Category: Grade 11
February Lab Reflection-Mom’s Apple Pie Jam
1.Why did you choose to reflect on this lab?
I chose to do my reflection on Mom’s Apple Pie Jam, for it was one of my favourite labs so far. Also, I have never made jam by myself before, I have only watched my mom make it. This lab was much more elaborate compared to the Wacky Cakes or Crêpes, for my group needed to finely chop a lot of apples and carefully pour the hot jam into hot jars without breaking them.
2.Did you enjoy the lab? Why or why not?
I really enjoyed this lab, for knowing how to preserve fruit is a good skill to have. Now I will be able to buy fruit in bulk, and make delicious jam with the fruit. This specific recipe will be very useful for me, for I have over 15 apple trees in my backyard.
3.Did your product turn out the way you had hoped? If yes, what helped? If no, why did it not?
I usually do not like big chunks of fruit in my jam, so I decided to take some extra time to chop the apples very finely. As I expected, this made the jam much more enjoyable for me and I loved it! However, I still found the jam a little bit too sweet, even though the sugar quantity was reduced.
4.Did you group work well together during the lab? Why or why not? (i.e. were there any issues that came up/how did you solve them?)
My group worked very well as always. Arezou and I both minced the apples together to speed up the process. We did have difficulty pouring the jam into the jars, so we decided to have one person hold the jar with a cloth close to the pot, while the other person poured it into the jars.
5.If you were to do this lab again, what might you do differently? Why?
If I were to do this lab at home, I would most likely add less sugar if possible, for I am not a fan of very sweet foods. Another possibility could be to add more apples instead, for we reduced the recipe to 3 apples instead of 4.
Placki Ziemniaczane (Polish Potato Pancakes)
Safety First Cheat Sheet
Falling In Love with Hell (Neil Perry)
Theatre is Satan’s aggravation
And a boy who plays with fire will get burnt
For the fire in his soul
Drove him straight to the beaming stage light
To perform a test with the Devil
His passion was expressed
Slave master unimpressed
Constant lack approval
Tautened the handcuffs
Which blocked his attempts to grasp onto freedom
For existing appears easy
But the boy wanted to be more than just an existence
He wanted to live out his life and soar free
With Satan’s fire of hatred attacking him
The boy’s passionate fire burned out in his soul
And once a match has been used out
It’s existence seems pointless
And so did his too
1950’s Comparison
The perspective placed on women has always been correlated with lower standards compared to men. To begin, the value placed on a woman’s labour was significantly lower than a man’s efforts. In 1946, the average woman would provide her family annually with $943, while a man would receive $1,702. Fast forwarding to today’s time, a full-time, year-round female in New York would annually make an average of $44,781, while a men would receive $51,580(AAUW 2014 statistic). Having such discrimination has always been an issue in society. However, with more and more same-sex marriages, gender discrimination is majorly affecting women’s capability to live the best lifestyle they can.
In addition to labour, the expectations of average work hours were noticeably different compared to the present time. In 1890, Maclean’s stated that the average work week would consist of 60 hours, while ESDC states that the average hours for a Canadian in 2012 would consist of 34.4 hours.
A similarity from today and the 1950’s is the perspective of owning a car” “An automobile is no longer considered a luxury by most families (Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 1955). This article was written for cars were not considered rare by the 1950’s. Likewise, an average family today owns 1-2 cars. In addition, utilities and devices were becoming apart of all Canadian’s daily lifestyle. TV’s did not obtain as much awe as they had in 1927 when the first 27 was created. To many’s suprise, simply 25% of 4th grade students own a cellphone in today’s society (The Star News).
Finally, another similarity from the 1950’s and to today’s society was the value of the youth. In 1956, youth were finally appreciated and known as the blooming generation for society: “THey must rely on us for the present, but we must rely on them for the future”(Maclean’s, 1956). The Government of Canada states that in 2012, 54.5% of youth aged 15-24 were employed. Therefore, over 50% of youth are providing labour and assistance for society.
Moving onto automobiles, the price of a car was impressively lower than today’s average. In the 1950’s an average car would cost between 2-3 thousand dollars, while USA today states that the average price sits at around $33,560. The difference between car prices has massively jumped. However, the low prices did not conclude into the majority of the population owning a vehicle. Between 1911 to 1921, the number of registered automobiles only increased from 22 to 465 (Canadian Almanac and Directory, 1964). The Huffington post states that America consists of approximately 239.8 million cars on the street.
In addition to prices, gas prices were outstandingly cheap in the 1950’s. An average gas station would sell gas for 32 to 36 cents per gallon, while Canadians pay roughly $1.22 per litre, and Americans $3.22 per gallon. This major increase is one reason why owning a car may be difficult for some families, especially with same-sex marriages and discriminating income.
A regulation that has always stayed most of the times consistent is the minimum age to obtain a license. In the 1950’s almost all provinces required a person to be 16 or over to receive a license. However, Alberta allows civilians to receive their learner’s permit at the age of 14. An unfortunate difference between the 1950’s and today is traffic jams. In 1958, it was recorded that Canada’s worst traffic jam consisted of 320,00 cars in Montreal. The China National Highway 110 traffic jam on August 14, 2010 allowed drivers to only drive 1km for 5 days.
Finally, the power a car contains today is significantly greater compared to a car in the 50’s. TO reach 60 miles per hour, a driver would take around 5-10 seconds. The Porsche 918 Spyder allows a car to reach 60 miles per hour in simply 2.2 seconds. The unbelievable time difference has showed how far technology has been able to come to.
Good Life Resources
http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/
http://well-being.esdc.gc.ca/misme-iowb/.3ndic.1t.4r@-eng.jsp?iid=19
http://well-being.esdc.gc.ca/misme-iowb/.3ndic.1t.4r@-eng.jsp?iid=13
Automobile Resources
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/08/23/car-population_n_934291.html
http://www.valuecartruckrental.com/blog/canadas-legal-driving-ages-province-by-province/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_National_Highway_110_traffic_jam
Organic Chemistry Project
Newspaper Article
INNOCENT BRITISH LAD ACCUSED FOR MANSLAUGHTER
Commencing on April 11, 1954, the young British lad, Jack Merridew was under the accusation of manslaughter at the Court of Dewsbury, England for an extremely extended trial consisting of 3 days. Back tracking a few months earlier, Merridew was seated in a British aircraft fleeing the war with approximately 15 young boys ranging from the ages of 6 to 14. Due to an unfortunate plane crash, the children became stranded on a deserted island without the supervision or assistance from any adults. After the aircraft was reported missing for 3 months and 14 days, the boys were finally found by Naval officer, Vern Clark. Due to the informing of two tragic deaths on the island, and the traumatic stress left on all the boys, further investigations were necessary. Jack Merridew was under the accusation of manslaughter for both two young boys, Piggy and Simon. However, from the first day in trial, it was clear that there was no significant evidence that Jack was responsible or influential to lead the lives to come to an end. The death of Simon occurred as the young boy was wandering off in the pitch black, alarming not only Jack, but the entire society to believe an animal was approaching and ready to attack their campsite. As for Piggy, it was testified that a member of Merridew’s tribe, Roger, simply pushed a large boulder with no commands or intentions to come into contact with anyone. Therefore, Merridew did not initiate either Piggy or Simon’s death, and was safely returned back to his loving mother, Shawndra Merridew.
Flame Test Lab
Here is a video displaying the production of colour as a nitrated salt is sprayed into the flame of a burner.
Below is the order of the chemicals displayed in the video:
Lithium Nitrate
Copper (II) Nitrate
Potassium Nitrate
Sodium Nitrate
Zinc Nitrate
Calcium Nitrate
What particles are found in the chemicals that may be responsible for the production of coloured light?
The particles that hold responsibility for producing coloured light are the electrons of an atom. As the metallic ion enters the flame of the burner, the electrons transfer from their original ground state onto their excited state, which is a quantum leap to a higher energy level. As the electrons proceed back down to their ground state, a photon with wavelengths of visible light is produced, which is the reason for coloured light to be shown in the video.
As you can see, Copper (II) Nitrate produced a green photon of light. The cause for this chemical to produce a unique colour unlike other chemicals is due to its frequency. The wavelengths of Copper (II) Nitrate measure at approximately 500nm (nanometers), which is the cause for a green light to be produced as the electrons travel back down from their excited state to ground state.
Types of Reactions-Practical Lab
Experiment #1 (Decomposition)
Hydrogen Peroxide + Potassium Iodide (Catalyst) → Water + Oxygen Gas
(2H2O2 
→ 2H2O + O2)
In a small graduated cylinder, we placed approximately 0.5ml of a liquid, Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). In addition, a very small amount of Potassium Iodide (KI) crystals were taken with the tip of a scapula, and were placed into the cylinder. Although the KI crystals were placed in the cylinder, they were not apart of the reaction. The KI crystals were used as a catalyst, simply to assist and speed up the decomposition reaction.
The Law of Conservation of Mass is always applicable to all reactions and processes in chemistry. However, due to the fact that Oxygen gas was emitted from the product, we were unable to measure the the conservation of mass, because we are in an open system.
Proof that a chemical reaction occurred can be easily seen in the video below. As the catalyst was placed into the cylinder, the liquid transformed into an orange/yellow colour, and it began to bubble out of the top of the cylinder. Steam and gas were also visible and therefor, we are able to conclude that through the decomposition reaction, there is proof of a chemical reaction.
Experiment #2 (Double Replacement)
Potassium Iodide + Lead (II) Nitrate → Lead (II) Iodide + Potassium Nitrate
(2KI + Pb(NO3)2 → PbI2 + 2KNO3)
In a spot plate, we placed approximately 1 drop of 0.1M Potassium Iodide to 1 drop of 0.1M Lead (II) Nitrate. As the two substances were combined, a double replacement occurred, resulting in Lead (II) Iodide and Potassium Nitrate as the product.
In contrast to the decomposition experiment, this experiment visibly showed how the Law of Conservation of Mass is always applicable. The masses of the different substances still stayed the same as they were combined together in the reaction. No mass was created or destroyed through the process of the double replacement lab.
Before the experiment occurred, both liquids had a transparent appearance. However, as the two substances were combined together, we are able to conclude that a chemical reaction occurred, due to the rapid change. As the clear liquids were combined, an opaque, yellow colour was produced, and chemically changed the substances.
Experiment #3 (Synthesis)
Magnesium + Oxygen Gas (2Mg + O2 → 2MgO)
For this experiment, a small piece of Magnesium ribbon was cut and buffed with steel wool, which sized down our sample piece. Afterwards, we used tongs to place the sample in the flame of a bunsen burner. As the Magnesium and Oxygen combined in the reaction, a synthesis reaction occurred producing Magnesium Oxide.
Although the Law of Conservation of Mass is always valid, we were unable to measure and confirm the law, due to the fact this experiment involved a gas, and we were in an open area. We were unable to measure the particles of gas that we travelling in the open environment.
There are two mains pieces of evidence that allow us to understand this was a chemical reaction. First off, as the magnesium was placed in the flame of the bunsen burner, a very bright white light was emitted, indicating a sign of a chemical reaction. After the reaction occurred, the metal changed from a hard, ribbon structure to a pile of white ashes, indicating a change of state.