11 Chem, week 2 - Compounding Knowledge
Hey y'all, it's Liam again. Let's go straight into it!
First up this week: compounds! Exciting times. The first big issue of the week was ionic bonds, which are made up of (say it with me) a metal and a nonmetal! Like NaCl (Sodium Chloride), which is regular ol' table salt. Ionic compounds are kinda like gangsters that become buddies (after, of course, the nonmetal Mob Boss mugs the metal Street Kid.) Side note: if you ever have an issue remembering concepts, create stories out of them. I know it sounds childish, but it really helps!
Covalent bonds were next. I like to think of these compounds as a couple at Build-A-Bear. One person can find the stuffing machine but not the hearts, one person can find the hearts but not the stuffing machine, and together they can make a whole Bear! And then share it. (because what else would they do with it?) I loved making the Lewis Dot diagrams as they were one of my favourite parts of grade 10 chemistry (other than balancing equations) and they helped me in my understanding of the concept of how covalent compounds work.
Oh, also: it would be nice if within one of the modules hypervalent molecules were talked about a bit in the course material. I didn't come across any reference to such molecules until I looked it up, and as we didn't learn about these in grade 10 I thought I had made a mistake. (When I looked them up I had just found one in the Lewis Dot worksheets).
Finally, the experiment!! Getting to do the lab experiments with water, salt, and sugar was both fun and informative. The visuals of what happened when sugar was dissolved in water vs when salt was dissolved in water were informative, and taught me more about how covalent and ionic molecules act differently.
Update on the vibrating mouse: it sounds like morse code. Is it trying to send a message?
Thank you for reading, hopefully you found some joy with this nice peak into my chemistrical life (Is that a word? I don't think it's a word) and I hope to keep providing said entertainment until we finish our little journey together! As a side note, I'm quite new to blogging so please don't be perturbed by my lack of anything stylish. I'll try my best to learn how to do this right, even as the blinking red light on top of the mountain continues to blink.
First up this week: compounds! Exciting times. The first big issue of the week was ionic bonds, which are made up of (say it with me) a metal and a nonmetal! Like NaCl (Sodium Chloride), which is regular ol' table salt. Ionic compounds are kinda like gangsters that become buddies (after, of course, the nonmetal Mob Boss mugs the metal Street Kid.) Side note: if you ever have an issue remembering concepts, create stories out of them. I know it sounds childish, but it really helps!
Covalent bonds were next. I like to think of these compounds as a couple at Build-A-Bear. One person can find the stuffing machine but not the hearts, one person can find the hearts but not the stuffing machine, and together they can make a whole Bear! And then share it. (because what else would they do with it?) I loved making the Lewis Dot diagrams as they were one of my favourite parts of grade 10 chemistry (other than balancing equations) and they helped me in my understanding of the concept of how covalent compounds work.
Oh, also: it would be nice if within one of the modules hypervalent molecules were talked about a bit in the course material. I didn't come across any reference to such molecules until I looked it up, and as we didn't learn about these in grade 10 I thought I had made a mistake. (When I looked them up I had just found one in the Lewis Dot worksheets).
Finally, the experiment!! Getting to do the lab experiments with water, salt, and sugar was both fun and informative. The visuals of what happened when sugar was dissolved in water vs when salt was dissolved in water were informative, and taught me more about how covalent and ionic molecules act differently.
Update on the vibrating mouse: it sounds like morse code. Is it trying to send a message?
Thank you for reading, hopefully you found some joy with this nice peak into my chemistrical life (Is that a word? I don't think it's a word) and I hope to keep providing said entertainment until we finish our little journey together! As a side note, I'm quite new to blogging so please don't be perturbed by my lack of anything stylish. I'll try my best to learn how to do this right, even as the blinking red light on top of the mountain continues to blink.
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