Red to Blue, BASE-A-ROO!

Today was Career Day! Lisa, Catherine, Krystina, Marcia, and I all went to the military presentation. Now we want to go and enlist in the army. :D We all looked like sissy girls surrounded by a mob of tough looking dudes and girls that also looked like guys (besides us). We also went to the physical therapist which is Mr. Olson's wife. Actually, we started in the auditorium watching the actor/beatboxer/breakdancer/painter. I wish I was as cool as that and had many talents. I hate rain. D: I have to walk home in the pouring, freezing rain. I already was sick last week, so hopefully, I won't get sick again. -_- By the way, Krystina just reminded me that winter formal is upcoming. Krystina hopes to get my cousin to buy her a $400 dress, including shipping (from Asia) and tax. Then we were prance around Winter Formal looking like the happy children that we are! Haha, I'm confused. -_- Steve LAIIIII, haha, I doubt you'll even read this.

We're "learning" about acids and bases in chemistry. The pH scale (potential of hydrogen) ranges from 0 (acidic, high H+) to neutral (same amount of H+ and OH-) to 14 (basic, high OH-). Strong acids completely dissociate. Acids are proton donors; bases are proton acceptors. Also, we're using logarithms in chemistry. pH = -log[H+]. That is how you determine the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. Click here for a useful link about a pH challenge. To determine whether a substance is acidic or basic, you can stick litmus paper in it. Bases turn red litmus paper blue and acids turn blue litmus paper red. Blue to red = AC-ID! Red to blue = BASE-A-ROO! Acids are sour and bases are bitter.



Hydrochloric acid, a very strong acid. Also present in the stomach.

#2 Post of Spring Semester!

Haha, when I logged on, my desktop was full of icons. LOL someone was bored...I had to delete them all. All 200 of them. o_o Ugh, I had a crazy week last week. o_o I don't feel like talking about it. bwaha. Okay, I shouldn't have mentioned it then. -__- Sorry, I had a long day.

Anyway, we're currently learning about solutions. In a lab that we conducted last week, we mixed solutions by dissolving a solid (cobalt chloride).
The expected absorbency was .24 and my group's mixture absorbed exactly that! We also made a solution by diluting a concentrated solution (potassium permanganate). The expected absorbency was this .18 and our groups was .17. :D Nice! By the way, we had to calculate to solve these labs. We used equations to determine variables such as molarity, volume, and moles of solute. Molarity = moles of solute divided by liter of solution. We also used labs to conduct the properties of solutions such as solubility, density, and how freezing temperatures of solutions vary. For example, ice water with salt has a lower freezing temperature than pure water itself. When pressure is high, gas is more soluble.

Like Dissolves Like

Dissolving is process by which a solid or liquid forms a homogeneous mixture with a solvent. When the solvent and the solute mix together, they form a solution. As ions dissolve in a solvent they spread out and become surrounded by solvent molecules. Like substances dissolve other like substances, depending on their chemical polarity.

1. Polar compounds can dissolve other polar compounds and ionic compounds.
For example, water (polar) can dissolve NaCL/Salt (ionic).
Salt before being completely dissolved:

and after...


2. Non-polar compound can only dissolve non-polar compounds.
If you try to mix water (polar) and oil (non-polar), the two won't form a solution.

But oil will dissolve other types of oil, since they are both nonpolar.