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Greenbricks Presentation

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The Greenbricks presentation was to educate us upon sustainable buildings and other daily facts we need to know about recycling, our use of water and energy and how we can contribute to save the planet.

I learned a lot of useful information about sustainable buildings. Some information was that some buildings are built with green roofs which helps cool down the city and it also supply’s a home for more bee’s. Which is a very great thing because bees are beginning to become extinct and they are a very important part in plants life cycle. I also learned that there are buildings with plants and grass on the sides of the building as it helps with insolation and the more plants the more clean air we breathe! I also discovered that the reasoning for such big windows is to reduce the amount of energy we use for lights. And that in the future solar panels will become transparent and replace all windows making your home not only more energy efficient but also warmer. The one fact that I learned that made me very happy is that it is said that by 2020 we should be waste free!

The one fact that interested me the most is that I could use approximately 400 litters of water a day. Which includes showering, drinking, washing the dishes and flushing the toilet. It was quite shocking that I could use that much water a day! It made me think about all of the third world countries that are deprived of water and how lucky I am to have almost an unlimited amount!

I would recommend this again, because I learned quite a bit about green buildings and it helped me further my understanding behind the reasoning of them. It also opened my eyes to the amount of energy and water I use a day, and made me think about ways I could help reduce that amount. Overall, I learned a lot and it was very interactive and fun to be apart of!

 

Bioaccumalation BlogPost

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How does matter such as a toxin become more concentrated in an ecosystem?

Describe the mechanisms of bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Explain the process of biomagnification on the viability and diversity of consumers at all tropic levels. Include examples and visuals to support.

Bioaccumalation is the increase in concentration of a pollutant from the environment to the first organism in food chain. Biomagnification is the increase in concentration of a pollutant from one link in a food chain to another. This means lower tropic levels generally have smaller concentrations of contaminants than higher levels. This occurs because of the ecological inefficiency of food webs and persistent, hydrophobic contaminants bioaccumulating in organisms. These two factors mean that each tropic level has a larger concentration of contaminants dissolved in a smaller amount of biomass than the previous level. Each tropic level becomes more contaminated than those below it. For example, DDT in the Lake Ontario food web is biomagnified up the food web, so that top predators like herring gulls have tissue concentrations that are 630 times greater than primary consumers like zoo plankton.

Why should people be concerned about bioaccumulation/ biomagnification?

Bioaccumalation is a concern to the environment because if there are dangerous chemicals that begin to build up in a organism, it can easily effect its way of living and even kill it. Biomagnification is linked to bioaccumalation because when a organism that has digested a dangerous chemical gets eaten by another organism, then that chemical will get into the seconds organisms body and start to damage it and even possibly kill it.

Pesticides and herbicides are used in many agricultural practices. Although this leads to bigger yields (more crop), how will this effect the food chain of the ecosystem? Do you think the use of toxins, such as pesticides or herbicides, is beneficial or harmful to our food production?

It will effect the food chain because the animal that eats the crops will be harmed because the plant is laced with pesticides. The pesticides can then lead to its digestive system and harm that or even possibly kill. If that does not happen it can then hide in the fat tissues of the animal that eats the pesticides. Either way whatever east that animal next will also now have pesticides within its body, and it will continue throughout the food chain. I believe that pesticides are bad because it doesn’t only harm the animals that eat the plants but they also harm us, as humans. When the fruit or vegetables get ‘cleaned of pesticides’ its not always completely clean. Just think all those chemicals are in your body and now think of all the chemicals that are in animals bodies! its crazy and not natural, if they were meant to have chemicals on them they’d grow like that.

What are some other chemicals (include sources) that bioaccumulate? Is there anything that can be done to reduce the effects of these chemicals?

There is a lot of heavy metals that bioaccumulate such as Mercury, copper and cadmium. Cadmium is a very common chemical that is found in tobacco. In order to lessen the effects of this chemicals it would be more than smart to stay away from smoking and to check where your fish comes from and that it is from a cadmium free environment. Also it would be very wise to dispose of your cadmium batteries due to the fact that they could leak and get into anything.
http://w3.marietta.edu/~biol/102/2bioma95.html
HTTP://WWW.drat.CDC.gov/ohs/ohs.asp?id=46&tid=15

Nuclear Disaster

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The Chernobyl diisaster was a horrible nuclear accident that occured on April 26 1986 at the Chernobbyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.It is marked as the worst nuclear disaster in history, it is one of the only two classified as a level 7 event on the international Nuclear Event Scale. The disaster began during a systeme test at the number four reactor of the plant. There was a sudden and unexpecter surge of power and when an emergency shutdown was attempted a larger spike in power occured, which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of steam explosions. This exposed the graphite moderator of the reactor to air, causeing it to ignite. The resulting fire sent a cloud of highly radioactine fallout into the atmosphere and over a great scale of places. There is 56 deaths directly connected to the accident, though there could have been 9,300 deaths caused from exposure to the radiation resulting in cancer. The Chernobyl Forum predicts the total death toll could reach 9,500 among those who were exposed to the highest levels of radiation.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster (youtube video)

Six different types of reactions

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There are 6 different types of reactions: Synthesis, Decomposition, Single Replacement, Double Replacement, Neutralization, and Combustion. Each with a different meaning. So here is the six different types of reactions with their own little description.

Synthesis
A synthesis reaction or also known as a direct combination reaction is one of the most common types of chemical reactions. A synthesis reaction consists of two or more chemical elements to combine and create a more complex chemical form.
A + B = AB or 2K(s) + Cl2(g) → 2KCl(s
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemicalreactions/a/synthesis-reaction.htm

Decomposition
A decomposition reaction or analysis reaction is when a chemical compound is broken into two or more smaller and simpler chemical elements.
AB = A + B or 2 H2O → 2 H2 + O2
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemicalreactions/a/chemical-decomposition-reaction.htm

Single Replacement
A single replacement or substitution reaction is formed of one lone element and a chemical compound of two elements. The reaction happens when the unpaired element switches spots with one of the elements in the chemical compound.
A + BC = B + AC or Zn + 2 HCl → ZnCl2 + H2
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemicalreactions/a/single-displacement-reaction.htm

Double Replacement
A double replacement or metathesis reaction consists of two chemical compounds formed of two elements. The reaction is created when one of the elements of each compound switched places to form two completely different compounds.
AB + CD = AD + CB or NaCl(aq) + AgNO3(aq) → NaNO3(aq) + AgCl(s)
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemicalreactions/a/reactiontypes.htm

Neutralization
Neutralization or also known as water forming reaction is when an acid and base react to produce water and salt.
Acid + Base = Salt + Water or HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) –> NaCl(aq) + H2O(l)
http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Neutralisation

Combustion
A combustion reaction produces either light or heat, the most common reaction is fire. The majority of forms of combustion happen when the gas oxygen joins with another substance. For example, when wood burns, oxygen in the air joins with carbon in the wood. Combustion happens when when the substance reaches a temperature called ignition point. At this point, oxygen combines with the substance fast enough to create a flame (ex/ is when producing fire).
http://kids.britannica.com/elementary/article-399410/combustion

Henry Cavendish Experiment

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Discussion Questions:

List 3 safety precautions taken in this lab.

To wear safety goggles at ALL TIMES during the lab. If you have long hair to tie it back. Do not throw the burning pieces of wood in the garbage until you have dipped it in water.

What changes did you observe in your reactants? I.e. what were some observations of new products?

When the acid and mossy zinc were added together it started fizzing. The water kept fizzing during the whole experiment and changed into a light grey colour. When the zince and acid strated fizzing it would create hydrogen gas, which would be captured into the test tube. Once it was in the test tube we took a lit wood splint and help in over top of the hydrogen gas. once the fire and gas touched it made a ‘pop’ sound and for the splitest second the gas turned a orange colour.

a. How did the temperature change?

The tempertaure of the flask became hotter due to the fact that it was creating hydrogen gas. When the hydrogen gas was transfered into the test tube then the test tiube also became hot. Also I found that the test tube was the most hot after it created the little ‘pop’. It could have been hotter because when the hydrogen gas (being already hot) and the fire (being very hot) created the ‘pop’ the heat could have mixed together and created even more heat.

Look up the definitions, was the lab endothermic or exothermic? Explain your reasoning.

It is an exothermic lab because exothermic means that heat is being produed from the reaction (Exo= to exit, Therm= heat) . In the lab we putt zinc and acid together to create hydrogen gas, which was hot. The heat from the lab was beaing released, therefore meaning it is an exothermic lab.

Write out the formula for the chemical equation and balance it.
Zinc + hydrochloric acid produces Hydrogen gas + zinc chloride

Zn + HCl 》 H + ZnCl
[ ] Zn + [2] HCl 》 [ ] H + [ ] ZnCl

Look up Synthesis, Decomposition, Single Replacement, and Double Replacement Reactions. What type of reaction is this? Explain.

It is a single replacement reaction. In a single replacement reaction an element reacts with a compound and takes the place of an element within that compound. In a single replacement reaction a metal switches places with a metal and a non-metal switches with a non-metal. In this case as you can see { Zn + HCl = H + ZnCl } that Zinc and Hydrogen switched spots. In a single replacement reaction the elements switch when there is a better (more reactive) element nearby to switch with.

How did the change in surface area of the zinc affect the reaction rate? Which reacted faster?

I believe that the larger surface area would react faster because the solid-phase reactant increases the number of collisions per second and therefore increases the reaction rate.

How did the change in the concentration of HCl affect the reaction rate? Which reacted faster (1 M or 3M)?

3m would react faster because of the collision rate. If you had a beaker of 3m and 1m of HCl and dropped zinc in each one, the one with 3m would react faster because the zinc would come in contact with it first.

Ionic vs. Covalent Coumpounds

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Though they both contain atoms, ionic compounds and covalent compounds have lots of different differences.

FACTS:

Ionic Compound:
Ionic Compound is a metal + non-metal formula.
Ionic Compound atoms give electrons in order to become stable. Which is the reasonwhy they are electrically charged.

Covalent Compond:
Covalent Cmpound is a non-metal + non-metal formula.
Covalent Compound atoms share electrons in order to become stable. They are not electrically charged.

BOHR MODEL:

Ionic Compound:
Each atom is surrounded by a box within the box it shows it’s protons, neutrons and all electrons. There is a charge outside the top right corner of the box. The atoms are seperated in their own drawing, none of it is connecting.
Ionic compound bohr diagram

Covalent Compound:
The atoms are all attached, to show how the atoms share the electrons. The protons, neutrons and electrons are all shown in the atom. There is no box or charge.
Covalent compound bohr diagram

LEWIS MODEL:

Ionic Compound:
The atoms are once again surrounded by a box with the charge at the top right corner. The atom only shows the symbol in the middle with the valence electrons on the outside.
Ionic compound lewis diagram

Covalent Compound:
The atoms have a line connecting the non-metals together on the sides where they are sharing electrons. Where there is no connecting parter, the outer electrons are shown. The atom only shows the symbol in the middle with the valence electrons on the outside (depending if it is connecting and sharing electrons with a different atom).
Covalent compound lewis diagram

NAMES:

Ionic Compound:
Ionic Compounds have no prefixes, the last atom always ends with “ide” unless it is a polyatomic ions.

Covalent Compound:
Covalent Compounds use prefixes for all atoms (ex/ mono, di, tri, tetra…). All ending atoms end with “ide” unless it is a polyatomic ion.

FORMULA:

Ionic Compound:
Formula’s for Ionic and Covalent both resemble the same for look wise. In order to figure out how many atoms you need, you will need to perform an equation.
Ex/ Aluminum and Fluorine Al+3 F-1 ——- = 1 Atom ——- = 3 Atoms +3 -3

Covalent Compound:
Formula’s for Ionic and Covalent both resemble the same for look wise. You will be able to figure out the formula by looking at the prefixes.
Ex/ Dinitrogen Tetrachloride . N Cl . 2 4