Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Just when to Raffles Institution(RI) for the Inner Circle Programme-Chemistry in Action. Erm..it was really fun but there are concepts and reasons behind each and every experiment we did. Just to share with you a few experiments we did and the reason behind it. But generally, most of the lab activity we did on the first day was behind this concept-Exothermic and Endothermic Changes. 'Chim' eh? Want to know what is it? Okay, exothermic is the giving out of heat energy, causing a temperature rise in the surroundings. Endothermic is the taking in of heat energy and cool the surrounding environment. To prove that, we had to do 5 'tests', each 'tests' with 2 reactants. In each 'tests', we were supposed to mix the 2 reactants together and see if the test tube feels warmer or cooler and conclude if it's an exothermic or endothermic change.
Next we build 'stalagmites' using sodium acetate and deionised water. Then we pour the sodium acetate slowly over the sodium acetate crystals on the tray. We had a competition onto which pair had the highest 'stalagmites'. Supposed the boy and I had the highest 'stalagmites' but it was so fragile that it dropped in less than a minute. Sobs.. But eventually, no pair won as the 'stalagmites' are really really very fragile. Haha.. That was cool..
Actually I wanted to post about the termite reaction that we did, but it was a little complicated that me myself don't really understand the concept behind it. But I can briefly tell you what we did. Firstly, my teacher put 3 chermical (in powder form) together. Then she placed a magnesium ribbon down into the mixture and light the fuse. Soon, the mixture produced light, heat and sound energy. Sparks and Flames shot up and a extremely hot, glowing red solid was formed.
Another one was mixing 2 chemicals together and when the teacher off the light, the 2 chemical glowed in the dark. That was an exothermic reaction. Those 2 chemicals are use in glow stick to see in the dark, eg. caves, deep in the ocean.. Jellyfish and firely produce a similar type of light too. Another one was the mini 'bombs'. Real cool but real difficult to understand.
Last but not least, the most fun and exciting, the one and only outdoor activity.. For trial, we were given 6 alka-seltzer tablets (Each group), 3 buckets of water (whole class), a NeWater water bottle. and a rubber stopper. We were supposed to decide how much water, tablet to put and how much to shake. My group had a few tries and decided to put 125ml of water, 1 1/2 tablet and shake 13 times. And we had a competition, with above, my group won! Yay! The 'rocket'-water bottle shot 3 storeys high! PRo right? Haha.. We got a lollipop and a Periodic Table of the Elements, in Pictures! Hehe..
I had real great fun and true learning experience. Chemistry is cool but sort of difficult lah.. RI students are friendly and towering. Haha.. Long post~
A New Chapter Unfold..
3:57 PM
