SG Chem 2 Blog Week 1

Throughout the week, there has been several class discussions about atoms, particles and molecules. As we progressed in our learnings, we discovered how theses different topics could lead to so many more.  In addition to the particles in general, we learned various ways to combined them and what the combinations are scientifically called.  On the topic of combining, there is also a way to separate particles, elements and atoms after they have been combined.  During the process of learning how to label a particle, element, atoms and what they lead to, we also learned how to draw them and table them depending on there shapes and connections in the particle drawings. Going in depth even further, we focused on using this process with actual elements.  For example, water is a element combination of Hydrogen and Oxygen.  We now the have the knowledge to comprehend how the elements are combined and what they look like.

At the beginning of the week, we were given a worksheet titled the Classification of Matter.  Throughout this work sheet, we focused on identifying how you can determine a pure substance, mixture, elements and compounds from a picture and title of the picture.  The first comparison we did was pure substances and mixtures. Pure Substances are compared to mixtures.
Pure Substance: A material that is composed of only one type of particle.

Mixture: A substance made by mixing other substances together.

The next comparison is Elements or Compounds.  A simple way to realize this is how the particles are labeled.
Element:  An element is composed of atoms that have the same atomic number, that is, each atom has the same number of protons in its nucleus as all other atoms in that element.

Compound:A substance formed when two or more substances are chemically bonded together.  

Throughout the process of learning about the topics of theses different combinations of elements, we learned that there is specific scientific guidelines when combining them.  For example, there is a chemical and physical way of combinding elements.  The easiest way to remember what can be separated physically is knowing compounds and mixtures can only be separated.  Compounds are separated chemically. Compound and chemical start with the letter "C" which is how I remember how compounds have to be separated.  Mixtures on the other hand can be separated physically or chemically.  In the process of learning how real elements can be represented as a mixture and compound was taking our pervious knowledge to the next level.

This example helped the class with the rest of the worksheet which was determining mixtures, pure substances, compounds and elements from pictures.  This concept was challenging because I am still new to this science subject.  An example of one of the problems is shown below.

Now beginning the final topic we discussed over the week is combining real elements.  In most cases, we are given two elements and we have to combine them to create another existing element. Personally, figuring out the particle drawings for water was the easiest problem for me because we know the formula and from previous knowledge, figuring out how many hydrogen particles are needed for one oxygen particle was simple based on the formula H2O.  The number "2" stands for two hydrogen particles for every one oxygen particles.  One of the easiest ways to understand this concept is by showing the particle drawing equation.  

Another example of this topic being used is by the creation of ammonia.  Ammonia is created by nitrogen and hydrogen.  The real question is how much nitrogen and hydrogen is needed to create another element.  Throughout this worksheet, the number of boxes over the element helps us comprehend the chemical equations and final particle drawings.  

At the beginning of the week, we were just learning what an atom and particle was, and by the end of the week, we are able to understand how to come up with equations and particle drawings of chemical compounds.  As we were learning this concept, I was confused on the process and wanted more information about elements in general.  I went to this website http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch2/mixframe.html, which allowed me to comprehend the subject successfully.  The worksheets and practice problems provided for us this week is extremely helpful for me.  To really understand a topic, I like to have an immense amount of practice problems.  As of right now, I don't have many questions about the subject because I feel confident with my answers on the worksheets.  On the other hand, it would help to have more problems combining actual elements like we did on the last worksheet of the week.  Overall, I feel more confident then I did at the beginning of the week on the topic of elements, atoms, particles, mixtures, compounds, physical combinations, physical separations, chemical combinations, and chemical separations.