Chemblog!

Today was Day 1 which means extra help is available before school from about 7:30 till the first period bell (same deal on Day 4). Total customers: 2 (kudos to them!).
Very few Regents students have come to extra help before or after school to review their first test. That is a bad sign and I hope that there will be a change before the next test. When the test results are very good, I don't expect many students at extra help but, when the results are poor, there should be standing room only, SRO, in 229...

AP: we finished the gas laws although, on Monday, I will elaborate a bit more on our buddy Avogadro. We then twisted the ideal gas law into molar mass form and density form; then, we finished with some gas stoichiometry. Very nice and, yes, I now will grade your last exam. Monday, we will do a small segment during class called, "AP Question 4". I will give you eight sets of reactants and you will predict the products and write the net ionic equation for the reaction. Big fun. By May, you will be absolute WIZARDS at predicting chem reactions a.k.a. descriptive chemistry. You will amaze you (haha).

D and G Honors: We finished up Dalton's Four Postulates by drawing them out and discussing them. We then discussed Dalton's Laws of Constant Composition and his Law of Multiple Proportions which he discovered via his work with gaseous compounds (which was inspired by his fascination with weather; go figure).
On Monday, we will discuss the basis of the atomic mass scale and the "mole", which is just a name for a particular number just as "dozen" means 12. Then we will go to the fascinating Thomson Model of the Atom and then the later Rutherford Model of the atom...there WILL be video. I will discuss the last test with both classes on Monday, also...make sure that you heed my advice for the next exam. These aren't suggestions.

E: Regents- we did yet another percent abundance problem but this time we did the example with decimal notation which you might prefer (or not). The answers to some of the worksheet problems are in decimal form for percent abundance.
We then discussed and drew Dalton's Postulates of Matter. For lab, we went through the scientific standard for recording data: you MUST record data to one MORE decimal place than is marked on the instrument. For example, our pan-balance scales have physical marks to the hundredth of a gram so ANY measurement of mass with those scales must be recorded to the THOUSANDTH of a gram...EVEN IF the cursor is DIRECTLY (according to your reading at eye level) on a line/mark on the scale. So, if you see the cursor at "EXACTLY" ten grams on our scales, you must record that
as 10.000 grams.
We also discussed the ALL-IMPORTANT "accuracy"=truth versus
"precision"=detail/number of decimal places in a measurement. Accuracy and precision do not necessarily have ANYTHING to do with each other. Of course, at best, we like accurate AND precise measurements but, in science, accuracy usually is more valuable.
Lastly, we went over lab safety devices and locations; bring the lab safety agreement in your lab folder on the next DAY 1.

Honors G: thanks for bearing with me during my rant about "theory" vs. scientific theory...it is a very important distinction though. Today we covered three of the four Dalton Postulates on Atoms and Matter; we DREW examples showing the physical meaning of each postulate.
Honors D: we reviewed and then finished the Four Dalton Postulates and drew examples of each; we then discussed/explained the Law of Constant/Definite Composition for any compound; we also began to discuss the Law of Multiple Proportions- I will give you a good example of that tomorrow (same for G period).
We discussed the crucial distinction between accuracy and precision and also how to record lab data based on the precision of the lab equipment. Tomorrow, we will make and record some measurements also.

Regents: we did a couple of atomic mass calculations and then we used the same formula to calculate the percent abundance of each isotope of an element (our problems will be limited to two isotopes when we calculate percent abundance).

Look to the website for worksheets. IMPORTANT: if there is a section of a worksheet that we did not yet cover in class, just skip that section until we do cover the material in class.
Last call for Orange Review Book checks. Thanks.

AP: describing, graphing, and explaining the gas laws. Tomorrow, we get into the gas law equations and permutations thereof.

I haven't done this before but it may be helpful to both of us to read a daily recap of class material so, here goes:
Day 13 (yes, this was our 13th day of school!)
AP: we had our mammoth stoichiometry exam which covered just about everything since day one. I removed from the final test draft a disproportionation redox balancing in basic solution question and a percent composition to empirical formula (involving a 4 element compound) question. Expect one or both of those questions on the next stoichiometry test.

Regents: after doing some more subatomic particle calculations of isotopes of atoms, cations, and anions (the class seemed to do that easily, which is a good sign), we learned how to calculate the atomic mass of an element given the percent abundance of each isotope and the respective atomic mass of each isotope.
Tomorrow, we will learn how to calculate the percent abundance of each isotope if we are given the atomic mass of the element and the atomic mass of each isotope of that element.
Look for a worksheet on the class website for practice with these formulas.

Honors D,G: we finished our calculations of the percent abundance of each isotope of a given element given the atomic mass of the element and the atomic mass of each isotope of that element. Look for a worksheet on the class website for practice with these formulas. We then began a discussion of atomic theory; we will learn about all of the evidence and major experiments that led to our current atomic model.


You will need to understand and write an explanation of EACH experiment, the evidence collected, and how the evidence was consistent with each proposed model of the atom. I will be showing you videos and illustrations of these famous experiments.
D period has a lab tomorrow. We will continue with lab safety and measurements. Bring your lab notebook so that you can record crucial information on how to make measurements in experiments and what those measurements mean regarding accuracy and precision; those words are NOT synonyms!

Regents/Honors: Thanks to those who informed of the GIANT-sized page 2 of the lab safety agreement. I took the link off of our class webpage for now. I will resize the document correctly and post the link again by tomorrow. Do not try to answer the questions on page three, yet. We will discuss them before our next lab.

Honors and Regents: download the "Lab Safety Agreement", read it, and get it signed by a parent. Put the agreement in a folder and bring that into class before Friday. The agreement will be the first document in your lab folder, which will be filled with the requisite labs as we progress through the course.

Reminder: the Orange Review Book order was sent out today. If you didn't hand in your $13 check, you must get your check in IMMEDIATELY. There will be one late order soon and, if you miss that, you will not have a required and important resource for this course (the book is particularly helpful in prepping for class tests!).

AP: test on day 6. Make sure that you put in a lot of practice and repetition; with that, most find this unit not too difficult- everything comes down to balanced equations and moles. Be ready for redox balancing, reaction types, gravimetric analysis, volumetric analysis, consecutive reactions, combustion analysis, limiting reactants, and good old mixture problems. Cheers.

Whether I have good news or bad news, I will let you know. The Regents class results for the first multiple-choice exam were very poor. The obvious explanation is a general lack of effort and study. Let me remind you:
I stay after school EVERY SINGLE DAY, usually until the late buses leave. I am also in Room 229 before school @ 7:30AM on Days 1 and 4. There is an unbelievable amount of extra help available to you. If you do not take advantage of the help, you may find that your results will not change, which will make neither of us happy. While I observed well-attended extra-help sessions among the other teachers' Chem Regents classes, NOBODY in my Regents class came to my daily extra help even though most of you needed to.
What is most appalling is that all of the test questions were directly covered in the notes, worksheets, and homework (which will always be the case). All of the answers were available to you. I estimate that most of you did little to NONE of the homework so that you went into this test not even knowing what you did or did NOT know.
Hear me and mark my words, future tests will be of similar difficulty. You have to learn to be prepared otherwise the only consequence will be failure; your quarter grade is primarily determined by these tests and that is NEVER going to change for any reason. It is your responsibility to learn the material. I have proof that I taught the material as I can show you verbatim from the notes and hw where each question came from; I also have a long record of proven teaching success so do not ask or expect me to fix what isn't broken.
I expect and will look for any student who did not do well on this test to attend extra help regularly (if not daily); I also expect you to write out corrections to this test so that you learn and understand the material after the fact so that you can at least apply the information when you take the Regents exam.
I hope to have better news after the next test.
I am presently disappointed and you will hear more about this on Monday.
-Mr. Cicale

Honors: the test tomorrow is worth 60 points. Make sure that you underline, highlight, or circle ONLY the key words in each question as you read each question twice or three times to make sure that you understand the question.

IMPORTANT: What is the difference between a DESCRIPTION and an EXPLANATION?

A question that asks for an explanation or a justification requires that you tell HOW and/or WHY something happens.
A question that asks for a description requires only that you tell WHAT happens.

For example, if a car accident occurred, you could be asked for a DESCRIPTION of WHAT happened or you could be asked to EXPLAIN why and how the accident happened.

Description: the Honda was traveling due east and the Volvo was traveling due west in the same lane as the Honda. The two cars then crashed head on as neither car swerved to avoid each other.

Explanation: the Honda driver was on his cell-phone and was thus distracted from the traffic ahead of him; the Volvo driver knew that he was in a very safe car and he wanted to test out his air-bags by colliding with another car so he drove on the wrong side of the road looking for an unsuspecting victim. Once the Volvo driver spotted the Honda driver, he headed for the Honda's grill and, since the Honda driver was checking a text message on his phone and not looking at the traffic ahead, he did not move his car to avoid the crash that ensued.

Remember that labeled drawings/illustrations are a helpful PART of any answer but, unless the question asks ONLY for a labeled drawing, the drawing must be followed by a written description/explanation of the drawing. The drawing is just a great way to organize and visualize your thoughts.

Keep studying- that means practicing your WRITING- and good luck tomorrow!

Regents- 33 multiple choice questions tomorrow for the first 100 points of the quarter; you MUST read, identify and then CIRCLE or UNDERLINE the key words in each question so that your answer matches what is specifically asked for. Failure to do so will result in a 20 point deduction from your test score. Always try to write out and predict an answer whenever you can BEFORE you consider the answer choices. This practice will keep you from choosing distracting and wrong answer choices.
There are additional practice questions with answers in your Barron's "Let's Review: Chemistry" blue soft-cover review book. Just read pages 2-4 and answer questions 1-5 on page 21; the answers are on page 461.

Study all notes, powerpoints, videos, worksheets, and text questions. Good luck tomorrow!

Great opening day for Ultimate Frisbee, today; weather was great and the game was fun though we were zombies at the end. Ultimate will officially be on Wednesdays with occasional pick-up games on demand other days while the weather still rules.
I just found out today that I can reserve some field time on our brand-spanking-new amazing football field so Ultimate is about to get even better. If there are some good artists/designers among you, perhaps you would like to help to design our club shirts for this season. If you missed today's game, girls and boys, be at the school Commons (just outside the gym) at 3PM next Wednesday.
Mahalo.

Honors:
You will have a written test on the Matter and Energy unit. The test will be 5 to 8 written-response questions (no multiple choice); you will have 30 minutes for this exam though, on future exams, you will be allotted the whole period.
Experience from past classes has shown that most students do not know how to write an explanation. Also, some students do not yet use proper spelling and grammar. Spelling and grammar COUNT on all of the exams in this course! Go to the class webpage and download the file "Words that you are not allowed to misspell..." and write the words a hundred times if you have to because you will lose points each time you misspell those words. If you cannot express yourself clearly, you will not receive credit for your answers. You should have a decent command of English so that you may express yourself logically and unambiguously. My first writing tip: NEVER use pronouns in your answers. If you take the chance and you do use a pronoun that does not DEFINITELY refer to one and ONLY one noun in your sentence, then you will not receive credit for your unclear answer. So, be safe: avoid using pronouns unless and until you are expert at using them.
Here is a sample explanation to a question showing key features that are required in order to earn credit on any written exam in this course:

Explain the difference between the effect of a chemical change (reaction) and a physical change on the physical and chemical properties of substances. Give an example of each effect.

Answer:

(Start off by DIRECTLY answering what is asked for!) A chemical change will affect BOTH the physical and chemical properties of the substances that undergo the chemical change. For example, hydrogen and oxygen can undergo a chemical reaction (change) to form water. Water has different physical AND chemical properties than hydrogen and oxygen. With respect to physical properties, water is a liquid at room temperature whereas hydrogen and oxygen are not. Also, water is denser than either oxygen or hydrogen. With respect to chemical properties, water does not react/ combust with oxygen but hydrogen does react/combust with oxygen. Therefore, chemical change altered BOTH the physical and chemical properties of the reactants hydrogen and oxygen as they chemically combined to form water.
A physical change will ONLY affect the physical properties of a substance that undergoes the physical change. For example, MELTING is a physical change; when solid water melts to become liquid water, the chemical composition of water, H2O, does not change upon melting proving that a physical change, NOT a chemical change occurred. Liquid water has a different density than solid water (which is why ice cubes float on liquid water!), therefore, the physical property of density is altered as water undergoes a physical change. HOWEVER, liquid water and solid water have THE SAME chemical properties! They both do not react with oxygen, they both do react with sodium or potassium metal (as seen on the video on the class website). So, a physical change alters ONLY the physical properties of a substance but NOT the chemical properties of a substance.


Now THAT is a decent answer to a question because it
1. answers exactly what is asked for
2. provides specific supporting examples
3. concludes logically from the evidence and scientific definitions

One additional feature of most correct answers that I did not feature above is a LABELED DRAWING or ILLUSTRATION! Whenever possible, draw what you are describing or explaining FIRST! It is much easier to answer a question when you can refer to your drawing and/or draw arrows to the drawing indicating what you are describing.

Heed this advice before Friday and practice your written responses.

Regents: Though you will have a multiple-choice exam, you should heed the above advice for any test that you are taking in your classes. For your test, make sure that you understand any of the assigned hw questions / worksheets as well as anything from the notes/videos/powerpoints. Your exam will be between 25 and 33 questions.

Regents and Honors Classes:
We will be ordering the Prentice Hall Soft-cover Chemistry Review Book (heretofore known as the "Orange" review book) on Friday. By Friday, bring in a check for $13 made out to St. Anthony's High School. If your parents are coming to school on Thursday night, they can give me the check then. The school is taking checks only .
We will be using the review book extensively throughout the year. The book order is only going out once and these books aren't available at commercial bookstores so be sure to bring in your check by Friday.
Thanks very much.
Mr. Cicale

I suggest further practice on combustion analysis for those who had trouble with that question type. Combustion analysis to empirical and molecular formula WILL be on the AP exam as well as on the next few in-class exams.
Try this link.

AP: we hit the ground sprinting this week and, judging from the in-class performance, we are off to a very good start. Our first exam is Monday, Day 6, of course. The exam begins at 7:30 AM and should run until 9:00 AM (if you need ten minutes more, that's okay). The exam covers the summer assignment: the College Board objectives from the first three chapters as well as the assigned Regents and the organic chemistry worksheets. After the exam, you may take a break and then we will do a qualitative analysis lab that relies on your knowledge of solubility rules.

Regents and Honors: we will finish the "Matter and Energy" unit by Tuesday and have a unit exam by next Friday. There are worksheets, videos, and powerpoints on the class website. Do the worksheets and view the videos and powerpoints; email me if you have questions or have questions ready for class on Monday. By next Friday, make sure that you understand the answers to all of the homework and worksheet questions. If you do not, you should come to extra help.

Honors will also have an elements/element symbols quiz on Tuesday on the elements of the first 4 Periods, that is, elements 1 through 36 (Hydrogen through Krypton); the quiz will have the same format as the quiz from last Tuesday.

Have a good and restful weekend.
Mr. Cicale

Greetings to my new classes.
Just a reminder that, on Tuesday, the Honors classes will have a brief quiz on the first 18 elements. Know the symbols and CORRECT spellings (e.g. F is NOT FLOURINE, it is FLUORINE). All of the elements with the correct symbols and spellings are on the inside back cover of your text; you can also try this website, which lists the elements:
http://www.chemicalelements.com
AP has the section 4-1 reading and questions 4.21 through 4.24 on solubility rules.
The Regents and Honors classes should get their course requirement sheets signed; the signed sheets will be collected on Thursday.

I have a very good general first impression of all of my classes and I look forward to a successful year of Chem with you all.
-Mr.Cicale

Good to see most of our AP class this week @ orientation. Seems that you didn't have many problems with the summer assignment. I know that justifying your answers can be tedious but it will always be important to show your reasoning because:
1. you must prove that you aren't just guessing a correct answer
2. you must demonstrate that you are correct due to relevant and legitimate reasons.

Such are the burdens of scientific reasoning and "forensics"...
fo·ren·sics
n. (used with a sing. verb)
1. The art or study of formal debate; argumentation.

In case you need a few more worked-out examples, here is a link to some stoichiometry tutorials:
http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Mole/Mole.html

We will be doing some combustion analysis questions in class forthwith in addition to any summer assignment question types that you want to review.
See you Monday!