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week 1: August 21

Learning Objective Summary:________________

This week was simply to introduce the class called chemistry. Chemical reactions are simply combinations of substances combining to form new substances, which have new, unique properties. Writing equations, making observations, and being able to predict the outcomes of reactions is all part of the class.

New assignments this week.

• Notes! Students were assigned the task of taking notes during Clark's lecture on Thurs/Friday. (see discussion at right: What is chemistry). Due on Monday.

Additional Resources.

• Why Science Major change their mind? Its just so hard.

Introduction to Mr. Clark. Main point was that he's been "on both sides of the fence".. the student in the "back of the class" who did no homework and just "skated by" and the "heading to CAL" student (for graduate school). The plan is to:

• first and foremost, to make the class interesting and accessable for everyone.
• to make it enriching for all, but to structure the class such that students who are planning on majoring in the physical sciences, will be successfull in their first year of college (i.e. not be in the 60% which fails their first-year "weeder" courses)
• to gain an appreciation for applied mathematics for modeling systems
• to better understand the patterns and systems that govern "how the universe works".

Class website, policies and grading.. first handouts welcome to class and grading philosophy

Discussion/Demonstration: What is Chemistry? Clark showed how Sulfuric Acid when added to powered sugar, results in a steaming mass of pure carbon spewing out steam. Along the way.. what are sugars? (carbhydrates) What are acids? (proton donors). How do we measure strengths of acids? (pH scale). Substances have properties.. Chemistry is the formation of new substances.

Also.. how to take notes. (Clark discussed how his former wife rose from the bottom of the college chemistry class to not only the top of the class, but ended up changing majors to chemistry and then transferred to UC Berkeley and was recognized as one of the top 25 undergraduate students at the school.. All because of how she took notes.)

week 2: August 28

Learning Objective Summary:________________

This week contiunued with new demonstration including sodium metal being dropped into water to produce hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide (and enough heat to ignite the hydrogen gas!) and the combustion of methane as an example of how hydrocarbons combust. This also served to introduce the concept of balanced equations in chemistry. .

New assignments this week.

• Chapter from the book: Uncle Tungsten. Chapter 4. The perfect metal. students are to annotate this reading, due NEXT Thurs/Friday.
• Mini lab/write up: Combustion 101. After listening to the discussion (see notes at right) and building models of the various molecules involved, students were to rewrite the entire sequence of ideas onto a new sheet of paper which might look like a text book. Due next Monday (August 29).

Demo/discusssion: Sodium is a metal which you'll never find in its pure form in nature. Its too reactive. Sodium dropped in water results in the formation of Sodium Hydroxide and Hydrogen gas, which is flammable. Along the way, we wrote out the entire equation including states of matter, discussed the properties of each substance along the way.

Discussion and introduction to first Unit. The History of rainfall in the Western Region. The Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum. RainWater Catchment systems. Central Marin Sanitation captures all of our water.

Introduction to our first unit: Fire ecology in California. Clark walked through a presentation introducting students to wildfirs and the risk of fire here in Marin County.

Lecture/Demo/Mini-lab: Combustion 101. The combustion of natural gas. In this demonstration, Clark filled an old paint can with natural gas (Methane, on this side of the hill). While the flame was burning Clark discussed patterns in compounds (like the structures of sugars) and in chemical reactions (like dehydration reactions and in this case, combustion reactions). Also discussed, was the concept of Natural Gasses, ( varying series of substances with differing lengths of carbon chains, collectively called Hydrocarbons and in this case specically, Alkanes) and their relative amounts of energy and other properties (such as the degree to which they exist as liquids, gasses or heavier oils/tars). After the flame finally went out, students discussed what they saw then proceeded to build models of the various reactants and products to both compare the three dimensional shapes of these molecules with the types of sketches we typically draw on 'the board' and to build an understanding of the concept of 'conservation of matter' (i.e. that the number of atoms doesn't change, only the arrangements they find themselves in).

Could Humans be causing another PETM?

week 3: August 29

Learning Objective Summary:________________

This week is the student's first pass at examining the Periodic Table of Elements and being introduced to Atomic Structure including the nucleus and the electron 'shells' which surround it.

New assignments this week.

• Video notes (messy). Students watched the first hour of the video Hunting the Elements. Notes due next Tues/Wed.
• Lab 1: Combustion of a candle: part 1.

Additional Resources.

• Oceans are absorbing most of Earth's excess heat
• Pakistan is flooding! This PBS news clip highlights the devistating flooding in Pakistan since June. They have received 400% more rain then they are used to, leaving 1/3 of the country under water and 33 million people displaced.

Monday. Discussion: Clark's grading philosophy. Clark spent most of this time discussing the grading rubric and showing examples of good work from previous years. (sample 1) (sample 2) (sample 3)

Introduction to the periodic table of elements and atomic structure. Clark walked through some of the basic patterns of 'reactivity' and properties of elements and introduced the basic structure of the table (atomic number, chemical symbols, atomic weights, etc)

Video/DVD: Hunting for the elements. (first 30 minutes only this week). This video explores a variety of metals, how they are mined and processed, and a ton of chemistry along the way.

Disscussion: Global Warming 101. Main points were that CO2 emissions are not just due to fossil fuels, but also due to industrial agriculture and cement production.. Interesting facts: Roughly50% of the CO2 being emitted is being absorbed directly by the oceans.. resulting in the formation of Carbonic Acid (causing creatures which build shells such as mussles, oysters and corrals to dissolve).. Also, the increased CO2 in the atmosphere is causing the atmosphere to warm up, but roughly 90% of the excess heat is being absorbed directly by the oceans.. AND to make matters worse, the abilty of the oceans to absorb to gasses (such as CO2 and O2, is a function of tempurature!).

Lab 1: Combustion of a candle: part 1. Students explored how a candle physically burns, noting that 'the flame' is limited to the wick, and not the entire top of the candle. (students will be given additional time next week to complete). (video showing flame testing for gasses)

The worlds 20 largest copper mines

week 4: Sept 05

New assignments this week.

• No new assignments this week.

Additional Resources.

• Review guide for Test 1.

No School on Monday. Labor Day Holiday.

Class time on Tues/Wed to complete Combustion of a candle lab. Clark also discussed the learning objectives for each of the 'experiments' described within the lab handout (as well as the 'math challenge' from last week's Combustion of Methane demonstration, to determine the ratio of gasses in the paint can at the moment of the explosion).. (note: The 'experiements' were designed to isolate the different components of the combustion process).

Thurs/Fri was last chance to finish the candle lab.. and we watched the next installment of the PBS Nova film: Hunting for the elements.

Announcment! First Test of the year will be NEXT Tues/Wed. (postponed from this Thurs/Fri)

Getting Started with Oxy-Acetyline torches.

week 5: Sept 12

New assignments this week.

• No new assignments this week. (but students continued taking notes on the video: Hunting for the elements)

Clark was out on Monday, students studied for test on Thurs/Fri.

Tuesday was Test day. Review guide for Test 1.

Next installment of Hunting for the elements. (focusing on Oxgyen this time).. and high explosives.. (Gun Powder, Amonium Nitrate and C4).. all of which explode/burn at different rates.

Introduction to heat. Clark discussed the concept of Specific Heat Capacity. This concept explores heat and tempurature as two related but different topics. The first law of Thermodynamics says that when a hot thing and cold thing come together, the hot thing will cool and the cold thing will warm until they reach Thermal Equilibrium. By using the Specific Heat Equatioon, we can know exactly how many joules of energy was transferred from the hot thing to the cold thing (the basis of our lab next week). .

week 6: Sept 19

New assignments this week.

• Lab: Hot bolt into Cold Water. (report due Oct 6/7)
• Article: In Hot Water. (annotations due Sept 29/30)

Additional Resources.

• Oceans are abosrbing nearly all of the worlds excess heat.

Monday: Clark reviewed last week's test. Main point was to use the review guide as a resource. It is designed to tell students what to know for the test.

Tues/Wed. Clark reviewed the specific heat equation and the idea that we can use that same equation twice when two substances come in contact with each other. First we use it for 'the water' (in this lab) to determine how much heat the water gained.. then we use it again, for the item that lost heat (a chunk of metal in this case).

Thurs/Friday: Introduction to MSWord (MS Office is free for students)

Finish the video: Hunting for the elements(notes due next Thurs/Fri)

Class Time to work on their paper (due Oct 6/7)

Heat absorbed by oceans has doubled since 1977

week 7: Sept 26

New assignments this week.

• Heat of fusion of ice
• Reading: A chapter from Bill Bryson's book, A Short History of Nearly Everything. Part IV: A Dangerous Planet. students were to annoted the reading and construct a piece of artwork depicting the last moments.

Additional Resources.

• Nasa crashes a satellite into an asteroid.
• Oxyaceteline vs Plasma torches.

Monday was a holiday.

Discussion of Nasa's experiment to knock a meteor off course. Nasa crashes a satellite into an asteroid..

Follow up: Bill Bryson's take on a possible meteor strike. (see: Part IV: A Dangerous Planet.).

Lab: Heat of fusion. This lab explored the difference between the energy of phase change (solids melting to become liquids, or liquids boiling to become gasses) and the heat required to change tempurature (last week's Specific Heat Capacity lab).

week 8: Oct. 03

Additional Resources.

• Hurricane frequency in the Gulf of Mexico

Discussion: How storms dissipate heat stored in the oceans. The discussion began with a review of the article: In Hot Water. and how the cause of 'the blob' was the lack of ocean storms in the North Pacific. Then we followed up with a review of the recent hurricane (Ian) which destroyed a large swath of Florida.

PBS News Clip: The destruction of Florida due to Hurricane Ian.

Introduction to The Cookstove Challenge.

week 9: Oct. 10

New assignments this week.

• Reading: Geology and climate (.pdf version) Students were to annotate only.
• Calcium Carbonate Separation lab (note: the deliverable will be a short paper relating this lab to Earth's climate and carbon cyling with a descriptor to be passed out next week).

Additional Resources.

• Overview of 'thermal protection system' for Space Shuttles.
• Columbia space shuttle disaster.

Clark was out on Monday.

Discussion/review: Practice heat transfer problems.

• How much hot metal is required to raise the tempurature of a sample of water?
• What is the final tempurature of the system when a chunk of hot metal is dropped into cold water?

Calcium Carbonate Separation lab: (over the next three block periods). Step one was to dissolve calcium carbonate with HCl.. Students proceeded through step 8 on Tues/Wed. Through step 18 on Thurs/Fri.. and we will weight the final filter paper on Tues/Wed of next week to wrap up with final measurement of the filtrate.

Discussion: Carbon cycling through oceans, atmosphere and rocks. (based on the reading Geology and climate )

Discussion: Thermal properties of materials:

• Insulation of space shuttle tiles
• Enginering for complete combustion: Inducing a vortext in the stove and keeping the heat in the container.

Geology and climate

week 10: Oct. 17

New assignments this week.

• The WriteUp for the calcium lab from last week: Students should write up a lab report which accomplishes two goals. The first is that it would describe the steps of the lab that we went through (first dissolving then repriciptating CaCO3).. all the way through the stated objectives of determining the percent mass.. and percent error... the SECOND objective though, is to identify where these same chemical reactions are happening in the worlds oceans, and how they are the same, and how they are different (i.e., what is the source of the reactants?) Groups of up to three students may work together. Due in two weeks, Thurs/Friday. (Nov. 3rd/4th)
• Stove Project: Part 1: by end of period Thurs/Fri. The students should hand in a sheet of paper with the following information.
  • who is in the group (no more than 3)
  • What is the initial design for your stove? (labeled diagram including dimensions and materials)
  • Your first, base-line data for energy captured per gram of fuel burned (from Tues/Wed of this week)
  • Comparison of energy availbe in the Doritos chips (described at right).

Discussion: How last weeks' chemistry lab includes the chemistry that is happening in the worlds oceans. This quick simulation shows how clams produce their shells from calcium carbonate. Also discussed: Cocolithophores and Radiolarians as two types of phytoplankton which grow their shells out of Calcium Carbonate and glass, respectively. Also discussed, was the common occurance of limestone around the world.

Calorimetry lab: Getting a baseline for efficiency of combustion based on joules of heat captured divided by grams of fuel burned. This gives a measure of the 'worst case' scenario. For fuel, we ended up using Dorito's.. (not Clark's first choice, but perfect for our experiment. Students are welcome to explore other fuels such as sticks or goat dung, more power to them!)

Discussion: Food Calories vs 'science' calories vs joules.. Doritos are described as containing 150 Calories per serving (roughly 12 chips = 28 grams). How does the energy per gram you captured during the Calorimetry lab on Tues/Wed compare to the energy content in the chips? (i.e., what percent of the energy availble did your system actually capture?)

Work time.

Review guide passed out for next week's test. (solutions to math problems).

UCLA research shows how carbon filled oceans affect a tiny but important organism.

week 11: Oct. 24

New assignments this week.

• Test II.
• Concentration lab: (see text at right)

Unit II test: Carbon and climate

Concentration lab: This lab introduced the concept of concentration and how we measure it. PPM, grams/mL, Molarity, etc. As a demonstration, Clark first recreated sea water (with salt concentrations around 35 ppt).. and demonstrated that fundementaly, concentration is a mass ratio.

Art by Nicolas Berberich. A world famous digital artist and poet who lives here in Marin. He frequently hosts lectures, house parties and rock conerts in which he amazingly plays all instrments at the same time. In his spare time, he models fashion, races jet-boats and advises members of the House and Senate on issues important to young voters.

week 12: Oct. 31

New assignments this week.

• Video: Kiss the ground.

Video: Kiss the ground. This video explores how regenerative agricluture could be one of the most successful strategies for sequestering Carbon. Students were to take notes on the chemistry (where the Carbon goes) and how this style of farming brings multiple benefits.

What is regenerative farming?

week 13: Nov 07

New assignments this week.

• Lab: Exploring properties of elements.

Lab: Exploring properties of elements. Students were given samples of eight elements (without their names) to determine whether they were metals, non-metals or semi-metals. Interestingly, they also ranked 'how reactive', how 'conductive' etc.. illustrating that elemental properties can range from strong to weak across the periodic table of elements. (day one was observing and measuring) and day two was giving the names of the elements and seeing where they sit on the table.

Discussion:

• Electron orbitals
• Polarity of molecules like water
• How do alcohols differ from alkanes?
• Hydrogen bonding.

What is Bauxite?

week 14: Nov 14

New assignments this week.

• Video: Chasing Ice. (viewable on Amazon Prime). Students were to take notes focusing on climate data, science and technology.
• Lab: Distillation lab. (click here for project descriptor) (grading rubric)
• Article: The sad fate of the ancient, well-shelled mariners. (click here for the .pdf version I passed out to students). Annotations only.

Pass back and review our last test.

Review and discuss last week's lab of exploring properties of elements.

Discussion: The Thermohaline cycle of the North Atlantic Ocean. The ocean has layers.

Video: Chasing Ice. This film describes Extreme Ice Survey, in which the retreat of glaciers is documented with a series of photographs taken over years. (related article: billions of tons of water is flowing off the ice sheet every day)

Lab: Distillation lab. (click here for project descriptor)

• An overview of the distilation process.
• The table of alcohol concentration based on density and tempurature that students used to determine alcohol concentrations in all samples.
• What is Ethanol?

The Thermohaline cycle of the North Atlantic Ocean

An overview of the distilation process.

Monday was a work day to start construction of the Distillation lab report.

Coulombs law: Clark derived the basic structure of Coulomb's law and showed this Phet simulation.

Demonstration: Van de Graaff generator. This device does collect enourmous amounts of charge which results in 'air being torn apart by electric forces'.. (i.e.,becomes ionzed! or.., giant sparks!)

Discussion (continued) trends in the periodic table. Atomic Size Electronegativity

Electron shells and Orbital filling structure and valence electrons

Electron Orbital Shapes

week 17: Dec 05

Additional Resources.

• Final Review Guide passed out on Monday!

Discussion: Electronegativity and Ionization energy.

Final Progress report pass out for the Fall Semester. (students may continue to submit late work, i.e., items marked 'mi'ssing on their progress reports which WILL be graded in the upcomign weeks, but Clark will spend these last two weeks focusing on writing and preparing for Finals).

Lab: (hopefully!) intermolecular forces determine rates of evaporation.

The flame you see is a plasma.. an Ionized Gas.. the colors are a reflection of the tempuratures of the flame

Blowtorching your steak has become a popular cooking technique.

The “standard grading rubric’ (note: Clark only prints out rubrics the first few lab reports and then simply 'jots down' the scores on student work thereafter).

Key to scoring each category.

5 = superior. Teacher is impressed
4 = “good job”. (you took 3rd in the race).
3 = you understood the directions and  made a minimum effort to comply.
2 -1 = your effort is less than satisfactory
0 = item is absent altogether.

Note: Final grade for most reports is determined by dividing your score by 23. (i.e. scoring all 4's results in a 20.23 = B+, not an A-) In order to get an A, a student must score an 5 in AT LEAST one category.. (it is possible to get multiple 5's though resulting in extra credit on labs). Some labs may be worth double credit though. (x 2 multiplier)

Two kinds or lab reports;

Formal lab reports (see text at left).. These usually involve not only describing the details of the lab including design of experiment, data collected and calculations leading to 'the answer'.. but also usually include the student adding commentary about related systems (such as the Calcium Carbonate lab descriptor)