Morgan and I did the bismuth lab. The bismuth lab was a somewhat easy, yet hard lab. We melted the bismuth down to separate the pure bismuth from their impurities. To make the crystals into a pretty color. This lab showed me and Morgan the different phase changes due to temperature.
Looking Back: The bismuth crystals did NOT turn out good at all. It had little pieces of slab covering the pretty crystals and made it look ugly. We remelted out bismuth again and tried it another time, but we didn't get any impurities and we didn't even get crystals! It was beyond frustrating and I was so confused on how to do it. I asked Daisy, someone who has done the lab prior to Morgan and I, and she said to just wait and the crystals will form. We took her advice and applied it. we made crystals, but those crystals stuck to the side of the metal dish. It was frustrating and kind of sad that we couldn't make something this simple. We tried it the next day and we kept getting the same result: no crystals. Looking Beyond: The bismuth lab showed Morgan and I phase changes from a solid to a liquid and then back into a solid. The metal was just a slab of used bismuth from past experiments and it took a while to heat up and melt. Bismuth's melting point is 520 degrees Fahrenheit which is pretty low for a metal. By heating the bismuth to its melting point, it changes from a solid to a liquid. Once we thought we got crystals, we took it off the hot plate and let it cool, so it could be changed into a solid. Even though the solid didn't look like the original, it was still bismuth. Looking Back: I thought the crystals sucked a lot. We got two good ones and those weren't even great. The crystals were extremely pretty colors and it was cool to see how you can make it change colors by covering it from the light. I was so impatient and immediately wanted to do something, even though all we did was wait and scrap some stuff off the top of the liquid. It wasn't amazing and action packed like the rockets, but I guess that's what I get for making stuff that will be fun (or at least I thought it was going to be fun) in the long run. Looking Outward: I worked with Morgan on the bismuth and our partnership wasn't the greatest. We weren't communicating as well this lab because we were always leaving for sports because it was the start of the season. We ended up not making any good crystals and we were both to blame because it was so rushed. We made two good ones, but that was it. Our partnership is always strong, but this lab it seemed to falter. Looking Forward: If I could do this experiment again, it would be way more patient. We didn't really know when to take it off the hot plate and took it off too early, making the crystals not form. Another factor I think influenced the crystals was because we kept bumping into the table. Andrew told us not to move the table or else the crystals would not form. Next time, I would just stay away from the table and would just keep people away from it. For better results, I would ask someone who did the experiment before to help us. We didn't know when to take the impurities off or when to pour the liquid bismuth into the other dish. Takeaways: One takeaway I had was that bismuth crystals are not easy at all and that you need a lot of patience to make them. I personally do not have patience and this took forever, even though it took 30 minutes to make (AND IT DIDN'T EVEN TURN OUT GOOD). Looking Back: I really liked the way my bouncy ball turned out, even though it kind of died after a couple of hours. Mine bounced, but it didn’t bounce as high as I expected it to. It was somewhat lame, but it was amusing to me. Making the balls didn’t live up to my expectations either. It was really rushed because I had partners who did a lab beforehand and they didn’t leave enough time for our lab. It also didn’t form correctly because there were little cracks and it began to split in half while it was drying. This was probably due to the fact that I didn’t form it into a ball right away because I was cleaning. The glue dried faster than normal, making my ball look like a hot mess when I added the food coloring. Looking Beyond: This activity demonstrates an interesting chemical reaction, primarily between the borax and the glue. The borax acts as a “cross-linker” to the polymer molecules in the glue. Borax basically it creates chains of molecules that stay together when you pick them up. The cornstarch helps to bind the molecules together so that they hold their shape better. Looking Inward: I thought my bouncy ball was extremely amusing to be honest. It was bouncy and I didn’t really expect it to go really high like the rubber ones you can get for 50 cents. I expected it to at least bounce up half away from where I dropped it. It bounced like a foot back up and died. The process was really quick and simple. I was kind of hoping it would be more exciting and fun. Just like the chapstick, it wasn’t action packed, but what could I expect? I was making bouncy balls… Looking Outward: I worked with Ivy, Erika, and Daisy on the bouncy ball lab. We didn’t really work on the lab together because we did them all on different days. There was miscommunication on when to bring the items and we just did the lab when it suited our schedule. It wasn’t hard to make them by yourself, but I wish we had done it together and used different measurements so we could figure out how to get the maximum bounciness. Looking Forward: For better results, I would’ve put more borax to make it bounce higher. I saw that if you put too much glue, it would stick to the gloves and wouldn’t shape as easy. If you put too much water, it would just be a soggy mess of a wannabe ball. It would take forever for the both of them to be dry enough to bounce. If I could do this lab over again, I would do it by myself because I wouldn’t have to wait for people to do other labs and then our lab. It was simple to do and the ingredients were not hard to find. Takeaways: One thing I took away was that it’s not worth it to make your own bouncy ball. They end up drying up and just being a hazard to your pets. I had to throw mine out because I was scared my dog was going to mistake it for a treat and eat it. Borax is a dangerous material if ingested. Magic Sand is basically regular sand with coated in a hydrophobic substance, which keeps the sand dry. Hydrophobic substances repel water, whereas hydrophilic substances absorbs water.
Looking Back: Our sand turned out pretty well I think! When we put it in water, it came out dry as if the sand didn’t touch water at all. It was it was actually kind of cool when the sand would float on top of the water and you stuck your finger in the middle and it would come out dry. When we were playing with the magic sand, our group ended up putting too much water and it kind of got diluted (?). The sand ended up not working after that and it turned back into regular sand. Some of the grains just floated to the bottom and was wet when it came back up. The method wasn’t exactly perfect, even though we used about 7 layers of the hydrophobic substances. Looking Beyond: During this lab, we learned the properties of substances that are hydrophobic and hydrophilic. Hydrophobic substances do not mix with water. The term “water-fearing” is often used to describe the word hydrophobic. Hydrophilic substances, on the other hand, are “water-loving.” For example, oil and water don’t mix because it’s hydrophobic. Since oil is hydrophobic, the oil did not mix with the food coloring or the water. Magic sand is regular sand that has been coated with an oil-like substance that is water-hating or hydrophobic. The surface of sand grains is made wet by water, which means that water molecules are attracted to sand grains and makes it hydrophilic. Looking Inward: I liked the way it worked out. It wasn’t very hard to do though because Andrew just sprayed a hydrophobic substance on the sand, we mixed them together and put it in water. I thought it was kind of boring to make it because only one person was mixing it together. I wish we had less people in a group instead of six or seven. There wasn’t a lot to do for everybody in the group. Looking Outward: I worked with Erika, Ivy, Daisy, Morgan, and Maia on this lab. I thought our group worked pretty well with each other. We’re friends outside of class, so there wasn’t any tension or disagreements. I’m pretty sure the only disagreement was what sand color to pick. I don’t usually talk to Maia, but she’s really sweet and just rolled with what we did with the sand. Looking Forward: For better results, I wish we got real sand from the beach instead of hermit crab stand. The Hermit crab sand didn’t really have the same effect as we should have gotten because it’s artificial. I would’ve liked to know how different the results would be; hermit crab sand vs. real sand. If I were to do this project over again, I would stick to one color because the green and pink sand mixed looked like barf and it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. Also, I would like to be put into smaller groups (possibly individually?). It was just lame sitting around while some stirred the whole time while we made the sand. Takeaways: A takeaway I had was that it’s really hard to make your own magic sand. It took about 7 coats of the hydrophobic substance to cover almost ever grain of sand. Some of the grains didn’t even have the substance on it and it because wet. |
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May 2015
CarminaHi! This is my chemistry blog for the second semester of the 10th grade. Categories |