boarding greatly helped my understanding and development. I loved the time with groups to work together because it allowed interaction with each other. I feel like this helped me the most.

Blog Reflection; Week of 10/20/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao

We learned about the other type of bonds in the past week, ionic bonds. Ionic bonds are bonds that are made of atoms that aren’t metals so they are nonmetals like hydrogen or carbon or oxygen. Also, ionic bonds can include polyatomics. Before learning about ionic bonds on thursday, there were review days for lewis structures and ionic bonding, a test day, a mole day, and a pretest day. So, we didn’t get very in depth on ionic bonds yet. However, there were still a lot of material covered: Ionic bonds are when atoms give up or receive electrons instead of sharing them like ionic bonds. They strength of bonds depends on the size (larger atoms=weaker bonds) and the energy level (higher the energy level= greater the melting point and strength).

So far, there were only 2 pogils about ionic bonding. The pogils were fairly easy for me, but this was because ionic bonds were taught in ACIS 2 and the pogils were just introducing us to the topic. I remember in ACIS 2 there were a ton of pogils and activities dedicated to ionic bonds so it is okay if I know some background information about ionic bonds.I still learned about the bond strength from the pogils so it was still very valuable.

My participation was very good last week, maybe a 10/10. I participated, especially on mole day’s jokes, every day. Because of this I think my understanding on ionic bonds are really good-10/10. I am very confident about my chemistry ability right now, but I sure this will change once more complex topics about ionic bonds are introduced. However, I am still a bit confused on how the number of orbitals affect ionic bonds. So I need to work on that more.

I wonder if atoms with 7 valence electrons could give up 7 electrons because I never did that before. I would think that it is not possible, but I don’t know for sure. For example, could chloride give up 7 electrons to have an octet as an alternative to gaining 1 electron?

After this week, my views on ionic bonding has changed because I now think of the bond strength and the melting points. I also can quickly think of the charges and valence of electrons of different element based on the group in the periodic table

Blog Reflection; Week of 10/13/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao hour
In the past week, we did and learned many things. Some significant ideas we learned were about bonding, and the calculations involved with it.  I learned that:

- There are two types of bonds, ionic and covalent

- Ionic bonds don’t share electrons. One atom gives an electron to another to fulfill the octet rule.

- Covalent bonds share electrons to fulfill the octet rule.

- Polarity is if the electrons are closer to one atom compared to another

- Dipole moment is the measure of Polarity

- Lewis dot structures are a model of the molecules and their bonds. free electrons are dots and the bonds are lines. If there are more than three atoms then the most electronegative one is in the middle

- Resonance forms are the different types of one molecule

- Incomplete octets are when the atom has less than 8 valence electrons. Be can have only 4, B can only have 6

- Expanded Octets are when the atoms with the d level can have more than 8.

-Molecular geometries are the shape of the molecules. sp with 2 bonds is 180 degrees and is linear. sp2 is 120 degrees and 3 bonds is trigonal planar and 1 free electron pair is bent. sp3 is 109.5 degrees and can be a tetrahedral, trigonal pyramidal (1 free pair), or bent ( 2 free pairs).

-Formal charges are the total charge of an atoms.

All of them are very connected. Resonance forms can be look at through using formal charges to determine which is more likely. Also all of these ideas can be traced back to lewis structures, especially the octet rule and the exceptions.

These ideas all are very important to chemistry. After doing the all the activities like Learning these ideas was so-so regarding difficulty. I felt that learning them was challenging, but not so hard that I don't get it. The lectures, lecture quizzes, class discussions, and the lab all greatly helped my understanding of these key ideas. The most challenging part was finding the the molecular geometries.. However, working in groups allowed me to learn how to find the mass. Now, I almost fully understand the material taught for the past week; I would rate it about a 9.5/10. The thing I have a question about from last week is about the d level and how name hybridizations with the d level. My participation in the past week also greatly helped my understanding because I learned many new things by participating and asking questions. I would rate my participation a 9.5/10 too. My only question is why some atoms have special exceptions and other do not.

       After this week, my thoughts on molecules changed. In the past, I would never think about the shape, but now i do. This is because I learned new ideas through the lectures, lecture quizzes, class discussions that we did. Each of the activities added to my knowledge and the result was me understanding about all of the required material.

Blog Reflection; Week of 10/6/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao hour 1

     We dove deeper in Lewis structures last week- even deeper than the week before! I didn't know Lewis structures could be so complicated from a simple idea of charting the valence electrons in bonds. But, there was much more to learn about Lewis structures. There were ideas of formal charges, resonance structures, bond order, and polarity. Formal charges described the charge of the atom which greatly helping in figuring out the most "correct" resonance structures. Resonance structures were the possible structures for one molecule because the double bonds, single bonds, and triple bonds could be moved around and the octet rule would still be fulfilled. Bond order was the the number of bonds between the two atoms bonding together. So if there was 1 bond, there would be a bond order of 1. Polarity was the concept that if the electron are equally shared. This means that polarity is if the electrons are pulled more closer to one atom than the other. Polarity depends on the electronegativity because electronegativity is the atoms ability to pull electrons. If one atom was more electronegative, then it would pull more electrons towards it. All these ideas add up to form a more complete idea of Lewis structures.
     I greatly enjoyed the pogils in the past week. Without them, I would be very confused about the Lewis structures. The group time and and white board discussions resolved most of my confusions with the concepts. I also like the balloon lab because It helped me understand how to visualize the bonds and the geometrical name for the molecules. The ideas learned in the past week added on the the cumulative knowledge from the past about Lewis structures.
     I would rate my understanding from last week about a 8/10 because I still do not understand everything fully. I know the basics of every idea but I am very confused when we dive deeper into those topics. For example, I get the basics of naming the molecules, but I do not get which one is which. I feel the the naming purely based on the shapes is really subjective and I do not know if what I think the correct name. I still wonder about the differences between all the names like a bipyramidal and just a pyramidal compared to a triangle. I believe that if I get more experience working. My participation was a 8/10 too because I was very sleepy for one day and I had to miss Friday because of a Tennis tournament. I think 8/10 isn't too bad, but it definitely can be improved. Now, I'm wondering if there are even more concepts involved in Lewis structures. There has already been so many concepts involved in Lewis structures!

These are two pictures that summarize two important concepts learned in the past week: resonance structures and naming the shapes of molecules.
 

   

Blog Reflection; Week of 9/29/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao hour 1

     In the past week, we learned more about Lewis structures from the introduction given at the end of last week. There was also some important information gained from the %mass of copper in bronze lab. The important ideas I learned were:
~Lewis structure diagrams - a way to chart the atoms, their bonds, and their electrons.
~Hypervalency- when the atom can have more than 8 valence electrons. Doesn't follow octet rule
~ The Octet Rule- most atoms except a few wants 8 electrons in their outer most shell. They are valence electrons
~ The Duet Rule- like the octect rule, atoms like hydrogen only wants 2 valence electrons. This is an exception.
~ Valence electrons- electrons that occupy the outer most shell of an atom. These are the main electrons used in atoms and reactions
~Ionic bonds- Bonds where the atoms give each other valence electrons until the octect rule is fulfilled
~Covalent bonds- Bonds where the atoms share the valence electrons
~Absorbance is the amount of a certain wavelength of light absorbed by a solution. It is related to transmittance by the beer's law; Absorbance = -log (percent transmittance/100)

     All these ideas were acquired from the lecture quizzes, pogils, and class activities that we did. All the these activities greatly helped me because working as a group helped me learn more. If one person didn't know, others could help. If no one knows, then we can always ask dr finnan. It was also great because the ideas came together as one like how the valence electrons, covalent and ionic bonds, and the octet rule related to Lewis diagrams. This is because all them are needed in order to draw the Lewis diagram. For example, Valence electrons are the little dots around the atoms in the Lewis diagram.
     The lab of copper in brass taught me about the behavior and relationships of light and color to the % concentration or composition. It was very similar to the concentration and transmitted light lab, where I learned that Absorbance, Concentration, Transmittance, Spectrophotometry and Molarity was important.
     Although I learned a lot from the activities, I still have much more to learn. Learning these ideas was so-so regarding difficulty. I felt that learning them was challenging, but not so hard that I don't get it. The lectures, lecture quizes, class disscussions, and the lab all greatly helped my understanding of these key ideas. The most challenging part was the lewis diagrams and the lab itself.
     I rate the difficulty regarding last week about a 7/10. This is because it was challenging, but not such much that it can't be learned. I still wonder about the more complicated ideas of lewis structures and atomic structures. I also do not understand how the molecules are named (we did this on Friday with the balloon activity. With all these question from last week, I'd say that my understanding is 8/10.
     However, my participation was a good. I would rate it 9.5/10. I asked question and actively learned. Because of my good participation, my understanding was good. 
     I feel fairly confident in my math capabilities for calculations with the valence electrons and such.  But, I still need to work on memorizing all the little rules for lewis diagrams that are very complicated to me. I might also need to slow down while doing my calculations because I sometimes make silly mistakes. For example, I sometimes count the wrong number of valence electrons or put the incorrect number of valence electrons. The concepts taught in last week have made me feel more confident about Lewis diagrams.  Also, I need to remember to always double check my work because then it should help greatly for fixing silly errors
     I still want to learn how to name the molecules because I was very confused on how to name them. I think I need work on the pogils more by thinking everything through clearly.
    Overall, the past week has been great. I learned a lot, including everything that has to do with Lewis structures and atomic structure.. Activities such as worksheets and white boarding greatly helped my understanding and development. I loved the time with groups to work together because it allowed interaction with each other. I feel like this helped me the most. I hope next week is just as great!

Blog Reflection; Week of 9/22/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao hour 1

    In the past week, we changed topics from stoichiometry to Lewis structures. The first half of the week was all review from the stoichiometry ideas we learned the week before, which included doing stoichiometry with limiting reactants, stoichiometry with calculating the yield, and Empirical Formulas. On Thursday and Friday, the Lewis structure was taught. The stoichiometry ideas was related to each other because they all involved the same calculations and conversions, as described in my last blog post. The Lewis structure, which was a very new concept, is so far by itself. I did not see any connections of Lewis structure to anything that was taught these past weeks (excluding the basic chemistry ideas like the periodic table ideas and atom structure). However, I did learn some very important details for the Lewis diagram. I learned that the diagram depended on the number of the valence electrons and the element/molecule being drawn.
     What really helped me a lot was the pogils done in class. I worked with my tablemates and we talked about the important ideas. When someone didn't get an idea, others would teach them. Since students usually understand other students very well (because  students have same type of tone and not super scientific language), the ideas were taught quickly too. Excluding the pogil, lectures, and powerpoints, I also learned from outside sources. I found chemistry.about.com really helpful too. I read that "A Lewis structure is a type of shorthand notation. Atoms are written using their element symbols. Lines are drawn between atoms to indicate chemical bonds. Single lines are single bonds. Double lines are double bonds. Triple lines are triple bonds. " which summed up everything really quickly.
     Overall, my understanding of the Lewis diagram is still about a 5/10. I get the core concepts a bit, but I do not get many things about it. It may because I forgot some stuff about valence electrons. I want to know where to put the dots (valence electrons) around the atom. I need to work on understanding Lewis diagrams more. I think some more online resource searching will help me. Although my understanding is a 5/10, I would say my participation is good, maybe a 9/10.
     After this week, I learned a little bit more about stoichiometry but I learned mostly about Lewis diagrams. The Lewis diagram, although the idea still a bit foggy in my head, is the diagram of the valence electrons of a molecule or atom. Now, after last week, I am thinking about the relationship of valence electron to other properties like conductivity and reactivity.

 <------lewis diagram for chlorine

chemistry.about.com for Lewis diagrams: http://chemistry.about.com/od/generalchemistry/a/lewisstructures.htm

Blog Reflection; Week of 9/15/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao hour 1
     In the past week, we dived deeper into stiochiometry. This included doing stoichiometry with limiting reactants and calculating the yield. Also, Empirical Formulas was taught. Stoichiometry with limiting reactants was calculated by doing the conversion from the limiting reactant to the final product. Since that reactant was the one limiting, the result for that one is taken. Also, for questions that the limiting reactant is not given, you need to calculate the final mass of the product for all reactants. Then, the  reactant that resulted in the lowest mass of the product would be the limiting reactant. Stoichiometry 3 through Stiochiometry 7 all greatly helped my understanding of limiting reactants. Stiochiometry 8 taught the yield of of reactions. This meant finding doing the actual yield divided by the theoretical yield. It is important the the yield in % is not above 100. Empirical Formulas, taught by Empirical Formulas 1 sheet, was the the simplest ratio among the elements of a compound. It is found by first making all the percentages into grams by making  the total mass 100g. Then with the mass, convert it into moles and divide the moles by the smallest amount. With the numbers that result, use them as the coefficients for the ratio. 
     All these ideas all use stoichiometry. They require conversions from mass to moles or moles to mass. They are all very similar but just a little bit different. However, I found that I understood the concepts very well because I had a good knowledge of stoichiometry. The earlier stoichiometry lectures and activities all greatly help me come to a understanding of the ideas this week because it established a good base for it. Thus, I rate the difficulty regarding last week about a 7/10. This is because it was challenging, but not such much that it can't be learned. I still wonder why that the yield is always supposed to be lower than 100%. I only know that its supposed to be, not why so much. I think it might be because that the reactants all don't fully react. Since that this my only question from last week, I'd say that my understanding is 9.5/10.
     Likewise, my participation was a good 9.5/10 too. I asked question and actively learned. Because of my good participation, my understanding was good. 
     I feel fairly confident in my math capabilities for doing stoichiometry calculations  But, I still need to work on memorizing to slow down while doing my calculations because I sometimes make silly mistakes. For example, I didn't use significant digits once by accident. The concepts taught in last week have made me feel more confident about stoichiometry. I now know the concepts a lot more clearly and I know how to calculate equations with limiting reactants.  Also, I need to remember to always write down units, no matter if its the answer or during calculations. This should help greatly for fixing silly errors.
    Overall, the past week has been great. I learned a lot, including: stoichiometry with limiting reactants, stoichiometry with yield, and empirical formulas. Activities such as worksheets and white boarding greatly helped my understanding and development. I loved the time with groups to work together because it allowed interaction with each other. I feel like this helped me the most. I hope next week is just as great!

empirical formulas- good information from website!

Blog Reflection; Week of 9/8/13

Blog Reflection by Raymond Zhao hour 1
     In the past week, we did and learned many things. Some significant ideas we learned were about Molarity, Stoichiometry, Absorbance, Transmittance, Concentration, Spectrophotometry, and the calculations involved with all the ideas.  I learned that:
-Molarity means moles/1 liter and it is unit for Concentration. Molarity was used in the lab we did about Concentration and transmitted light
-Stoiciometry is a branch in chemistry that involves balancing the chemical equation by alerting the coefficients of the reactants and products
-Absorbance is the amount of a certain wavelength of light absorbed by a solution. Is is related to transmittance by the beer's law; Absorbance = -log (percent transmittance/100)
-Transmittance is the amount of light transmitted through a solution it is related to absorbance by the beer's law; Absorbance = -log (percent transmittance/100)
-Concentration is the amount of something is in something and it is measured by the unit of Molarity (moles/1 liter)
-Spectrophotometry is the science of measuring the absorbance or transmittance and calculating the concentration from it\
-M1V1=M2V2
-Beer's law: absorbance=-log(%transmittance/100)

     These ideas all are very important to chemistry. After doing the concentration and transmitted light lab, I have learned that Absorbance, Concentration, Transmittance, Spectrophotometry and Molarity are all connected. Absorbance and Concentration has a direct relationship with each other because as concentration increases, absorbance increases and vice versa. Absorbance and Concentration has a negative correlation with  transittance. Also, Molarity is used to measure Concentration, like how the concentration of the blue dye was measured in micromoles per liter. All of these ideas are all used in Spectrophotometry to find the concentration.
     Learning these ideas was so-so regarding difficulty. I felt that learning them was challenging, but not so hard that I don't get it. The lectures, lecture quizes, class disscussions, and the lab all greatly helped my understanding of these key ideas. The most challenging part was finding the mass of the blue dye in the sports drink like G2 and power aid. However, working in groups allowed me to learn how to find the mass. Now, I almost fully understand the material taught for the past week; I would rate it about a 9.5/10. The thing I have a question about from last week is about Stoichiometry and how to do it correctly because Dr. Finnan does it a special way that results in less mistakes. My participation in the past week also greatly helped my understanding because I learned many new things by participating and asking questions. I would rate my participation a 9.5/10 too. My only question is what is the actual (accurate) relationship between the concentration and absorbance in the lab? I know different classes got different results. In addition, I still need some more practice with using M1V1=M2V2 because I get confused sometimes.
     After this week, my thoughts on the characteristics of solutions and light changed. In the past, I would never think about the transmittance or absorbance of a solution, but now i do. This is because I learned new ideas through the lectures, lecture quizzes, class discussions that we did. Each of the activities added to my knowledge and the result was me understanding about all of the required material.

This is the chart of concentrations and absorbances from the lab

 

This is a link to the lab introduction and procedure

This is a link to beer's law