Crowley,+Courtney

Degrees Celcius Connecting Element Names with the Names of U.S. Towns- This article caught my attenition because I thought it was intresting to find that some of the cities in the United States have an element name in their title. I had never recalled any before and wanted to learn more about the reasoning for naming the U.S. towns with an element name. For example, some of the U.S. cities chemistry related names are Sugar, CO and Crystal, ND. I thought this was an interesting way to connect chemistry with U.S. geography. I learned a lot about different cities around the U.S. by reading this article. For example, I found it interesting that Calcium, New York had its named changed from Stanford's Corner to Calcium because many times it was mistaken with Stanfordville, NY. A lot of time the mail would get lost due to this. Madison Cooper was frustrated by this, so he renamed the city Calcium to reflect a chemicle that he used in is proffesion (clcium chloride). I thought this was a strange way of naming a town, but I think it would be pretty neat to live in a city named Calcium. I wonder if any cities in our state of Pennsylvania have been named after a chemisty element in some way or another?

Courtney, Good summary! 5 stars. MW

Redefining the Kilogram- I have never been very familiar with the metric system and it confuses me quite a bit. After reading this acticle I realized that it is actually a very important measuring system and is used often. I saw how some scientists have dedicated their whole career to studying measurements and making sure they are accurate. For example, two different scientiasts had two different ways of measuring a kilogram. I think Planck's constant of using the frequency of the speed of light would be a more effective way of measuring. I think it would be easier then having to compare the exact number of 12 atoms in each kilogram as Avogadro's way. This was all very intresting to learn but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that measurements, like the kilogram, are kept so securely. I didn't even realize there is a physical measurement of it to compare to. A golf-ball sized cylinder of platinum iridium alloy. I was surprised it was kept inside a secure vault with a vacuum seal. By reading this acrticle I think I've realized more clearly how important and acurate the metric measuring system is.

Courtney, OK. Once again you have done a nice job summarizing the article. What is your MVP? The importance of the metric system? 5 stars. MW

Crude Oil- In this video I thought it was interesting to watch the process of distillation happen. It helped me to better understand how the oil or substance is separated by heating it. It now makes sense how different substances can be separated from one substance due to heat. I reminds me of boiling water and catching the vapor then being turned into liquid. My MVP is that it now makes sense to learned that the longer the molecule is, the longer the boiling point will be due to its size. This would be right if the last to boil is the thickest substance. It was also interesting to learn all the things we commonly use due to distillation of crude oil. For example, we use gasoline and propane along with other substances. I wonder if they use this same process with the oil spill in the gulf?

Courtney, Great post! You really picked some of the chemistry connections out of this video. 5 stars. MW

Motion Detectors- This article was interesting to read. I learned a lot from it but i previously knew of how some motion detectors work. I knew the obvious, they detect the motion of something by signals bouncing off the object moving. I also knew some use a light beam and when the light beam is blocked, the detector sounds. This is how are garage door's saftey feature works to make sure nothing is under it while closing. I also knew this is the type of motion detection used in action movies when the character is crossing lazerbeams. If they block the beam, the alarm sounds. although I learned there are also detectors that can read the warmth of the object, like warm blooded animals. I learned our skin temperature is close to 33.9 degrees celcius and we radiate a wavelength of 9-10 micrometers whichis detected if the motion detector filters 8 to 12 micrometer range. This is why it wont pick up the motion of a branch moving in the wind but will alarm when a person walks by. I also found interesting to learn the way we see is similar to the photo sensors. a nerve is impulsed to the optis nerve to the visual cortex of the brain which creates vision.

Courtney, Good job! I like your reference to wavelengths! 5 stars. MW

Where Do Elements Come From?- 25 word abstract Chemical elements come from nucleosynthesis and exploding stars called supernovas. Chemicals in space combine forming ions/molecules which all stars and planets have formed from.

Courtney, OK. 5 stars. MW

Sugar an Unusual Explosive- When I first saw this article, I thought to myself, how can a common household item like sugar explode? Can it happen in my house? While reading the article I found it interesting to find that many other things can explode just like the sugar did. Coal, flour, metals, plastics and wood are some examples and are actually called dust explosions. It was surprising to learn how this proccess happens all because of a spark or flame creating a shock wave. This fact also worries me because it seems like a simple catalist to a major problem? Two things that I found in the article that related to what we learned in class is how burning sugar produces energy. We burned/heated sugar and it turned to a carmel. According to the article burning carmel produces surcrose. The example of this chemical reacrtion included in the article also relates to what we have done in class. In the reaction oxyegen is present resulting in a combustion. Also included in the reaction is the number of mols of each element which we have just learned as well. All of these things relate to what we have learned in chem class.

Courtney, Good job. I like the fact you listed other potential sources of explosion. 5 stars. MW

Helium Balloons- I found this article to have some funny points in it which were ammusing. But the important points in the atricle had to do with why a helium balloon floats. The most important reason to this occuring is due to buoyant force, which is the most important point. It helps to better understand the reasoning of how an object acts in space on earth's atmosphere. Also, it is mentioned that the higher you go in the atmosphere, the lesser the pressure meaning the particles are more spread out and free. More particles are able to push on the bottom of the object to push it upward. The last important fact I found in this article is the refrence to Archimedes' principal. This explains how density acts on the object being displaced. The buoyant force is equal to the weight of what is being dissplaced.

Courtney, Well done! Good comment on Archimedes. 5 stars! MW