The World Is Made of LEGOS

 Good time in class today-- thank you for being safe and also getting into the experiment --you are a fun bunch of students.

 Here's the homework -- read this file carefully:
The World Is Made of Legos
http://cactus.dixie.edu/smblack/chem1010/lecture_notes/1B_atoms.pdf -- 54 pages, but mostly pictures actually.)  25 pts.

Then, for Monday's lab, we will need to bring some LEGO bricks to class -- this is what you should gather:

• 24 white 1x2 bricks
• 4 grey 2x8
• 12 black 2x4
• 8 yellow 2x4
• 8 green 2x4
• 36 red 2x4 
• 32 blue 2x4 
• Here's what it looks like :  LEGO atoms

Actually, bring whatever you can of these Lego bricks; we need this for each pair of students, so hopefully we will have enough to go around.  10 pts for digging up your Legos and sharing them with us in class.

And because everyone should know how much energy is contained in a gummi bear, watch this 24 second video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zWykQ8Xc6w&feature=related

And for extra credit, a longer video from our friends in Nottingham:
Carbon Dioxide (a molecule which we made in class today)
15 pts.  part II follows, total time 15 minutes.
Sometimes the internet does not work very well in a storm; as I write this it is pretty bad.  Oh well. ;l

Electrons!!!!!!!

Short Videos: sorry about the 30-second commercials at the beginning of each video. (Click on the underlined URLs below.)

first actual photo of a molecule: C14H22

The Discovery of the Electron:     4 pts for both.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdTxGJjA4Jw

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/29292-100-greatest-discoveries-the-cathode-ray-tube-video.htm

Forming Bonds with Electrons:   3 pts.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/27860-100-greatest-discoveries-forming-bonds-with-electrons-video.htm

100 Greatest Discoveries: Combining Atoms      3 pts.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/29293-100-greatest-discoveries-combining-atoms-video.htm

And just because he is so fun, here's Bill Nye, The Science Guy, all about Atoms:  http://www.gamequarium.org/cgi-bin/search/linfo.cgi?id=7224  ( 22 minute video)  20 pts.

MAIN THING:
Finish the A-3: What Is a Molecule? handout from class.  25 points.


Also, we are taking turns sending home the Atomic Challenge Game--play it with your family-- 15 pts.   (Ripples have it right now.)

Thursday will be cool; we will do an experiment involving chemical reactions. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

and here's something else to be thankful for...NO homework!  Enjoy the holiday and tell your mom she's the best!

Just bein' silly...

Atoms Rock!

Richard Feynmen, Nobel prize-winning physicist, has said:

"If, in some great cataclysm, all scientific knowledge were to be destroyed and only one sentence passed on to the next generation, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis, that all things are made of atoms--little particles that move around in perpetual motion attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another."

For homework, read and fill out the questions of the worksheet A-2: What Holds an Atom Together?  (The third and fourth pages are out of order.)  We will play the Atomic Challenge Game together in class next Monday.  You may use your home models to make the atoms for the homework assignment .  25 pts. (My suggestion: Do this by Wednesday)  And for fun watch this: Albert Einstein: The Size and Existence of Atoms (one minute physics)

(My suggestion: On Friday, do this:)
BrainPop.com: periodic table of elements
login with username/password: pcshome / ilearnathome
Only movie and quiz (10 pts), but you can get extra credit for doing any worksheet (5 pts. each)  or the experiment (10 pts--but you need to write it up in your lab book - just say what you were asked to do and  your observations of what happened.)

Also extra credit:    Video  Table of the Elements 
If you click on any element, it will have a short  video about that element.  For 5pt. each, watch the videos in the first column under H (hydrogen)  -- Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr. They are 3-4 minutes each.
Jot down a few notes about each element  in your lab books, and see what all these elements in Column One have in common.

Keep Observing Your Pumpkins; maybe it's time for another photo.

Atom Rules!

First of all, finish the worksheets you were given in class [What Is an Atom A-1]  Do as much as you can; ask your mom or older sibling for help if needed; anything left over we can do in class.  25 pts.

Then, if you have not already done so, watch How Small Is an Atom?  and draw one or more cartoon illustrations from the video with a caption explaining.  ["If every atom in a grapefruit were the size of a blueberry, the grapefruit would be the size of the Earth."] This goes in your lab journal. You may draw more than one.  5 pts. each.

BrainPop.com - http://www.brainpop.com/science/matterandchemistry/atomicmodel/
The Atomic Model- [  login with pcshome  ilearnathome  ]
Do the regular: watch the movie, fill in the worksheets, take the quiz, and read the FYI, which I think is pretty interesting.  (I do really like science history.)  5 pts. each, 30 pts. all.

Lastly,for extra credit,  a 7-minute video about hydrogen, the simplest atom, by my favorite mad scientists at the University of Nottingham (is that where Robin Hood went to school???):
Periodic Table of the Elements: Hydrogen  5 pts.

>>>And OBSERVE, OBSERVE, OBSERVE... and record your observations...YOUR SLOWLY DETERIORATING  PUMPKINS!!!  (sorry I forgot to get the microscopes out -- I will have one on Monday to look at samples.)

The Elegant Atom

When scientists are amazed at the power of a simple idea to explain an incredibly complex phenomenon, they call it "elegant," and today's Big Idea, the Atomic Model, is extraordinary Elegance, wrapped in Powerful Complexity, glimmering with Explanatory Wisdom, and reeking Smart.

Though the idea is big, Atoms, made of protons, neutrons and electrons, are very, very, very small.  Just how small are they?  Watch this: Just How Small Is an Atom?

Now take one of the ideas in the video and make a cartoon/illustration/picture of it, with a caption explaining.  ["If every atom in a grapefruit were the size of a blueberry, the grapefruit would be the size of the Earth."] This goes in your lab journal. You may draw more than one.  5 pts. each.



Now back to Brainpop.com (thank you, Danny, for figuring out my mistake last week.  Log in with username - pcshome and password - ilearnathome  )   http://www.brainpop.com/science/matterandchemistry/atoms/   Watch the movie Atoms, take the quiz, do the activity worksheets (you can type on the page and then print, or you can print out the pages and then write in the answers, as you prefer.)  FYI is optional.  Do you remember learning some of this in history class? 25 PTS


Remember the Pumpkins!  Now is the time to catch up on the Great Pumpkin project.  See instruction sheet on the sidebar, and look at your class notes.  Don't forget to:
-Set aside space in your lab books, at least 5-8 pages.
-Carve your pumpkin, and put it in an outdoor location.
-Record your initial observations, as we discussed.
-Take a photo.
-Keep recording your observations, questions, hypothesis, ideas of what is going on, in your lab books, at least twice a week for the next two months, or until it is "all gone".   Make drawings of the organisms that you find growing or crawling or whatever, around the pumpkin, and bring in samples to look at under the microscope.

ON THURSDAY> BRING IN THE MODELS OF THE ATOM THAT YOU MADE IN CLASS AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO LEARN ABOUT ATOMS.

The Scientific Method...

...was the subject of Thursday's lesson, and in case you (or your mom) is interested, our story of Agassiz, the Student and the Fish is linked on the sidebar under "Homework," as is The Demise of the Pumpkin, which you should start on immediately.  You will need two pumpkins, one carved, one whole, and a place to keep it for the next two months.  You will observe these two pumpkins and write down your observations in your science notebooks, and take occasional photos, when you see something new happening.  Don't forget to write down your "why" questions--"why does the..."--- in your notebooks, and think up a hypothesis to answer them. 25 points

Also for homework is this website:
http://www.brainpop.com/science/scientificinquiry/scientificmethod/  If you click on the link, a new page will open up. Click on the "Log In" button to enter the password and username.  The username for this site is:
pcshome, and the password is: ilearnathome.
First watch the movie (it's short), then do the Related Features (click the boxes beneath the movie): Activities (print out the 3 pages--you may need to watch the movie over to answer some questions), Quiz (no need to print this).  FYI is optional  (click the circle icons at the top of that page and it will open up some reading pages. 25 points total:
5 pts for movie, 5 each for the activity pages, 5 for quiz)