Arsenic-eating microbes!

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101202/full/news.2010.645.html#update1
A bacterium found in the arsenic-filled waters of a Californian lake is poised to overturn scientists' understanding of the biochemistry of living organisms.

Check this out!  Whoever said that chemistry and biology aren't closely linked have just been proven wrong!  It's amazing how this discovery is a natural link from our chemical interactions unit to our study of DNA and heredity.

Write a response to the article in a new blog post. 

Balancing Chemical Equations

Chemical Reaction Basics

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Bill Nye the Science Guy explains Chemistry so well in this collection of Chemical Reaction Videos! Parts 1-3
http://www.gamequarium.org/cgi-bin/search/linfo.cgi?id=7907

Types Of Chemical Reactions

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Balancing Chemical Rx

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Chemical Reactions Notes

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Watch these videos about chemical reactions and bonding. We have watched two of the slide shares today and briefly reflected on them. Embed one or two of the videos that helped you the most to further your knowledge of chemical reactions and bonding into your own blog as well as one you found online that was helpful. Write a reflection about what you learned regarding chemical reactions. What is the conservation of mass law? Why do chemists use chemical equations to explain or express a reaction?

Writing a Current Event Blog Post (Tips)

Be sure to read the SCIENCE NEWS each week.

• Choose a current article to write about in your blog post each Wednesday night.
  
• Be sure to include the title of the article, the author, the date it was written and the link to the article.
  
• Take notes as you read the article to be sure that you are paraphrasing and not just copy-pasting.
  
• Plagiarism will not be tolerated. If it's someone elses words, you need to use quotation marks and put the persons name at the end in parentheses who said it.
  
• Remember, the minimum is 250 words for your blog post, but your goal is to improve your writing each time.
  
• Read other classmate's posts, and even Grade 6, 7 or 8B student posts if you'd like. Comment on at least three student's blogs each week by Sunday night.
  
• When responding to a blog:
  

  Read a selection of your classmates’ postings. As you read their responses, note those to which you would like to respond with advice, questions, comments, and/or encouragement for improvement.

  Respond to two or more of your classmate's postings in any of the following ways:

• Provide feedback
  
• Ask a question
  
• Share an insight - (A connection or thought)
  
• Offer an opinion
  
• Make a suggestion
  
• Note a similarity or difference to your posting
  

Return to your post in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Reflect on what you learned and/or any insights you gained, and how these comments improve your writing. You do not have to write this, you are welcome to comment back on your post to help you remember for next week of what you wanted to improve.

Prezi Collaboration

Now that both 8A and 8B have presented the Glogster posters on each element, we are going to embark on a cross-class collaborative bonding activity. :)

Begin a prezi page for your element from the Glogster Project and make this public so others can access it. Include the main information about your element.

8A: You know which elements we have researched.
8B has researched: Li, Fe, K, Ca, O, Cl, I, N, Al, C.

Open a Google Document to organize information as you research potential compounds that can be formed between the various elements your classmates have researched and presented on. Find information regarding compound characteristics, formation of new compounds, and uses. EXTENSION: Find out what types of reactions these new compounds form from. (Synthesis, Decomposition, Single Replacement, Double Replacement)



Once you have researched this information, reach out to each other as valence electrons do to other element atoms through your prezi by inviting others to bond (edit) with you. :) For example, if I were doing Calcium I would want to bond with Oxygen so I would send them a shared prezi email so they can edit my primary prezi. The person who completed Oxygen would then go in and complete the bond by creating a new link to my calcium atom.

Waste Water Spill

October 5, 2010 a chemical spill occurred at a nearby Aluminum factory.

Find an article (or articles) about this recent spill of waste water. Provide information in your blog post about who, what, when, where, why and how this happened. Also, provide a link for your information. Possible images and YouTube videos can be embedded as well onto your post.


Why is this red? Any connections to the experiment we did in science class? What connections did you have between this spill and the film on Blue Gold?

Atomic Theory Tutorial

http://www.101science.com/Chemistry.htm#Chemicals_and_Interactions

Click on the link above and scroll down until you see the video on the Atom.
Watch the video-It will last about 20 minutes. This is a fantastic video that breaks down everything we have discussed and read about so far this quarter. Take notes on what the presenter is saying about the atom, he speaks slowly and repeats specific terms. Pay close attention to orbits and orbitals, as well as 'free space'. :)

Copy this link into your blog post as well as a reflection of what you learned from this video. You also may choose to take notes either in your notebooks or in your blog post. These notes will be used to study from for the upcoming quiz.

The Chemistry of Fireworks

Bytesize Science Presents: The Chemistry of Fireworks from ACS Pressroom on Vimeo.

Watch the video above from Bytesize Science on the Chemistry of Fireworks. Write a reflection after watching the video. While reflecting, consider the following questions:

How are fireworks capsules designed?

What safety procedures do they include in the design?

What are the various compounds mentioned in this video? *What are their chemical formulas?

Which element is extremely important for fireworks to work properly? What is the fire triangle?

What two components do fireworks need in order to produce heat at a certain burning rate?

What type of reaction takes place in fireworks?

Green Plastics

ChemMatters - Episode 2: Plastics Go Green from ACS Pressroom on Vimeo.

Watch the video above about "Green" methods for creating plastics.

Use the questions (and more) below in writing a reflection of this video on your blog.
When you are finished, check out at least two of your classmates' blogs and make a constructive comment on each. In your comments try to make a comparison between what you and your peers learned from the video.

How are these plastics being developed?

What makes these plastics "green?"

What are some issues with plastics that were mentioned?

How many different elements/compounds could you see?

What connection is there between this video, the article about water, and the video of Blue Gold?

20 Things about H20 you didn't know

Take a read through this list of 20 facts on water, attach the link to a blog post and write a reflection listing five items which you found most interesting and explain why.

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/may/20-things-you-didn.t-know-about-water

Below this you must include five new facts about water which you found online from five different sources. You must include the link to your source next to each of the facts, so that other students can find them as well. Do your best to include sources which end in .edu, .gov or .org.

How does this article relate to the film we have been watching in class (Blue Gold: World Water Wars) and the research you have done on the water supply in your own home country?

Finally, you must make a comment on three other student's blogs. Your comment must be specific to something you read in their post. It must state an opinion of agreement or disagreement, and it must include reasoning or explanation.

Water, Water, EVERYWHERE?

From the film, Blue Gold: World Water Wars (winner for Best Ecological Film of the year and Best Documentary Film of 2010 at the European independent Film Festival), there were many things that came up which we discussed in class about water and where it comes from.


We are going to dig into the water sources from our own countries. I will do this also for Maine. :) I'm very interested to see what we have and where our watershed is. Maine is very rich in resources, including water.

For further discussion and inquiry in class about the importance of water, water purification, water desalinization, and new technologies for making fresh, clean drinking water available for the future and now, research the following questions regarding your home country by Friday:

• What rivers flow through your country?
  
• Where do the rivers come from? (Include the countries that it flows through)
• Are there any blockages? (Dams, hydroelectric plants)
• What forms of industry are located on the rivers?
• What springs/natural reservoirs are there in your country? (Lakes, aquifers, watershed)
• Where does your country get their water supplies from? If it's from your country, do you ship/export water to different countries?
  
• How do you get water to your house? (Katja asked this in class)

After researching these various questions about your own country? I'm pretty sure that this
has left you with a lot of inquiries. Write them down in your post. Try to find the answers to as many of the above answers as well as your own as you can. I look forward to reading your posts! :) You can read my post on the classroom blog by Sunday as well.

DUE SUNDAY NIGHT, Sunday September 19, 2010

Breaking up Phosphorus with sunlight

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100903140907.htm

Current Events

Dry Water a Savior?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825174102.htm?sms_ss=blogger


Pollution at the Ends of the Earth...
http://sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20100106/Feature1.asp


A Robot can sense what?
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/robotics-breakthrough-scientists-make-artificial-skin-2083547.html


Choose one of the articles above, copy and past it in as a hyperlink.
Go to Moodlic and log into your Grade 8 Science Course.
Go to this week in Moodlic and there you will find the current event guidelines for weekly blog entries. Be sure to follow these guidelines.
Be prepared to discuss the impact of this type of scientific advancement on society.

You should take notes in your notebook and I encourage you to use a graphic organizer to organize your ideas as well as your writing. When you have finished, publish your summary and reflection in a new blog post on your science blog as well as the link.

GLOGSTER COMPOUNDS

Students will be assigned an element upon which they will develop a Glogster presentation at: http://www.glogster.com/ They will demonstrate their element with the use of the Panaboard.

Science 8a will be assigned H, Be, Na, Sr, K, F, Br, S, P, Ag and

Science 8b will be assigned Li, Fe, K, Ca, O, Cl, I, N, Al, C.

Students must include sections on both the Physical and Chemical Properties, Common Compounds (in which their element is a primary constituent), Occurrence and Production, Health sector use, Military use, Industrial use, and New Research or Emerging Technologies using their element.

Students will be paired with one representative from 8a and one from 8b. Here students will construct a shared Google presentation to inform their peers of the various compounds possibly formed between their and their partner’s elements.

Due Friday, September 17

Chemical Party :)

After watching this video again, embed the video into your own blog. List and describe the various interactions you see occurring at the party between elements. Who is attracted to whom? Who bonds with whom? Be very observant to the interactions, some are very quick and some are extremely obvious. Be sure that you include all of the molecular combinations you see and THEN research the chemical reaction online to figure out what compound they make and what it is used for.

Introduction to Our Classroom Blog

This blog will be used to post assignments for you to access such as videos, articles, podcasts, etc... After viewing your assignment on this blog, you will then respond in a new post on your own blog. I encourage you to use your own background knowledge of the topics we study throughout the year as well as your newly learned vocabulary when completing assignments.

Evidence of a Chemical Reaction

This week we will investigate what a chemical reaction is and how we know that one has occurred through the evidence of chemical changes. Embed each of the videos (listed as links below) on your blog as one single post titled "Evidence of a Chemical Reaction."

Beneath each video link, write what in complete sentences what you observed in that video. What evidence do you see in that video that indicates that a chemical reaction has occurred? What are the chemical changes that can occur during a chemical reaction? A pondering moment: What causes a reaction to end?
Finally, find a YouTube video on your own that shows a new chemical reaction and embed it into your blog.
Visit other classmates' blogs to watch their videos and comment on them the same way.

***BONUS: What can chemical changes tell us about the elements that are involved in the reaction?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVK9Om4wzBM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ypUVpwgcAA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=896vJj6eWYw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRmNPKVEGeQ&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJslbQiYrYY&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2mj-Sq2oeo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n7kBkBcXgo&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pk6s1MbszA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrNA8-eipGE&feature=related