Sabbatical-Science Eureka

For Term 1 sabbaticals, I attended this course, Science Eureka. This was because I was interested in Science, and found this course very meaningful for me. We conducted experiments of many kinds, physics and chemistry. To me, I prefered chemistry, and the experiments were also very fun. Here are a few...

 

1) Making snow

 

We used sodium polycrylate, a chemical able to absorb 800 times it mass in water, and could form beads which resemble snow. This was a very quick and easy process, and was very fun as we did it, and we got to learn a lot from it. We also got to keep the snow afterwards.

 

2) Artificial Blood

 

There are many uses for artificial blood, as seen in movies and tv shows. However, how do they make the "blood". Well, hollywood does it this way. It is a combination of Iron(|||)Nitrate and Sodium Thiocyanate. This forms a colour that is nearly identical to blood, and makes it seem very guesome. It was also a fun process.

 

3)Apple juice

 

To produce more apple juice (although may not be drinkable), there is this enzyme pestinase. This substance is able to break down pectin, which is a substrate found in the cell wall of plants. This would then release more juice.

 

The sabbatical is very enjoyable, as well as educational. We conducted many more experiments, and these are just only a few. I really enjoyed it, and am very interested in such courses in the future.

Importance of Science

Science is really important in our lives. This is because of many reasons. Just stating a few, science can allow us to understand our universe, understand our history, and maintain our earth's sustanability for living, and also benefit us in our daily lives.

Through new discoveries in technology, man has been able to send up satellites into space, and also allowed man to explore space. Through this, it could also give rise to commercial space travel. We can also observe other planets, and conduct so much research on our universe, so that we could understand our planet and world better.

We can also discover our history. Through science technology, we can discover ancient artifacts such as vases from ancient China, our fossils of dinosaurs living more than 5 billion years ago. Through this, we can understand more of our past and about man's evolution.

Other than that, science also helps us to maintain our earth's sustanability. We need resourses for living, such as food and water. Through technology, such as NEWater and distillation plants, we would be able to produce our own drinkable water. Other than that, conserving energy devices such as solar panels are invented because of the development of science. This helps us to conserve earth's scarce resource, and also protect our environment.

Other science applications are those used to catch criminals. Such as DNA scanner, which are able to help police discover the offender. Or our living environment, such as televisions, lighting. All this technology is based on science discoveries, and which is why science is important.

Science Lab Lessons

Every week, our class has one science lab lesson, where we visit the science lab to conduct various experiments. The experiments were very helpful in our learning, as we got to understand more about what we learn. Such experiments we conducted was on chemistry. My favourites was when had experiments on acid reactions. For example, what happens when acid reactions with carbonate.

 

Acid+Metal-->Salt+Hydrogen

Eg.Hydrochloric Acid+Iron-->Iron(||)Chloride+Hydrogen

 

Acid+Carbonate-->Salt+Water+Carbon Dioxide

Eg.Sodium Carbonate+Nitric Acid-->Sodium Nitrate+Water+Carbon Dioxide

 

Acid+Bases-->Salt+Water

Eg.Nitric Acid+Potassium Hydroxide-->Potassium Nitrate+Water

 

From the experiment, I also found out that some common salts were nitrates, sulfate, and chloride. And that common acids were hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid. We also found out about the application of these acids. We could conduct the experiments ourself, and thus develop a greater understanding on it, rather than listening to the teacher explain.

 

Thus, I feel that Science Lab lessons are very meaningful and helpful.

Science Practicals

Every week, we go to the science lab to do some science experiments on the topics that we have learnt about such as experiments on solutions, seperation techniques-filtration, magnetic and distillation. These experiments allow us to understand more on the topic as we get to do hands on activities on them. These science praticals also allows us to learn more on the topic. We get up in pairs and work on the activity on our own, with our teachers guidance. This is a very innovative and interesting way of learning .

Solution vs Suspension

So, what's the difference?
Well, a solution is a mixture whereas the solid substance has dissolved in the liquid substance, which would make up the solvent. A solution cannot be seperated by filtration as the solute has dissolved in the solvent. Solutions that contain the maximum amount of solute in the particular amount of solvent at a particular temperature is known as a saturated solution.

However, a suspension is a mixture whereas there are solid particles suspended inside the liquid solution. It is also a heterogeneous fluid. It can be seperated through filtration, unlike a suspension. Examples of suspension are like milo.

Separation techniques

Separation techniques are very useful to separate substances from each other. Physical techniques such as distillation,filtration,evaperation and crystallisation can seperate mixtures. And chemical techniques can seperate compounds, which are two elements bonded together with heat or light energy.

Distillation is a process whereby the mixture, which contains liquid substances with different boiling points, is heated at its different boiling points, where the liquid with the lowest boing point would evaperate. The liquid would then condense on the condenser and slide down into a beaker.

Filtration can seperate a solid from a liquid. Firstly, you place the mixture into a funnel with the filteer paper. As time pass, the liquid would filter through the funnel a drip into a beaker. This is how to seperate a solid and a liquid(fluid)

Evaperation is a process whereby the mixture(solution) is heated until dryness. Usually, a hot water bath would be used as to have a smooth boiling. The final product would be the solute, which in a salt solution, would be salt. This process can only work for solution where the solute will not decompose.

For such situations, the process crystallsation would be used. This process is alike to evaperation to dryness, just that before the solution is completely evaperated, the solution would be allowed to cool. Thus, the solute would not decompose.

Energy

Energy comes in different forms.There is light,heat,kinetic and chemical potential energy. Energy is needed to work.

Light and Heat

The main source of light and heat energy is the Sun. As the earth is not too far, nor is it too close, from the sun, the light and heat energy received is just right for life on earth. If we were too close, it would be too hot to live on earth.The light energy also allows us to see. Thus, both light and heat energy are important

Kinetic

Kinetic energy is also known as movement. It is motion. Examples of kinetic energy is like a moving car, or a bouncing ball. The mass of the object and the speed of the object both affect the amount of kinetic energy the object has.The greater the mass, the greater the amount of kinetic energy. The greater the speed, the greater the kinetic energy.

Chemical potential energy

Chemical potential energy is the energy stored in living object, or use to be living object. It can be converted into other forms of energy. Plants trap sunlight to make food, which is chemical potential energy. Fossil fuel is burned to produce electricity. This energy allows us to do work.