The Octet Rule, Bohr Diagram, and the Lewis Dot Diagram

The Octet rule is a rule that states that atoms with eight electrons on the outer shell, tend to bond more easily, and that when an atom has 8 electrons on its outer shell, it is at its maximum capacity and the next electron will be placed on a new shell. For example Neon has eight electrons on its outer shell. The next element on the periodic table is Sodium with 11 electrons, two on the first shell, 8 on the second shell, and the last electron, because according to the octet rule, the second shell is full, the last electron goes onto a new third shell. a definition of the octet rule is; The observation that atoms of nonmetals tend to form the most stable molecules when they are surrounded by eight electrons (to fill their valence orbitals).Also, the route of the octet rule is Oct meaning eight. Some examples of the octet rule are; (see pictures).

http://www.learnchem.net/glossary/o.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octet_rule

The Bohr Diagram is a diagram of a specific atom, used to show how may elections, neutrons and protons it contains. You can also use the periodic table to help you make this graph. If you look at what row the element is in, you can figure out how many shells it has. If you look at the number on the element, you can see how many protons it contains. Also, it is the number of neutrons, and electrons. An interesting fact is that if you double the number, you get the atomic mass. The inner area of the atom contains ONLY the protons and the neutrons, and the shells contain the electrons. Note, that on the first shell, there is a maximum of 2 shells, and on any additional shell added there is a maximum of eight shells (see the example of Argon in the picture).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS4_WmgdMY0&feature=player_embedded

http://www.slideshare.net/profpaul/bohr-diagrams

The lewis dot diagram, or the electron dot diagram, is a drawing of an atom, used to sow how it can bond with valence electrons. valence electrons are electrons outside filled rings or shells. They are the outer electrons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3F7LjTvdX0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6QZRBIO0-o

http://www.mansfieldct.org/Schools/MMS/staff/hand/Chemvoc.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_structure

Green Plastics (reflection on Video)

ChemMatters - Episode 2: Plastics Go Green from ACS Pressroom on Vimeo.

Did you know that about 90,718,474,000kg, or 200,000,000,000lbs of plastic is manufactured every year? And that 20 present of that could be Bio-degradable, and Eco-friendly Bioplastic? what is Bioplastic you ask? Well, in this video from Vimeo.com,it tells us everything you need to know about this newly discovered plastic. Green Plastic, or Bioplastic, is a plastic made of of Corn, Sugar Cane, and Sugar Beets, and is supposedly the best way to go. Or is it? In this video the narrator talks about the good, and bad characteristics of Bioplastic. He also talks about were plastic comes form, how its manufactured, and what it is manufactured out of.

Like I said before, Bioplastic is made up of the sugar form Corn, Sugar Cane, Sugar Beets, and many others. This plastic, because it is made up of biological material, is more environmentally friendly, than traditional plastic. But is it all good?

Organisations like "Nature Works LLC", who manufacture Bioplastic, say it is the best way to go. That it is extremely environmentally friendly. It does not require any fossil fuels, natural gas, or coal, it can be used to make compost, it uses organic substances such as corn, and it does not cause water, or air pollution. What could be better right? Wrong. Yes, the product itself does not pollute, but look around it. To grow corn and other crops used to make Bioplastic you need pesticides, urbacides, and fertilizers, contributing to water pollution. Also, motor vehicles used for planting, cultivating, harvesting, and shipping crops use crude oil and release carbon dioxide and are mayor affects in air pollution. Also, Bioplastic factories may not use oil to make the plastic, but they use electricity that is made usually by using fossil fuels. Also, the risk of using too much farmland for plastic instead of food, could result in a food crisis, or famine. Some organisations might cut down forests and jungles to make more farmland, but thats not a solution either. Another thing is that when degrading in a compost pile it gives of CO2 and methane gas that is harmful to the environment. Sometimes even, instead of being used as compost, it is thrown away like the rest of the trash, and then dangerous gases get released into the air causing more air pollution. So Bioplastic is not as great and perfect, as it sounds.

Like I mentioned earlier, the production of Bioplastic creates a lot of chemical reactions. here are a few; Molecules (a group of two or more elements or atoms binded together), Monomers (a pair of molecules), Polymers (long chains or collections of monomers, Polymerization (linking different monomers to create irregular polymers), Condensation Reaction (when polymerization gives off a small molecule, every time a bond is formed), Addition Reaction (when polymerization is occurring, and molecules have double bonds or triple bonds), when Bioplastic is degrading it can give off CO2 or methane gas. In the video we saw a number of elements, but only a few were different. These were; Oxygen, hydrogen, Carbon, and element “R”. This just proves that multiple molecules, are made up of similar elements and make totally different results.

What is Water Anyway? (Reflection on Reading)

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/may/20-things-you-didn.t-know-about-water

On this site, I read about different facts about, water, drinking water factories, and doctors advices. 5 of my favorite facts were.

E. coli doesn't sound so bad. In 1999 the Natural Resources Defense Council found that one brand of spring water came from a well in an industrial parking lot near a hazardous waste dump.

I found this very interesting because, being a consumer, I should know what type of water i am buying, and were its coming from.

You can make your own water by mixing hydrogen and oxygen in a container and adding a spark. Unfortunately, that is the formula that helped destroy the Hindenburg.

This was very interesting because at first when I read this i wanted to try it out. But then when i saw what it did to the Hindenburg, I started having second thoughts. This is a shame because by making your own water, that is lean and drinkable, you could help many organisations around the world, like in Africa were they do not have access to clean water.

Scientists at Oregon State University have identified vast reservoirs of water beneath the ocean floor. In fact, there may be more water under the oceans than in them.

I think that this is a very funny fact because it is basically saying that they found water... under water, and they find it amazing. But it think that it means that they found drinkable water.

Without water, ocean crust would not sink back into the earth’s mantle. There would be no plate tectonics, and our planet would probably be a lot like Venus: hellish and inert.

This was a very interesting quote because it was something I only partially knew. I knew that the tectonic plates float on the water, but i did not know that it is used so as to cool the hot magma trying to escape the earths core.

Recent evidence suggests that when the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago, comets had liquid cores. If so, life may have started in a comet.

I think that this is the most fascinating fact of them all because it is the coolest one. If you would be born on a comet rotating around the sun at high speeds and passing numerous other comets, asteroids, stars and even planets. I also think that if we were able to attach a probe to the next comet that comes close to earth, we could check to see if there are any bacteria, frozen in the ice by taking a specimen, or if there is take a sample of water.

My five fact about water:

Most of the earth's surface consists of water; there is much more water than there is land.

http://www.lenntech.com/water-trivia-facts.htm

3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease.

http://water.org/learn-about-the-water-crisis/facts/

A lack of water to meet daily needs is a reality today for one in three people around the world.

http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/water/en/

Roughly 70 percent of an adult’s body is made up of water.

http://www.allaboutwater.org/water-facts.html

The average toilet uses 8 liters of clean water in a single flush.

http://matadorchange.com/40-shocking-facts-about-water

Going, going, gone (reflection on reading)

In this article the author(s) were talking about how rare the element helium is on our planet Earth. It talked about all the different organisations, and showed some facts about helium. it also talks about how helium is one on the most important substances on Earth that might become more rare than gold.

The element helium, though rare on Earth, is the second most common element in the universe after hydrogen. Helium, in space, over time creates stars, and sometimes even planets. Because of this, all planets and stars are full of helium, especially gas giants. Earth once had a great supply of helium that got boiled away by the suns rays. Over time the helium regenerated on Earth but is now once again being depleted, but this time by humans. One of the problems is that when helium is used, it is hard to contain, and usually escapes into the atmosphere.

Helium is an element used world wide. It is used by rocket scientist, engineers, and even ordinary people using them for a profit. they are used for liquid-fueled experimental rockets, semiconductors and optical fibers cannot be easily manufactured, and cryogenically cooled particle accelerators and medical MRI machines cannot function. Helium may also once be used as a fuel in future nuclear reactors. Ordinary people around the world are selling helium balloons for profits at a huge rate. Because of all these reasons, helium is depleting faster than it is regenerating. Scientists estimate that Earth will only have a supply of helium for only 40 more years.

There are few things that we can do to solve this depleting problem. and the solutions we have, will only help on a long term scale, but they will help. The main thing we can do is minimize the amount of helium balloons. Also, we could try, to send space probes, to gas planets, and try to collect some of the helium from there.

This problem does not only have to apply to helium. After helium is gone, people will find an alternative element, and the process will just repeat with different elements. for example, gold, which is very rare, and is soon going to be replaced by silver and diamonds.

Brake Fluid & Clorine Chemical

The first thing that happened was that the mixture let out a mass of fumes before lighting up into a fire. Then, the fire was suffocated in another round fumes of the same amount. At the end, the wight powder turned a grey-ish black-ish color.

Gummy Bear & Sodium Chlorate

Immediately after the gummy bear comes in contact with sodium chlorate, the sodium chlorate started to devour the gummy bear and burning it producing an extremely bright light before destroying the gummy bear completely.

Aluminum Foil & X

The solution is (at first) very still. then after about 15 seconds the bubbles start to rise and escape the tube. Soon after the once light blue liquid turns a very dark blue, and the white bubbles start turning gray and then into very fat, gray lava like substance. And then finally starts to give of gas before finally cooling off.

Liquid Nitrogen In a Swimming Pool (Water)

After the liquid Nitrogen touches the water it spreads and covers the entire top of the pool. The top then resembles son with smoke coming out. But then, as one of the crowd members jumps in we see that the water is still the same and the liquid nitrogen is merely covering it.

Sodium & Potassium In Water

At first you can see a very faint tail of smoke coming out of the water. then the sodium and potassium light up making a very bright yellow fire just before exploding. At the end many smoke fumes exit the glass wile it is cooling off.

Potassium & Water

When the potassium first entered the water it started to make a popping sound. Shortly after that, it burst into flames, and then turned pink and started to manurer in a circular fashion before going out.

Cesium & Water

As soon as the person in the video released the tine piece of cesium, and as soon as it made contact with the water, it bursted and made a lite show just like fireworks.

Lithium & Water

At first, when the lithium made contact with the water the water started to bubble as if it were boiled and then the little pebble-like piece of lithium caught on fire and started to move around in circles around the water and eventually stopped.

Bromine & Alcohol

The liquid in the bottle turned red, then started to bubble and give off smoke. after that the mixture rose, before it cooled of and retook its original volume and color.