Villier,+Katlyn

8/26/09 There are many similarities and differences between three graphics that talk about matter. All three graphics are similar because they all talk about elements, compounds, and mixtures. They all also talk about heterogeneous and homogenous (solutions) mixtures. The differences are that the first graphic uses pictures to show the difference between each substance but uses a chart of words as well .In my opinion this is the most confusing graphic. The second graphic uses only words and it does not give much detail into the subject. I liked the third graphic the best because it was easy to understand and it also gave examples of each which I thought was helpful. That it why graphic number three is my favorite.

8/27/09 I learned more about Chromatography which I only knew a little bit about from last year. I also liked yesterday seeing how the chemicals reacted. I think that I know so much more about the different forms of matter than I did before and now I can tell the difference and sort different items into the different forms. I also learned about distillation and filtration. I never really knew what the processes were called until now. I think that these processes are really interesting and I believe that it is a very ingenious process. I wonder who invented it or even thought it would work.

9/1/09 Something in my life that requires precise and accurate measuring would be in softball. In this sport I would need accurate measuring to be sure that if a person slides into a base that they are safe or out. By measuring we could determine whether or not they made it to the base in time and made it far enough. If these measurements were wrong the wrong call could be made and it could totally affect the outcome of the game. That is why measuring is important in this situation.

9/8/09 Through reading this article although it was very confusing I learned a lot about the kilogram. One of the things I learned is that the kilogram is the only SI base unit that is still expresses by a physical artifact which is platinum iridium alloy. It is a small golf ball sized amount of this metal. This article also talks about two scientists named Avogadro and Planck.. I think that that would be such a great accomplishment to come up with a theory like they did. In this article I also learned a lot about the different types of units such as the kilogram, meter, second,ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela. I never really new about the other ways to measure things and it is good to now know how some things such as light intensity and the amount of a substance.

Katlyn, Good thoughts! MW

9/16/09 I thought that this article was very interesting. I couldn't believe how much trouble the security guys had to go through. I think the technology that they use is truly amazing. I think that it is very cool that the x-ray machines can tell exactly what is what and I never would have guessed that density could be so important. According to this article density could be the difference between live or death due to the fact that the airline security men use density to detect explosives. I'm glad I read this article because now I can truly understand why and how important density is. Katlyn, Good thoughts. I was hoping you would see the density connections. 5 stars. MW

10/20/09 I read the article on the mole day web site about the history of Amadeo Avogadro. I learned a lot about him. First was that he never received any credit for the founding of the mole. The credit came after his death. Many people thought he was a very careless physicist rather than a brilliant one. The number 6.02*10^23 was named in honor of Avogadro because he was the first person to argue in favor of the existence of atoms. I also learned that the theme for this year’s mole day is the molar express which really made me laugh. It reminded me of Christmas time because I love the movie the polar express!

11/3/09 Wow. This article really surprises me because I never would have thought that broken down sugar could be so harmful. I thought it was really interesting that only one eighth of the sugar dust would be needed to trigger the explosions. I think that people really need to understand how important size is because one eighth is a very small amount and it could kill an awful lot of people. I thought that the chart was very interesting. I made me wonder why if the number of fatalities and injuries increased people didn't do something about the amount of dust. This whole event is really tragic but it could have been prevented if people would have realized how harmful this dust was. If people were more cautious about the size and amount of dangerous chemicals or powders and how they were handled things like this could be prevented in the future.

Katie, Good thoughts but what about stoichiometry? 4 stars.

12/3/09 I read the article about and sulfur hexafluoride. I thought it was amazing that two highly dangerous and reactive elements can when combined to form a somewhat safe compound. This compound should still not be taken as totally safe but is okay to breathe in with small doses. This sort of reminded me of opposites attract but instead it is that an opposite is created. I thought it was very scary that you could continue breathing in this gas and other gases such as helium and your body would not realize that your suffocating. This article taught me to be aware of what gases I breathe in because some are very very dangerous.

Katie, Yes some gases are poisonous. Good thoughts. MW

12/16/09 I read the article about motion detectors. I thought it was very interesting that the different types of waves on the electromagnetic spectrum are used. I didn't know that a different one was used for each type and I also didn't know that these waves were even used at all! I have a connection with this article in two ways. First of all we have these lights at home and second my dad uses an infrared imager as part of his work. I think it is very amazing that these waves are used in so many household things such as these motion sensitive lights. I thought that this article was very interesting and really helped me understand a way in which microwaves and infrared rays are used.

Awesome! Good job Katie! MW