Uncle Amedeo!

JANUARY 2012

Amedeo Avogadro was (1776-1856) was an Italian scientist who was born in Turin.  He came from a well-to-do family of lawyers and became a lawyer himself.  However, he was more interested in natural sciences and in 1800 began studying physics and math.  In 1809 began teaching science in high school in Vercelli.  In 1811, during his teaching teaching tenure he published an article which contains probably his most famous contribution to science aptly named Avogadro's law (a.k.a. Avogadro’s hypothesis).  In a nutshell, he proposed that the volume of a gas (at a given pressure and temperature) is proportional to the number of atoms or molecules regardless of the nature of the gas.

The number of particles in one mole of substance, 6.02 x 1023 , is known as Avogadro’s number in his honor and was never actually calculated by Avogadro due in part to the technology of the time but his understanding made it possible for later scientists to calculate it.  A rudimentary estimate was first proposed by Johann Josef Loschmidt in 1865 but was not measured accurately until 1909 by French physicist Jean Perrin

Avogadro's private life seems to be a mystery or at least scandal free.  He married Felicita Mazzé and had six children.  It has been suggested that he sponsored some Sardinian revolutionaries, who were eventually stopped by the announcement of Charles Albert's constitution in 1848.  Also, I have been unable to disprove the claim from my chemistry colleague, Antonio Ciccone (also from Italy), who keeps telling his students that Avogadro was his uncle.

sources:
chemistry.about.com
wikipedia: Amedeo Avogadro

Big Week in Chemistry Coming Up!

October 21 - 27, 2012 is National Chemistry Week (NCW) (sponsored by the American Chemical Society) and marks the 25th anniversary of the NCW program designed to promote the value of chemistry in everyday life.  This years theme is Nanotechnology: The Smallest Big Idea In Science and is a partnership between NCW and Nanoscale Informational Science Education Network (NISE).  Yes, a couple of tongue twisters.

Also happening this week is National Mole Day (sponsored by the National Mole Day Foundation)  which takes place 6:02 am and 6:02 pm on October 23 in honor of Avogadro's Number (6.02 × 10²³) which is a basic unit of measurement in chemistry (602-1023 is also my colleague's, Mr. Ciccone, phone number, or so he tells his students).  If refers to the number of particles in one mole of substance.

(from the mole day website)
For a given substance, one mole is a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the atomic mass of the substance.  For example: carbon has an atomic mass 12, therefore one mole of carbon is 12 grams.  One mole of substance contains 6.02 × 10²³ particles of that substance.  This relationship was first recognized by Amadeo Avogadro.  Thank you Amadeo!

sources:
American Chemical Society
National Mole Day Foundation, Inc
wikipedia

THIS YEARS FOCUS - MAY IT BE BETTER THAN THE REST

Every year our school system has a new focus, or directive, or panacea to save education, or whatever.  If I sound a little skeptical, it's because it usually involves more time and not very useful information.  All of this in the long run means less time assist my students and less time to develop and modify my classes.  Also, they usually end up scrapped a few years later.  However, this year I am more positive and actually think it might be useful.

Let me explain:
1) Each teacher(s) will develop a Benchmark Assessment (BA) for their subject.  The BA will be connected to appropriate Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and/or mimic some type of rigorous standardized test.

• Since chemistry as well as some other subjects are not part of the the CAPT Exam, the exam taken in 10th grade that Connecticut students are required to pass before they graduate, we (myself and Tony Ciccone) used the SAT II in Chemistry and the NY State Chemistry Regents to create our BA.  Also, we used the new (2014) AP Chemistry Big Ideas for our Standards.  Lastly, our assessment is designed to be 45 minutes in length.

• Four BA will be given beginning in October then in December followed by two more in the second semester.

• Since the assessment is comprehensive, the students are not expected to score will on the first BA but improve throughout the year.

• The expectation is that we will evaluate and analyze the results make changes to our instruction as necessary. 

2) Each teacher will use the school-wide learning expectation rubrics and develop authentic learning projects and consistent applications of grading rubrics.  

• We will evaluate and provide evidence of how we are using the data from our assessments to inform instruction for classes as well as individual students.

The analysis is the critical piece of this pie.  The hard part will be for the students to take them seriously, thus acquiring meaningful data.  I am hopeful that we will be able to modify and align our curriculum to the Standards as well which is why I think this years' focus is useful, although I think this is going to take more time than the powers at be think.

As a side note: 
The following year, teacher evaluations in Connecticut are supposed to be based 40% on standardized test scores.  YIPPEE!  ITS HERE - TEACH TO THE TEST!!!  These BA will most likely serve as a basis for upper division subjects such as chemistry which there is no one standardized test that everyone in the state takes.  

This Month's Winner of the Coveted Award!

OCTOBER 2012

Just getting ready to start my unit on atomic theory I have selected Marie Curie (1867-1934) as this month's Featured Scientist winner.  She was born Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland to well-know teachers.  While growing up in Poland the young Maria was sent to a boarding school for primary education.  Because most higher educational institutions at the time did not admit women, Maria and her sister attended a Flying University which operated in Poland.  In 1891 she along with her older sister went to Paris.  Once there, she took classes at the University of Paris (Sorbanne) and tutored eventually earning a degree in Physics in 1893 and Mathematics in 1894.  

Around this time she became romantically involved with French physicist Pierre Curie and eventually married him.  At first they worked on separate projects, however, they soon took up interest in the work of Henri Becquerel, a French physicist who discovered that uranium casts off rays.  Marie theorized the rays were due to the atomic structure of the element.  This opened the new field of atomic physics and she coined the phenomena radioactivity.  She and Pierre would later discover the elements Polonium and Radium.  Marie shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre and Henri Becquerel making her the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.  Unfortunately Pierre was killed in a horse carriage accident 1906.  In 1911, she won a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry.  During World War I, Marie and her daughter Irene Joliot-Curie set up portable X-ray machines to be used in the field.  

  

sources:

wikipedia 

the biography 

Former winners of the Featured Scientist

STUDENT FINAL PROJECT REFLECTION

I have been assigning a Final Project for the the students to complete during the last week of school before final exams for the past three years.  The end of the year project morphed out of my original assignment which I gave after the first month of school and was to have students research a scientist who contributed to atomic theory.  This became rather boring for me since students kept choosing the same scientists from year-to-year.  Add to that, the students have not had that much chemistry yet so their knowledge was limited.  At the suggestion of Mike Sirowich, a.k.a. The Physics Teacher at Seymour, I moved the project to the end of the year for a couple reasons: 1) the students have more chemistry behind them so they can go more in depth with their research and 2) it is very difficult to hold the students attention during the final weeks of the school year.

Another change that I made from the early days was to open the topic of study list.  In its new form students can choose from the following list:

Topics: 
·      Explore the life and contributions of a famous chemist/scientist

·      A unit we have covered this year (atomic theory, electrons, organic molecules, etc.)

·      A topic and integrate content from several units (synthesis of a compound, distillation, refrigeration, etc.)

·      Medical or other devices used in chemistry (CAT scans, X-ray, PET, MRI, electron microscopy, GC, GC/MS, etc.)

·      Other topic/experiment with instructor approval 

This new approach has given the students more choices in what they want to do as some would rather do an experiment or research a topic.  Also new this year , thanks Mike, was having each student who did a group project assess each their team members.  They simply handed me a sheet of paper indicating what they did and what the other members DID or DID NOT do.   The last of Mike's ideas incorporated into the project was to create Google Form where each student comments and rates each presentation at the conclusion.  Students were able to link to the short form with cell phones or laptops.  This kept most everyone's interest throughout the talks and provided positive feedback to the students.


Highlights:
Of the 36 total projects, 12 were of scientists, 4 involved cooking or baking, 7 involved students performing experiments, and 11 were of various chemistry topics.  I learned many new things this year and found a new demo.

Students from Period A did a presentation on Newton, another team did Galileo, and  a third complimented the first two be doing the broad topic of Relativity.


Students from Period B did reaction experiments using Mentos and soda while another group made and filmed the chemistry of baking chocolate covered cupcakes.  They were delicious!


Students from Period G focused on topics such as X-rays and chemotherapy, however, one group baked pizza while another group attempted to see if there was a relation between Mentos and acidity in soda.  Could Mentos be used an indicator?  The results were indicated that it was not a good indicator.

Students from Period H mainly did scientists such as Einstein and Curie but one group made ice cream and another person baked bread.  Unfortunately she forgot to convert to Fahrenheit so we could not sample the product.

My AP Chem class (Period C) students focused on experimentation such as Mentos, chromatography, fire works, and wood gas.  Another student found a penny from the 1800s in her backyard and did experiments cleaning it.  The results indicate 6.0 M acetic acid with a concentrated salt solution works the best.  Lastly, a student synthesized nitrogen triiodide and then let it do its thing.  It is so unstable that when it dries any perturbation sets it off.  Spectators are treated to a loud explosion with purple smoke.  Unfortunately you never know when it goes off as the first batch went off unexpectedly during a different class.  I found a new Demo!

I would love to show off the students with their creations but our school district, as most are, is hesitant when showing students or even printing their names without parental notification.  In order to get that I would have to fill out paperwork in triplicate and send it home for the  parents to fill out as well.  Hopefully I will be able edit out names and such to show off some of their work.

Green Flame Reaction

I performed a favorite demonstration for my students recently where a white powder (boric acid) is mixed with small amount of methanol in a flask and then ignited, the result is an eerie green flame.   This year, however, I experimented with the time I let for the reaction to take place.  The results were noticeable.

Video 1 shows the first trial where boric acid and methanol were mixed for approximately 45 seconds before it was ignited.  The green flame lasted approximately 1 second the flame is much more green in person).

Video 2 shows the second trial where the mixture was shaken for approximately 74 seconds and then ignited.  The green flame in this trial lasted approximately 3 seconds.

I varied the reaction times for two other classes and obtained similar results.  So there you have it, vigorously shaking the mixture for longer times leads to a longer burning time for the green boric acid ester.

Boric acid has a wide range of uses other than serving as neat demos for chem teachers such as rat poison, antiseptics, acne prevention, and others.  Boric acid trimethylester (trimethyl borate) is used as a solvent for the production of waxes and varnish and such.

For those interested, the reaction is as follows:

 H3BO3 + 3CH3OH => B(H3CO)3 + 3H2O

This demonstration was modified from Bangs, Flashes, and Explosions – Illustrated Guide to Chemistry Demonstrations. ©2005 Chris Schrempp and ExploScience.com.

Reaching for Excellence: Clara Lazen

It is amazing to see that discovery can still be accomplished where the only tools are an imagination and wooden kits in this day age where high-tech computer modeling is so prevalent.  Although the testing to see if this molecule is stable was done with computer modeling.

It is especially amazing since Clara Lazen is only 10 years old.  Kudos to Clara and her teacher, Kenneth Boehr, who recognized that molecule could exist and sent it on to be tested.  Also, kudos to Robert Zoellner for for keeping the inspiration alive and publishing a paper that includes Clara and Kenneth.

Best Teaching Strategy

Had a good day on Friday (2/3). Two students came after school for extra help.  These were not kids from my honors class but from my lower level class.  In fact, One of the students failed last marking period (she works after school four days a week). I was especially happy she came.  After we went over relations and acids and bases, they were both very excited and thanked me for staying extra with them.

I use a variety teaching techniques and many different teaching strategies as most effective teachers do. However, in my opinion, the best strategy is to get the student to 'want' to seek out help on their own.

OUT OF TOUCH

I am currently reading ‘Oxygen: The Molecule that made theWorld by Nick Lane’.  I highly recommend this book as it is well written and very informative although a healthy bit of science will make the reading easier.  I have read some other very good science oriented books recently such as ‘AnOcean of Air’ and ‘The Disappearing Spoon’ that were much easier reads and geared towards less-science focused individuals.  I will review those books in the future.

Let me get back to being out of touch.  While reading ‘Oxygen’, early on in the book Lane mentions the ‘Snowball Earth’ hypothesis.  He describes this as being much more extensive ice age than the recent Pleistocene ice ages that most people are more familiar with.  These ice ages occurred during the Precambrian time are believed to have covered the earth with ice even at the equator.  There is growing evidence for this hypothesis including glacial deposits in equatorial regions, carbon isotope ratios, and banded iron formations to name a few.

I have Master’s Degree in Geology/Geochemistry and was floored by reading this.  I thought I was up-to-date on all the latest since I graduated recently.  Lane was writing this in his book as if it were common knowledge so I did some pecking around and discovered that the hypothesis started gaining traction in 1998 and more acceptance in the years that follow.  

So where was I?  For the last ten years I was teaching Chemistry and occasionally General Science thinking I was not one of the old guys.  As I said, I graduated recently.  High school in 1984, College in 1989, and Graduate school in 1992…