Rocket Project Showcase
Wednesday, April 2
Episode 1 Reaction Language
Talk chemistry to me.
Chemical reactions have two steps.
1. Reactants (the stuff you start with), turn into...
2. Products (the stuff you end with).
Atoms are not created or destroyed, just rearranged into different substances.
Different models help to describe substances.
Text models are called formulas,
Drawn models are called chemical structures (Lewsi structures).
A chemical equation is a balanced statement that shows the chemical formulas before and after a chemical reaction happens.
Episode 2 Reaction Energy
Rapid unexpected disassembly.
There are two types of energy, kinetic (motion) energy and potential (stored) energy. Chemical reactions involve one form of energy changing into another. Energy is never created or destroyed! Ever!
Read this Khan Academy comic. Go back to cK12 Reactions and scroll down to the endothermic/excothermic section.
Episode 3 Reaction Rate
How to get a date.
Atoms and molecules don't stand still. They have kinetic energy and are constantly moving, bouncing, and colliding into other particles 💥. If particles collide with enough energy, well that's when a chemical reaction can happen. If particles move faster (that is, have a higher temperature) or are more concentrated (closer together like people in a mosh pit) then chemical reactions will happen faster.
Read up at cK12 Reaction Rates.
Bonus Episode - Moles
Here's my Avagadro's Number
Since chemical reactions only rearrange atoms, mass is NOT created or destroyed. The mole (6.02x10^23 of something) is a tool to help "count" particles involved in a chemical reactions and set up proportions for figuring out amounts of reactants and products. It's really not different than a dozen being a helpful tool to count groups of donuts🍩. Think of a mole as a bridge between grams that we can measure on a scale, and counting ridiculously large numbers of particles in substances around the chemistry lab.