Bieber,+Alison

I like the first graphic the best because it shows you what the matter actually looks like, instead of just telling you. This makes it easier to understand what each type of matter looks like. It also provides descriptions of things like fixed composition, uniform properties, and chemically decomposable. I think that this graphic is better than the other two because each of the other graphics only say things in words, they don’t actually show you them. That is why this graphic makes it the easiest to learn about elements, compounds, solutions, and heterogeneous mixtures.

Separation of Matter: Something that I didn’t know was that everyday things such as coffee filters or water filters are actually examples of filtration. This helped me understand what filtration is in the real world. An interesting thing that I found was that just by dipping something containing dye in a solution you can see all of the different colors that it contains. Seeing and learning the different ways that you can separate solutions is relevant to our class because we are learning about making solutions, so it is also important to know how to separate them also.

Measurement: An area of my life in which measurement is important is swimming. It is necessary to have accurate measurements in both time and length. If the length of the pool was measured incorrectly, then the whole race would be pointless. You would be swimming but not knowing how long, thus it would not be able to compare with other races. The timing also must be correct in swimming. If the timing was bad for a race, the results would be useless. All of the timers have to be timing with the same units, and all must accurately start and stop the time. That is why measurement is important every day to my daily life.

Alison, Remember that race that Michael Phelps won by just outreaching that other guy. Wow! Good Post! MW

Redefining the kilogram: Something that I learned from reading this article is that there are seven base units of SI measurements. These include kilogram, meter, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela. I found this interesting because before I had started chemistry class I had only heard of three out of the seven units. Something else that I learned from this article was that there is only one original kilogram prototype in the world but there are lots of copies of it elsewhere in the world. Although, I do not understand why no one is permitted to touch any one them because what is the point of going to see an exact kilogram if you can't even see how heavy it feels? Alison, I suppose if you touched it oils from your skin would contaminate it. Good post! MW

Airline Security: From reading this article I see that an airplane security workers job is harder than it seems. They have to be able to see what is in every single persons bag, and be able to do it very fast. I don't understand though, why this should even be a necessary measure. If people weren't so stupid to bring explosives into airports there would be absolutely no need for all of this extra security work. If you were bringing a bomb somewhere and knew you were going through security, why would you bring it where they have special equipment that detects these kinds of things.

Mole Day: One thing that I found interesting from reading this article was that the reason that Mole Day was created was to get more people interested in chemistry. I think that this was a good idea, but to even understand the Mole, you have to already be learning about chemistry. Another thing that I found interesting about Mole Day was that all you have to do in order to figure out the number of moles in an element is look at the atomic mass. This fact will be helpful to me in trying to make conversions in moles.

Dust Explosions: One interesting thing that I learned from reading this article is that it only takes one eighth inch of dust on a floor to be considered explosive. It then goes on to say that most factories can have up to one half inch of dust scattered all over their floors, so it would be very bad if anything ever happened in a factory like that. Stoichiometry is important in situations like these because you have to know the ratios of one thing to another, because as the article says, size clearly matters. You need to be able to figure out the mass and surface areas very well or else it could lead to something bad, even explosive to occur. Learning this skill proves to be important in more places than one.

Alison, Good post! I like your mention of surface area! MW

Sulfur Hexafluoride An interesting thing that I learned from reading this article was that even though both elements in this compound are dangerous on their own, they are actually not hazardous to breathe in. The article said that sulfur is used to make matches and gunpowder and that fluoride is one of the most reactive nonmetals out there. It was surprising to me that it is possible to breathe this in without being completely hazardous. However, there are sevral precautions that must be followed or else it could be dangerous.

Alison, Caution is always advised. :) MW

Motion Detectors Something that I learned from this article was that one of they ways that motion detectors work is by sending out pules that they use to monitor the reflection pattern, and that when they see changes in this, that's how they observe the motion. Another way described in this article is by using sensors to sense changes in temperature, and that when they sense something, it naturally tells them, something is there. One other thing that I learned is that there are many types of lights, but the only one we can see is visible light, no other ones. Allison, What are pules? MW