Dec. 12-16

Q/m=amount of energy per
unit of mass

This week, I reviewed over energy. In between particles, attractions and chemical bonds involve electrostatic interactions. This is what holds the particles together. Like magnets sticking onto the refrigerator because the magnetic poles attract to the metal on the refrigerator, particles work the same way.

I also realized that the attraction between particles depends on the physical changes of a substances. These states of water are very different not only because of their physical states but because of the attraction of their particles. Solid has stronger attraction between particles because the particles in a solid have the least amount of energy so the particles are closer together--like relatives who live a few blocks in contrast to miles away. The lesser the distance, the greater the contact and the visits. That is what happens in a solid. The particles have strong attractions and move the least because there isn't enough energy to change the arrangement of particles.

LOL diagram of water evaporating

However, in a gas, the particles are the farthest apart. In this case, the relatives live miles away from you, which means less contact during the year. In a gas, the particles barely bump into each because they are farthest apart. The particles in a gas, thus, have the most amount of energy because it takes a higher amount of energy to separate the particles and make them move faster.

When physical states of substances change, this is because the attractions between the particles must be overcome in a solid to change to a liquid or gas. But, let's keep this in mind. Just because the arrangement of particles changes, it doesn't mean that the motion of particles has changed. They could still move at the same rate. For example, a dozen cars drives straight to the store each at 25 miles per hour. But, when six cars change direction and drive to the mall at the same speed, it only changes the arrangement of traffic.

Heat of Fusion and Heat
of Vaporization

This is what occurred when water at a temperature of 100ºC was not boiling. Even though the arrangement of particles became less structured, not enough energy, though, could cause the substance to change state. As a result, the liquid still remained a liquid with different arrangement of particles.

The same goes without saying for the motion of particles. Just because it changes, it doesn't mean that the arrangement of particles has. The cars on the highway could still be going the same destination and if they accelerated from 65 miles per hour to 70 miles per hour, the cars would still be in the same order. So, in particles, if the motion of particles has changed and not the motion, then this means that they had enough energy to make them move faster but not enough energy for the substance to change state. Thus, particle attraction was not completely overcome since not enough energy was in the th account.

State changes in Heat of Fusion and
Heat of Vaporization and
particle motion

For instance, this is what happened when the water on the T-shirt evaporated. The state of the water changed from liquid to gas, but the temperature of the water couldn't have change because if it were at the boiling point (100ºC), it would be scalding! So, what then caused the water to evaporate? Energy did. Enough energy in the ph account was used to change the motion of the particles and accelerate them. However, there was not enough energy to change the arrangement of particles. Thus, the preconceived notion that water had to evaporate at 100ºC is not entirely accurate.

Therefore, a solid has the most orderly arrangement of particles and the lowest amount of energy as well as motion of particles. The liquid has the second most fluid arrangement of particles, meaning they move freely about but not as rapidly as gas particles. Thus, liquid is more structured than a gas and has less energy. Gas has the most amount of energy with the particles being the farthest apart with the least attraction. Thus, the distance between the particles and the attraction between them has an inverse relationship much like volume and density.

This week, I learned about Heat of Vaporization and Heat of Fusion. Heat of Vaporization (enthalphy of vaporization) is the amount of energy that is required to convert a unit mass of a liquid into the vapor without a change in temperature. Heat of Vaporization occurs in state changes of liquid to gas and vice versa: (Vaporization) or (Condensation). Heat of Fusion (enthalphy of fushion) is the amount of energy that is required to convert a unit mass of a solid into the liquid without a change in temperature. Heat of Fusion occurs in state changes of solid to liquid and vice versa: (Melting) or (Freezing).

Dec. 5-9

This week, I learned about energy transfer through the three states of matter, and I learned about ETh and EPh energy.

Eph is the phase energy that is transferred when an object changes its state. So, if a solid changed to a liquid, there would be more phase energy since this made the particles move more freely. The particles are not rigidly structured like a solid. Rather, the density of the liquid is less than that of the solid because of the arrangement of the particles and the amount of space they are taking up. When a substance changes state from liquid to gas, the particles of gas are arranged even more freely and are spread out the most.

However, the problem is this: If solid changed to liquid without temperature, then why did it change state? The reason is because the amount of energy required to arrange the particles increases since more energy is required in a liquid to break bonds in solid in order to make the particles move freely about in contrast to the rigid and structured solid. In a solid, the particles move slower because they are in a crystalline structure, and it requires less energy to keep the particles closer together.

Eth is the thermal energy that is transferred when an object's temperature changes. The motion of the particles changes. As more energy is applied to a substance, its particles move faster and at greater distances and more freely. The greater the thermal energy, the more likely a substance is going to change state. However, enough energy has to be applied to a substance in order for it to actually change state. To change the motion and speed of the particles, the amount of energy changes the attraction between the particles. If the particles have a weak attraction, then the particles will move faster, and if they have a strong attraction, then they will move slower. Thus, in a liquid, the particles of a liquid have a weak attraction since they are not closely together. In contrast, a solid has the strongest attraction between the particles since they are the closest together. A gas has the weakest attraction because the particles are the farthest together.

What determines the attraction between the particles, though, is the term "field," which is the area around an object where non-contacting force can be exerted. Phase energy is stored in fields to arrange whereas thermal energy is stored in fields to change the motion of the particles.

I also participated in an experiment where I had to find the specific heat of copper. This week, my group and I had to come up with a procedure before we started. First, we had to measure the mass of the copper, then the water's mass, then, the temperature change of copper after putting it in water and the temperature change of water. Then, algebraically, I set the specific heat formula of water to the specific heat formula of copper equal to each other to figure out the specific heat (c) with E=mcΔT formula for both. Since the volume of water was 150 ml, and the density of water is 1g/ml, its mass was 150 g, the temperature change was 12.5ºC, and the specific heat is 4.18J/gºC. With the copper, the mass was 39.5 g, and its temperature change was around 480ºC. 
So, my mathematical procedure was this:

1. (39.5)(c)(Δ480)=(150)(4.18)(Δ12.5)
2. 17,520c=7,837.3
3. c=0.41J/gºC

The question remained: Was it the correct specific heat for copper? The algebraic process of showing how I found the specific heat was correct, but it may or may not have been correct. (this was mere speculation before I found out its specific heat of copper is 0.39J/gºC). So, I then thought of the possible sources of error. I considered that massed could have calculated incorrectly. Or, the temperature change could have been calculated incorrectly since the only way to determine this is to observe the color it changes to, which may have been mislabeled, contributing to incorrect temperature. It is also possible that I measured the water's temperature incorrectly.

I thought that since these were possible sources of error, I figured that if the mass of the copper were, then the specific heat of copper would be less than it should be or more than it should be. If the temperature change of the copper was miscalculated, then specific heat would be less than it should be or more than it should be. If the mass of water were miscalculated, then specific heat would be less than it should be or less than it should be. If the temperature change was miscalculated, of water were miscalculated, then specific heat would be less than it should be or more than it should be.

Nov. 26-30

The center topic discussed this week was on specific heat. Previously, we learned that heat is the energy, whereas energy is just energy, and the amount of it dictates what the temperature is.

But, specific heat is a new term this week. So, what is specific heat? First, to differentiate between heat and specific heat, specific heat is not the transfer of energy. Heat is.

My process of learning what specific heat went like this. I was asked what the meaning of the formula for specific heat is. But, I didn't exactly know that it was the formula for it, but I intuitively assumed, partially erroneous though, that it had to do with the amount of heat associated with the amount of joules (Q) affecting the change in temperature (showed by Δ temperature in ºC) in a substance with a certain mass (m).

Although I had the general concept down, I erred with the word heat. Heat doesn't directly affect temperature. Thus, I learned that heat itself is just an entity of the transferring of energy. Although it affects the temperature to some degree, it doesn't necessarily affect it. What affects it the most is the energy itself. Thus, I coined that heat is the means to the energy, the energy the cause, and the temperature the ends.

In class, I learned that specific heat is the amount of change that is required to change the temperature of    1 gram by 1ºC. I also learned that specific heat=energy/(mass x Δ temperature), and specific heat=Joules (J)/(grams x ºC).

This week, I reviewed the degree of hotness (temperature) and quantity of hotness (heat). The question I had to answer was which temperature increased the temperature of the water more? The 50ºC 25g water or the 100ªC 5g water?

This graph shows the Triple Point of water.
The triple point is the point where a substance
is in between all three states of matter.

To figure out which one had more heat, I considered which one had a higher temperature, since the amount of energy and heat were directly related. Since the 5g water at 100ºC had a higher temperature than the other water, I though that this would have the greater quantity of hotness. However, I also  thought that to understand how the different temperatures affected the temperature change of water, the masses of each of the two waters seemed to play a factor in temperature change. Since the 25g water had greater mass, I thought that it had greater energy since there were more 5x more particles in the water than in the 5g water. Although the temperature in 5g water is hotter, it would take more energy for the particles to move in 25g since there is a greater mass. Thus, the greater the mass, the greater the temperature change is.

I found out that when I learned what specific heat is, I was correct in my reasoning. With specific heat, I realized that the greater the mass, the greater the amount of energy used to increase temperature change with a larger mass. Thus, I then thought of a hypothetical situation where I had to measure the specific heat of each of the two waters using the same temperatures and masses. I then made up a certain amount of joules using x for both. Since both their specific heats were 4.18 J/gºC, I was correct in assuming that the value of energy had to be found out for both waters.

So, with water 1– 4.18 x 25g x 50ºC, and then with water 2– 4.18 x 100ºC x 5g. As I made my calculations, I was correct in hypothesizing that water 1 had greater amount of energy. Thus, it has more mass as well as the amount of particles. I also noticed that water 1 had greater volume than water 2 since the amount of particles in water 1 took up more space with a greater mass than water 2.

I also learned this week about graphing the change in states of matter: from solid to liquid, solid to gas, etc. I then learned that two factors affected the changed states of matter: pressure (atm) and temperature (ºC). So, I then considered, that if there were enough pressure, water could change from solid to gas skipping liquid state, and CO2 from solid to liquid skipping gas state. I observed that the closer it gets to the boiling point (100ºC), the more likely an ice cube is going to evaporate into water and skip the liquid state change. Although I theorized that substances can skip states of matter, I now understand that pressure and temperature dictate this, so it has furthered my understanding of their direct relationship. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense if CO2 skipped liquid state because the pressure was greater and the temperature was less, and vice versa.

Nov. 19-21

Last weekend, I added the finishing touches to my thermos to test it in an in-class competition. The competition's objective was to retain the most amount of energy and to have the least temperature change.

The previous weekend, I reflected on what materials to use for the thermos in order to retain the most amount of energy. As I was thinking, I thought that insulators would be the best materials to use. Essentially, an insulator traps energy in for longer periods of time, so it takes longer to heat up and to let energy go.

Thinking about this, I decided to use a Styrofoam box as the outermost layer of the thermos with insulation inside, and the materials included: Styrofoam and a Styrofoam cup, carpet insulation, duct tape, super glue, tin foil, peanut tin cans, and plastic wrap. Next, I used carpet insulation and tin foil since they have water vapor barriers, which lessened the temperature change and kept the energy in. Duct tape and super glue retained heat inside the thermos since they are good insulators and keep the thermos intact to prevent more energy from escaping. The cotton T-shirts and the plastic wrap were wrapped around the cylindrical thermos to reduce heat loss and retain the temperature of any liquid in the thermos longer. The peanut tin cans served as the outermost lining of the cylindrical thermos and soaked moisture from the insulation, and the peanut can lid was used as the inner lid to keep energy in longer.


Last weekend, I stuffed the Styrofoam box with carpet insulation, glued it down, and secured it with duct tape around the Styrofoam cup. First, though, I had to use a hand saw to saw off the bottoms of the tin can from the peanut tin cans, and then I cut the carpet insulation into 2-3 circles and used those as the base of the peanut tin cans. I then wrapped the Styrofoam cup with 8 layers of T-shirts and tin foil.

Next, I performed three tests: at 10ºC, 20ºC, and 30ºC. What I did was I used tap water and made sure the temperatures were correct. I then performed three trials at those three temperatures individually by pouring them in the Styrofoam cup. Then, I sealed the lid on the thermos and recorded the temperatures using the thermometer through a straw that went through the top of the Styrofoam box.

On Monday, the competition commenced. I tested the water at 80ºC (353.5 K) at 355 mL. My procedure was to get the water in the thermos as quickly as possible. So, I used tongs to lift the flask with the water in it and pour it into the thermos. However, I had to keep in mind that time was my worst enemy–if I didn't seal the thermos quickly, the temperature change could increase since more energy would be able to escape. Thus, I sealed the thermos quickly and only adjusted it when I saw it fit. However, I took out the straw that may have reduced heat loss had I not have removed it, which may have partially accounted for the 
increasing change in temperature.

For twenty minutes, I recorded the temperature change in the water. When it was time, it was 70.5ºC, thus a 9.5ºC change over the course of 20 minutes. I wasn't pleased with this, so I decided to make improvements on my thermos. I had a hunch that on Monday if I had 10 more minutes to test my thermos, the temperature would be around 60ºC. So, I wanted the temperature change to be reduced by at least 10ºC. So, on Monday night, I added insulation and super-glued it on the lid inside the thermos to reduce heat loss.

Then, I tested on Tuesday for 30 minutes with the water at 80ºC at a volume of 355 mL. This time, I didn't take the straw out so that the temperature change could be lessened. 

I felt less stressed about messing up on this lab–rather, I felt excited and confident that I could do well. So, I readily poured the water into the Styrofoam cup and then sealed the thermos without removing the straw. Next, I recorded the temperature from 80ºC to 72.5ºC, thus a 7.5ºC change. This was 2ºC higher than the temperature of the water after 20 minutes on Monday. I speculated that since the water's temperature on Monday after 30 minutes could be 60ºC, the temperature of the water on Tuesday after 30 minutes could possibly be a 12.5ºC change from Monday's possible temperature.

Although this speculation is possible, it is true that since Monday's results were less than that of Tuesday's–even during 20 minutes of Tuesday's lab–the results improved because more insulation was added to prevent less heat from running away.

During this week, while I was doing my lab, I finished up my presentation. I thought I did really well on it. On the presentation, I added information on the materials I used, and I gave a brief explanation for each and explained why they were used. I defined what a thermos was in the first slide to demonstrate its overall purpose, which is to retain energy and keep temperature constant. Next, I recorded information on the lab and the temperature changes from the pre-lab, Monday's lab, and Tuesday's Lab. I also made graphs for the data from the labs, and I added pictures of my thermos. I also updated it over the weekend to scientifically explain that on Tuesday, the temperature change was less than that of Monday's because I added carpet insulation on the lid of the thermos, which retained more energy in, thus lessening the change in temperature.

Nov. 12-16

This week, I learned about heat and energy and temperature.

In the past, I used to confuse the three and said that they were the same thing. However, I learned that heat is the transferring of energy, whereas, the energy itself is just energy.

I also learned about how two substances of different affect the overall temperature and the amount of heat when they are separately put into two containers of the same liquid at the same temperature.

For example, the temperature of the 200 mL of water is 5ºC, and the two substances are each put into separate containers of water at the same temperature individually. The two substances are 40 mL of water at 50ºC and 80 mL of water at 25ºC. Using my prior knowledge on the direct relationship between temperature and energy, I noted that the 80 mL had less particle motion while the 40 mL had greater particle motion since its temperature was higher.

However, I wasn't so sure if having greater particle motion in a substance that was twice as hot and had twice the volume would increase the temperature of the 5ºC water.

Problem to solve in this experiment: How would both of the
containers of water (A and B) at different temperatures affect
the temperature of the other container of water (C)?

Yet, I hypothesized that the 40 mL of water at 50ºC would increase the water temperature more because I figured that temperature, not the volume, would play as a factor in increasing the temperature.

So, in a class experiment, my group and I poured the 80 mL of 25ºC water into the 5ºC water. The temperature increased to 7ºC. Then, we got rid of the water to measure the temperature of the water correctly, since we were measuring the change in temperature after adding the 40 mL of 50ºC water to the 5ºC water. The temperature increased to 9ªC.

Therefore, I hypothesized correctly that the 40 mL water would cause greater temperature change in the 200 mL water.

But, why did the water at 50ºC have a greater change in temperature than the water at 25ºC?

Well, let's consider that the 80 mL water had more water particles than the 40 mL, and the 40 mL water had greater temperature. The question is which one has the greatest amount of energy? Without a doubt, the 80 mL had the greater quantity of energy since the volume was greater, so there are more particles than in the 40 mL as well.

Data from Wednesday's experiment shows the water
from 0-200 seconds as more heat was added to the water.

But, why is it that the 40 mL caused the 5ºC water to have greater temperature change than the 80 mL? This is so because the temperature had a greater degree of energy to make particle motion greater, in contrast to the 80 mL, which had a lesser temperature, thereby a lesser degree of particle motion. So, if it were put into the 5ºC water, then the 80 mL water would give more energy input into the water than the 40 mL water.

The 40 mL, though, had greater degree of hotness than the 80 mL since the temperature was greater.

However, the greater quantity of heat was in the 80 mL since there were more particles and more energy, since the volume is greater.

Therefore, the degree of hotness (temperature) depends on the speed of the particles, NOT the number of particles. The 80 ml water lacked in speed, but had greater mass. so mass and speed determined its greater energy input. At first, my head was swirling around this concept, but this helped to sum up the difference between temperature and energy. The degree of hotness=temperature. The quantity of hotness=energy.

I further understood how energy functioned as I understood more about what it was. There are three principles about energy:

1. Energy is  a substance-like quantity that can be stored in a physical system.
2. Energy can be “transferred” from one system to another and so cause changes in the system.



Shows the concept that temperatures remain the same
even though energy is being transferred to another
system.

3. Energy still remains the same after being transferred.

But, energy is not substantial. You can’t touch it or measure its mass on a balance. However, it can be transferred as well as stored. The third point is important because in middle school, I thought of energy transformations as something changing into something else rather than it being lost or gain in a system. To clarify this, I considered the information metaphor in class: Is music still the same even if it were on a CD-ROM or on an mp3 player? Yes, it is. Therefore, even if energy moved in different ways, energy still remains the same. It doesn't change. So, when energy from the 40 mL of water was added into the 200 mL of water, its overall energy still remained the same. It was just added into the 200 mL, but it didn't quadruple like bacteria or break down like food during digestion. Thus, the quantity of energy can be changed, but the degree energy cannot be changed.

Nov. 5-9

This week in class, I learned how to measure atmospheric pressure using a barometer I made outside of class for a project, and how to mathematically find the pressure, temperature, volume, and number of particles.

Making my barometer for the project, I used the materials to make one: a jar, a balloon, scissors, an index card with mm markings, tape, and a straw. I used the scissors to cut off the round part of the balloon, blew into the balloon and then deflated it, wrapped the balloon on the rim of the jar, taped the straw onto the balloon, and taped the index card on the jar. From this project, I learned that a barometer measures air pressure.

On Wednesday, my class and I went outside to experiment with our barometers. As we went outside, the atmospheric pressure increased, so the barometer needle went up. The needle went up because outside, two factors played a role in atmospheric pressure: temperature and pressure. Since it was cold outside and there weren't many clouds in the sky, this meant that the cold air, denser than the warm air, pushed down on the warm air, or the warm air remained above the cold air. Thus, air pressure increased. Since it was cold outside, I figured the cold air pushed down, but not necessarily on the warm air. It may not have pushed down on the warm air because it is possible that the water evaporated because the air was warm enough to do so, and then the clouds condensed before the cold air pushed down.

I noticed that the needle on the barometer went up because the colder air exerted greater pressure on the balloon, thus accounting for the increasing downward force. Then, as the balloon is pushed downward, the needle goes up because of the elasticity in the balloon providing a counter upward force (torque) to lift up the balloon at the point where the balloon dips. I also learned that as we went inside, atmospheric pressure went down, since the atmosphere inside is mostly warm air. Thus, the decreasing pressure pushing onto the balloon causing the needle to go down.

This week, I learned how to do mathematical problems involving temperature, volume, number of particles, and pressure. I learned that the secret to do these problems is to keep in mind that when you are trying to find the change of one of the factors, you have to make that you keep them proportionately related to each other.

This problem involves volume and temperature. For example, a flask with water in it is on a hot plate (pressure and number of particles are constant). The temperature is 25ºC, and the volume is 50 mL. Then, in five minutes, the temperature is 50ºC. So, what is the volume? The fishy thing about this is that the temperatures are NOT in Kelvins. Thus, I converted 25ºC and 50ºC to Kelvins by adding them each to 273.15 since -273.15ºC is equal to 0 Kelvins.

Next, I set the temperature and volume as proportions since their rate of change is proportional. I then used the least precise number to make it easier to calculate the volume. So, I rounded 298.15 to 298 and 323.15 to 323.

Set them up in these steps: (Remember, x=temperature in Kelvins after the water has been heated. To set these proportionally, the initial temperature should be divided by the new temperature. So, the volumes have to be set up the same way since they both have direct relationships with each other.)

1. 298/323=50/x
2. 298x=50(323)
3. 298x=8075
4. x=52 mL.

The volume of the heated water after five minutes is 54mL, which supports the idea of expansion–the increasing temperature causes the liquid to rise, thus, the volume increases.

Next, I learned how to calculate pressure and the number of particles (temperature and volume are constant). For example, I have a syringe needle, and I have 5 puffs (particles) in the syringe needle. The pressure is 7 k/Pa. Then, I added 3 more puffs into the syringe needle in a closed system, thus increasing the number of particles. However, I had to convert to atm, or atmospheric pressure–air in the atmosphere exerts force per unit exerted onto the surface. 1 k/Pa=0.00986923266716 atm. So, 7 k/Pa=0.069 atm.

Next, divide the original number of particles by the new number of particles and set this equivalent to the original atm over x atm (x atm being the new pressure), since the number of particles and the pressure has a direct relationship.

Set them up in these steps:

1. 5/8=7/x
2. 56=5x
3. 11 atm=x

Thus, the new atmospheric pressure is 11 atm. Therefore, the greater the number of particles, the greater the pressure is.

Oct. 29-31, Nov. 1-2

This week, I have learned about the relationship between Kelvin and Celsius, how pressure and temperature affect the motion of particles, how low and high-pressure systems are caused, and reviewed last week's material for this week's assessment.

This week, we learned about pressure affecting the motion of a syringe needle using 2-liter bottle filled with water–one with a syringe needle in a closed system and the other in an open system.

I learned that as we squeezed the pop bottles, the syringe needles went down because the volume decreased, accounting for the increased pressure. So, these two factors caused the force to go upward. As the force reached to the top, there was even less volume to go up, since the syringe needle provided some resistance, so the force went downward since it was exerted onto the syringe needle.

But, since one was in a closed system and the other was in an open system, the one in the closed system went down easier since nothing went into the syringe needle and resisted the downward motion. However, in the open system, there was upward resistance in the syringe needle since some water got into it, but it wasn't enough to prevent the downward force since it had greater pressure than the upward resistance, thus causing the syringe needle to go down, but not as quickly.

This week, I also learned how the temperature affects the motion of particles in glow sticks. My group and I experimented with the different temperatures of water and put the glow sticks in the water. We found that the relationship between the brightness of the glow sticks and the temperature is that as the temperature increased, the brightness increased because the temperature increased the motion of particles and their traveled distances. However, the glow sticks in the cooler water didn't glow as much because the particles were more closer together, didn't move as quickly, and didn't move greater distances. Therefore, the temperature of the water affected the brightness of the glow sticks.

Understanding that particles have motion, I also speculated that there was a point where there wasn't any motion at all. I learned that Absolute Zero is the point where particle motion stops because at Absolute Zero, there is neither any energy input, nor is there any pressure.

The mathematical equation for Absolute Zero is:

Pressure=(pressure/Celsius)(Absolute Zero in Celsius)+(pressure when T=0ºC)

These are the steps to find Absolute Zero in this example:

Absolute Zero is -273.15ºC, or 0(K).

To convert Kelvin to Celsius: 

• kelvin = degree Celsius + 273.15  

To convert Celsius to Kelvin:

• degree Celsius = kelvin - 273.15

For the weekend, I am working on a barometer for a chemistry assignment. So in class, I learned that a barometer is an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure, and the liquid inside of it expands or contracts based on the pressure it measures. Although somewhat similar to a barometer because they are both instruments of atmospheric pressure, a manometer is an instrument that measures difference in pressure from atmosphere to system of gas, in contrast to measuring atmospheric pressure itself.

This week, Sandy was the major topic everywhere–on TV, in the news, in my journalism class–even in chemistry. Although it didn't cause the most damage, it was considered to be one of the worst hurricanes in history since it had the greatest air pressure. Since hurricanes occur in low-pressure systems, this caused hurricane Sandy to expand. A low-pressure system is caused by greater heat in the air, decreasing its density, causing it to rise and lowering atmospheric pressure downward toward the Earth's surface. As the pressure lessens, the moisture increases. The heat then causes storms to occur by causing the liquid water to condense, thus explaining why hurricanes move from the Gulf of Mexico to the coast.

However, in a high-pressure system, a hurricane would contract since pressure acts upon the hurricane and resists it. In a high-pressure system, a great deal of pressure is pushing down on the Earth's atmosphere, thus discouraging the formation of storms and hurricanes, since cold air is more dense than warm air; causing the warm air to go downward while the cold pushes down upon it. That's why it's bright and sunny in a high-pressure system.

Kinetic Molecular Theory is the overall theory that supports what we learned in class about particles, states of matter, energy and motion, temperature, volume, and pressure. Particles are always in motion, particles in liquid collide with container, change in energy affects motion, all states of matter involve particle motion, matter exists in three states of matter, increasing temperature increases particle motion, and volume and pressure have an inverse relationship.

Review from last week:

Volume and temperature have a direct relationship.

Volume and pressure have an indirect relationship.

Temperature and pressure have a direct relationship.

The number of particles and pressure have a direct relationship.

Oct. 22-26

In chemistry this week, I learned about expansion, contraction, and the relationship between pressure, volume, temperature, and the number of particles.

On Monday, I was reviewing with my class the ethanol and water experiment–both were heated on a machine over a certain amount of time and given energy through the process of heating–and why the ethanol in the tube rose while the water didn't. The answer is expansion. Expansion is when a liquid takes up more volume as its volume is increased by more energy input through heating. Therefore, expansion occurred in the ethanol while heating occurred. The heating caused the particles to spread out over a longer distance, therefore, causing the ethanol level to increase.


Throughout the week, we learned the opposite of expansion–contraction. Contraction is where the volume of a liquid is going down as a result of it cooling down. As the liquid cools down, the particles get closer and closer together. They don't spread out. Therefore, the volume goes down as the particles become more densely packed from cooling.

The connection between expansion and contraction is how they affect the overall density as well as volume of a liquid. Through expansion, the volume increases, meaning that the density is going to decrease since the number of particles and mass remain the same with increasing volume. As for contraction, the volume increases. Therefore, the density will increase since the number of particles and mass remain unchanged with a decreasing volume. Therefore, expansion and
contraction affect not only the volume
of a liquid, but also its density.


Yet, the heat could have caused the water to evaporate and perhaps the ethanol. However, both tubes had stoppers, thus preventing anything from entering or leaving the system. But, the question is: What prevented the liquid from coming out the tube? Well, I speculated that gravity and the attraction (suction) between molecules could have collided the air particles with the water particles. But, what really prevented the water from coming out the tube was pressure–as a pushing force between the air particles and the water particles. Pressure is the physical force exerted from one object onto another object, which can be represented by the formula: pressure=force/given area. In this case, the air particles exerted their physical force onto the water particles.

Pressure, though, is affected based on the force exerted onto the area, which means that the greater the area or volume, the less the pressure. If the area were less, though, then the pressure would be greater. Pressure is affected because the greater the area is, the greater the resistance to apply pressure is. Therefore, the pressure is less than if there were a lesser area that pressure would exert with less resistance.


Throughout the week, the focus was on pressure, volume, temperature, and the number of particles, which were utilized in four experiments including: volume vs. temperature, pressure vs. volume, number of particles vs. pressure, and the number of puffs vs. pressure.

The relationship between volume and temperature was a direct one. The greater the temperature was, the greater the volume. The reason for this is because the greater the temperature, the greater the energy input through the process of heating. This would cause the particles in a liquid to separate farther from each other, thus increasing the volume.

In this class, there were four experiments. My group and I did puffs vs. volume. During the experiment, we used 2 puffs for every mL. So, the data was this:

1/4 puff=228 k/Pa
1/2 puff=220 k/Pa
1 puff=116.14 k/Pa
3/2 puffs=69 k/Pa
2 puffs=63 k/Pa

Therefore, the relationship between Pa (pressure units) and volume is that the greater the number of puffs, the less the pressure. These findings make sense because the volume and pressure are inversely related. Therefore, the more the volume is, the less the pressure is.

Like the puffs lab, the pressure and volume were inversely related to one and another. The greater the volume is, the less the pressure is. This is so because the mass and
the number of particles
remain the same, so if
the volume increases,
then the pressure would
decrease.

The relationship between temperature and pressure is that since increasing temperature would increase the volume, then the pressure would decrease. Therefore, the more the temperature is, the less the pressure is.

The relationship between the number of particles and pressure was direct. Thus, the greater the number of particles is, the greater the pressure is.

However, temperature doesn't influence the number of particles and vice versa because temperature doesn't determine the number of particles. Nor does the number of particles determines the temperature.

Oct. 15-19

This week, we learned about the motion of particles in solids, liquids, and gases, how energy and heat affect the motion of particles, and the different motions of particles.

First, I learned about the different motions of particles. The three types are: translational motion, rotational motion, and vibrational motion. Translational motion is the motion of particles moving side to side. For example, particles in a solid move side to side. Rotational motion is the motion of particles moving from one point around and back to its initial point. For example, when liquid particles are heated, they move rotationally. Vibrational motion is the motion of particles moving through particles.
For example, heat causes gas particles to move.

This week, I learned about sublimation. Sublimation is the process of matter turning from a solid to a gas, thus skipping the step of turning into a liquid. Mr. Abud demonstrated to us the dry, for instance. It turned from solid dry ice to dry ice with steam coming out. So, my group and drew particle diagrams showing before and after its conversions using the movements of particles. Before, the particles moved left and right. But, after it turned into gas, the movements went in all different directions since gases can spread from one place to another.

I learned, therefore, that particles in solids do move, thus challenging the previous belief that the particles in a solid did not move. Essentially, they move back and forth, left to right. Mr. Abud showed us a cartoon showing particles moving in this fashion as they danced. The connection is that in all solids, particles do move.

Next, I also learned that solids are rigid, meaning that they hold their own form and shape, since the molecules are attracted to each other. Therefore, they have no fluidity, meaning that the particles don't flow and move.

On the other hand, liquids and gases have fluidity. A liquid cannot hold its own shape except when it holds the shape of the container it's in. Otherwise, liquids flow because the motion of particles is faster, and they go in different directions; yet, they are also repulsed and held together. However, as the liquid flows, the distance increases. But, gases move faster than liquids and move greater distances.

The motion of the particles in these three states of matter vary because of how heat affects the motion of these particles. Heat is a form of thermal energy–it is just another form of energy transfered through heating. It is the same thing as energy, except energy is stored. Heat makes the particles move faster, therefore making a substance more less viscous, meaning that the particles become less resistant to move. The more heat the substances, the more energy they are receiving to put the particles in motion. For example, hot fudge that is melted is less viscous than hot fudge that hasn't been melted. The melted hot fudge will flow at a quicker rate since the heat enables the motion of particles to take place at a greater rate and distance. However, the unmelted hot fudge will have a slower motion of particles, meaning that it will move at a lesser distance at this rate. Therefore, if solid, liquid, and gas particles are heated, then the particles move faster with greater energy at greater distances at this rate with greater energy.

Also, what affects the motion of particles is temperature. Temperature is the measurement of the average amount of energy for all particles in a system. This means that the greater the temperature, the greater the amount of heat and energy. Therefore, a greater temperature gives more heat and energy for the particles in any state of matter to move faster. Temperature doesn't directly affect fluidity and viscosity–heat and energy do. But, temperature is like a gateway for heat and energy to affect
these factors.

The connection between these three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) is that since the motion of their particles vary, their densities vary also. For example, since a solid is rigid and the particles stay closer together in a lattice work pattern while still in motion, they have the greatest density since the space between the particles is less than that of liquids and gases. Liquids, though, have lesser densities than solids, but densities greater than gases. Since the motion of the particles in a liquid are quicker and the particles move in different directions, the space between them is greater, therefore, the density is lesser. Gases have the least density because the space between their particles is the greatest since the particles can move faster than the particles of a solid and liquid.