The Chemistry Unit Exam is on Thursday. It will cover The Law of Conservation of Mass, Chemical Bonding, and Acids and Bases and the pH Scale. In class today we began working on our chemistry review packet which is attached below.

In preparation for our exam Thursday, the last skill we need to master is balancing equations. We balance equations because the law of conservation of mass tells us that matter can not be created or destroyed and that the sum of the mass of all the reactants of a reaction must equal the sum of all of the products. 

We also briefly discussed neutralization reactions, that are the result of mixing acids and bases together to form a neutral solution. Two of these reactions are featured in the video to the right.

We continued our study of acids and bases today by creating a Venn Diagram of the two types of solutions, using a card sort and our whiteboards. We added to our understanding with a video and discussion. Students also wrote conclusions for their labs from yesterday. 

Today's colorful lab had students investigating the pH of different household chemicals as well as creating their own color coded pH scale. We used red cabbage juice pH indicator to create our scale. The video to the right further explains pH and some photos of our lab are below.

We spent the day making different molecular models including Bohr and Lewis Dot Structures. Today's worksheet is attached.
DOUBLE GOLD TAPE QUESTION: Identify the following molecule, what is it's name, what is it's formula, and why is it important?

In class today we continued our discussion of Covalent and Ionic Bonds and found that:
        Covalent Bonds are formed between non-metals and share electrons to form more stable compounds. "Equal" sharing of electrons forms a non-polar covalent bond whereas polar covalent bonds share their electrons "unequally." Covalent compounds do not dissolve in water, do not conduct electricity and form soft solids, liquids and gasses.

Today Mr. Houde continued our investigation into the structure of atoms and their bonds to form molecules. We read from the selection attached below and began exploring something called the Octet Rule, which tells us that an atom will do whatever it can to get 8 valence electrons, even if that includes sharing or stealing electrons from another atom (which is how bonds are formed)