Spencer+J

5-02-2010 ( I actually had this typed up at 2:00 in the afternoon but forgot to save it on the wiki) 1. What is the difference between a concentrated solution and a dilute solution? A concentrated solution has more of the compound present in solution and a dilute solution has less of the compound present. 2. What is the difference between a strong vs weak acid solution? In a strong acid solution, most or all of the acid molecules break down into protons and ions and in a weak acid solution, very few of the acid molecules break down. 3.

4-18-2010 1. Once a chemical system has reacted equilibrium, the concentrations of the reactants and products will remain the same because there is an equal amount of reactants becoming products and vice-versa, because that is what equilibrium is. The constancy of concentration does not contradict our picture of equilibrium being dynamic because both the reactant and the product are still reacting, but because it is happening equally, there is no change in their concentrations.

2. An equilibrium expression is written with the concentrations of products in the numerator in brackets and the reactants in the denominator in brackets. the number in front of the compounds becomes an exponent of it's bracket. this fraction is equal to K. But only the compounds that are gases are put into the equilibrium expression.

I2(g)+Cl2(g)<--->2ICl(g) [ICl]2 / [I2][Cl2] = K

2NO2(g)+7H2(g)<--->2NH3(g)+4H2O(g) [NH3]2[H2O]4 / [NO2]2[H2]7 = K

4NH3(g)+5O2(g)<--->4NO(g)+6H2O(g) [NO]4[H2O]6 / [NH3]4[O2]5 = K

3. Homogeneous: 2SO2(g)+O2(g)<--->2SO3(g) [SO3]2 / [SO2]2[O2] = K Heterogeneous: 2HgO(s)<--->Hg(l)+O2(g) [O2] = K

3-27-2010 Concentration affects the rate of reaction because in order for a reaction to happen, the particles of the reactants must collide. By increasing the concentration of the particles, the chance of collision is increased and that increases the rate of reaction. [|concentration affecting rate of reaction source]

Temperature affects the rate of reaction because particles can only react when they collide and when you increase the temperature of the particles, they move faster and collide more often. Temperature also affects how many particles have the activation energy needed to react, by increasing the temperature, more particles have the energy needed to react. [|Temperature affecting rate of reaction source]

A catalyst affects the rate of reaction by providing an alternative route for the reaction with a lower activation energy.

3-07-2010 If cleanup crews can reach the site quickly, they will typically use boats that either suck or scoop the oil into containment tanks. To prevent the oil from continuing to spread out, long floating booms with skirts that hang down in the water are deployed around the the spill. Sometimes cleanup crews use sorbents, or giant sponges that soak up the oil, or if the spill is far away from coastal settlements crews might use in sito burning, or setting the oil on fire. To minimize the affect of the oil on the enviroment, crews sometimes use dispersants, chemicals that quickly break down the oil.

Solubility is the amount of a substance that can be dissolved in a given amount of solvent. temperature has a large effect on the solubility of a substance, increasing the temperature increases the solibility and decreasing the temperature decreases the solubility. Stirring and the amount of suface area have no affect on the solubility of a substance.

Rate of dissolution is how quickly a substance dissolves in another substance. temeperature, stirring, and the amount of surface area all affect the rate of dissolution. increased temperature increases the rate of disolution as well as stirring and increased surface area increase the rate of dissolution.

2-21-2010 water is a strange compound in that it expands and becomes less dense when it goes from a liquid to a solid. Water also has a high specific heat, that means that it takes more energy than other molecules to raise in temperature. Compared to other compounds with similar molecular structure, water has an unusually high melting and boiling point of 0 degrees Celcius and 100 degrees Celcius. More compounds dissolve in water than in any other substance. More than half of all the elements can dissolve in water. Water has the second highest surface tension of all liquids. Only Mercury has a higher surface tension. Surface tension is the attractive force exerted by the molecules underneath the surface on the molecules on the surface.

http://www.pdhonline.org/courses/c104/Unusual%20Properties.pdf

2-14-2010 The greenhouse affect works by gases in the atmosphere absobing infrared light being reflected off the surface of the earth. molecules like CO2, H2O, O3, and CH4 absorb infrared light by bending, wiggling, and stretching. They do this because the charges are not distributed equally due to the infrared light hitting the molecule. Other molecules like N2, O2 and Ar have even distrubution of vibration when the light hits them, so they don't absorb any.

One statement that I've heard about global warming is that the ozone layer is thinning causing more UV rays to reach the earth and heat it up.

another is that the icebergs are melting at an alarming rate and might flood parts of the world like Florida if the sea levels raise

2-06-2010 [|Boyle's Law Demonstration] This video shows Boyle's Law by alternately increasing and decreasing the pressure in a sealed container with a balloon in it. When the pressure outside the balloon decreased, the volume of the balloon increased and when the pressure in the container increased, the volume of the balloon decreased.

[|Charle's Law Demonstration] This video demonstrates Charle's Law by pouring liquid nitrogen on a balloon full of room temperature air. When the temperature of the air decreases, the volume also decreases, thus the balloon shrunk quite a bit when liquid nitrogen was poured on it.

[|Three Gas laws, Charle's, Boyle's, and Gay-Lussac's] In Gay-Lussac's Law, as temperature of a gas increases, so does the pressure and the other way around as well. The maker of this video demonstrated this by boiling a small amount of water in a pop can. when all the water became water vapor, he poured it out into a jar of cold water, instantly turning it back to water and cooling it, thus decreasing the temperature, so the pressure also decreased and the can crushed inward from the higher pressure around it.

1-31-2010 [|TED conference Saturn presentation]

I chose this talk because I like to learn about planets and space. This talk was about The Cassini space probe and the information it unveiled about Saturn and two of it's moons, Titan and Enceladus. Cassini found that there is large pools of liquid methane on the surface of Titan, some as large as the Caspian Sea. It also discovered what could possibly be pockets of liquid water on the south pole of the moon Enceladus. If it is in fact water, there is a chance there could be life on Enceladus.

I was very intrigued by what I learned, although I already knew most of it from [|nasa] by reading articles that interested me. I absolutely love learning about space and other planetary bodies in our solar system.