Atomic Structure and Radioactivity Summary

Yet another unit has flown by... time goes by so fast the older you get! Anyways, I thought it would be nice to conclude this unit by reflecting on what i learned. 

Atomic theory- I learned the roots, Dalton's Postulates, Thomson and Rutherford's models, and how ideas of atomic structure have evolved over time.








Radioactivity- I learned about Half-Lives, and the three types of radioactive decay: alpha, beta, and gamma, and how each one effects an element.

Here are some helpful links i found this

 unit over these topics.

http://www.iun.edu/~cpanhd/C101webnotes/composition/dalton.html

http://www.tutorvista.com/science/thomsons-atomic-theory

http://www.iun.edu/~cpanhd/C101webnotes/modern-atomic-theory/rutherford-model.html

http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/alpha.htm

http://www2.lbl.gov/abc/wallchart/chapters/03/2.html

http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/lindabennett1/502/Nuclear%20Chemistry/types%20of%20decay.html

Unit Test

Wow! Today in class we took our unit test, over atomic structure and radioactivity. Surprisingly, I found it quite easy, but I need to review how to find a % abundance of two isotopes when given the average atomic mass of the element. Yikes.

Archaeology Lab

Yesterday and today our class worked on an archaeology lab within in our partnerships. This lab was actually very beneficial; let me tell you why. 

 In most classes, students like myself struggle to see why the information we are learning matters in our real world. We say things like "I'm never going to use this" and "this is pointless." 

This post isn't intended to discuss what I did in my lab, but how this lab has revealed the importance of chemistry. 

The way that we used radioactive decay to figure out who a likely victim of a crime is... this lab has really excited me to learn chemistry now, as it has shown me that there are real world applications for it.

Li of Pennies (<-----Get it, it's half of life?)

Pretty soon we'll be conducting an experiment with pennies to demonstrate how half lives of substances occur. This will be a visual representation of radioactive decay, which we are learning about in class. One thing that really intrigues me is the fact that Gamma radiation is always present with Alpha or Beta... how does that work?
http://physics.tutorcircle.com/waves/gamma-decay.html

Beanium Boo Boo

Recently in class, we did a "Beanium Lab" (Beanium is a fictional element created for this learning experience). In order to paricipate in the lab, we had to pass a 1 question Pre-Lab quiz. I was the only student in my hour who didn't answer correctly. The question was over calculating % abundances and average atomic mass. I completely blanked, guessed an answer, and failed. I need to revisit these equations in order to be successful in this unit in the future.

Pre-Test

 As this weekend draws to a close, I just thought I would reflect on my atomic structure pre-test. Boy, I have a lot to learn. Especially with Alpha, Beta, and Gamma radiation/decay. It all sounds familiar from physical science but that class is a foggy memory, as is what I ate for dinner last night.