Mini Project 2 - Bottle Pipes

To make bottle pipes, you just fill glass jars with different amounts of water and blow air across the top of the jar to make a sound. You can play great songs with this experiment.

Anyways, I tried this and it was easy, but it didn't work out very well. Oh well, it was so VERY fun to play with...

The Science?

• The different masses of air inside make the vibrations.
• With less air (and more water), the sound is higher pitched because there isn't a lot of air to move around.
• With more air (and less water), the sound is deeper because there is a lot of air to move around with.
• Basically, with more air mass, there is more movement, creating the vibrations needed to create sound!

Chem Standard Final

So this is my final! Yay! My standard is:

7C: Students know energy is released when a material condenses or freezes and is absorbed when a material evaporates or melts.

I'd first like to start with energy being released when a material condenses or freezes. A good simulation of that is when you put water in a freezer. Its a pretty simple experiment. Put a glass of liquid water in a super cold freezer, an

d whala, you get some ice! It happens because cold stuff makes atoms move less. Back to the water, the water molecules just stop moving, changing from the moving liquid water to the slick ice! Yes, feel the ice, it's very cold compared to the water. I found a video here that shows water molecules freezing. Its pretty cool!

Well, whats really happening is as you take energy away, the molecules can't move as much. Think of it like the molecules are getting tired and don't want to move too much. Well, when the molecules move, it turns into a solid. We solid? - ignore the stupid joke...

The next part of the standard that energy is absorbed when a material evaporates or melts. To check that out, first, put your hand over an open flame... Ok, don't do it because thats stupid and dangerous. But, really, you can already feel how hot an open flame is. The flame is the energy that you are going to use. Now, put a pot of room temperature, liquid water on top of the flame. Just wait a while, and soon, you'll see a whole bunch of steam coming out. That steam is actually fast moving water particles moving so fast it moves as a liquid. By adding a whole ton of heat, which you did by putting a pot of water over an open flame, you added energy to the water, boiling it up and turning it into a gas (water vapor). Isn't that amazing!? Well, that just proves that adding heat, or energy, can really change a substance.

What's really happening here is now we made the molecules more energetic by adding energy. It's like a little kid on chocolate! So now that the molecule's running all crazy, it breaks off from its liquidy mass and turns into a gas. Cool aye?!

Mini Project 1 - The Incredible Egg Part 2

Well, its been three days! My egg is finally ready.

After rinsing it, I started playing around with it. Check out these photos:

It was a successful lab. I mean, the egg came out really squishy and all. I never knew the egg could turn out that way.

So, more science. The eggshell was dissolved, leaving that inner membrane. As you see, I cut it up and ripped out a bit of that inner membrane. The actual edible part of the egg is still there, although I didn't bother to eat it! Yeah, well, easy cool experiment I suggest you try at home!

Mini Project 1 - The Incredible Egg Part 1

Hey, another chemistry assignment comin' your way!

I decided to make an Incredible Rubber Egg! It's pretty cool, because all you really need is an egg and vinegar. Anyways, the end result should be this really cool egg which has rubber qualities.

The Science?

The vinegar is acidic, "eating" up the calcium carbonate egg shell. The skin, or inner membrane, of the egg is left behind, making it feel very rubbery.

To do it is just three easy steps:

1. Take a hard boiled egg and place it in a glass jar filled with vinegar. Leave it undisturbed for three days.
2. Take the egg out of the vinegar and rinse it off.
3. Play with the egg! Poke it, squeeze it, and maybe even bounce it!

I got a photo of me with my super cool egg as it sits in the vinegar. I'll post again to show you all the results of this amazing experiment.

Field Trip!

View Olson Field Trip in a larger map

So this week, we had this field trip at the Mills Canyon Creek Park. We hiked all the way up there, which was pretty hard. Martinez Drive is really uphill. Then we arrived at the park, which was basically a trail. It was ridiculously long and had some tricky parts to it. Because of the recent rainstorms, it was pretty muddy. The trip wasn't too fun, because of the muddiness and all. Personally, there was nothing interesting in the park. I really didn't get to observe any serious chemistry there.

Man, the hike was so tiring that I didn't do so well in the swim meet against Burlingame High, but it was nice to see my club and swim in my home pool again.

Anyways, I have to elaborate more on my Field Trip. Again, I didn't see much chemistry. I took a lot of pictures of trees and stuff, which weren't too special. Here's a photo of me in the woods! WHOOT.

Nothing Cool This Week

WHOA, what a stupid week for me.

During my school's Arbor Day, all I really could do was serve food at my school's Pancake Breakfast. So, I was up bright and early on a SATURDAY doing this, and I hoped to plant a tree right after. No, the event takes up all my time till noon and I don't get to plant a tree! There goes my one green thing a year. I couldn't even paint a garbage can... c'mon. But the food was good, so I suppose you can say its worth it.

Then, at the Leo's club, I sign up for this Hep B awareness thing. So I personally think it's cool. I don't really know much about Hep B, except for that it affects 1 in 10 Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders. So, since it involves me I really should be concerned ehh? Well, I have nothing to do with it right now, except for a team of people who wanna help. Hopefully we'll have something to do soon!

Well, first, I have this PreCal quiz. So its pretty big for me, because my quiz grade is a 79% and I need anything, like even a B, just to move up the 1% and get an A- overall in the grade. Well, I'm sure I did my hyperbola problem completely wrong, so there goes that chance.

Then, in swimming, nothing cool really came out. Todays meet against Aragon, I swam the 200 free and the 100 fly. No Personal Records, and a lot of disappointment for me. Added quite a bit of time today. The pool was nasty too, really dense water - thats a first!

Chem, you can say, was actually fun this week. We melted glass and use those high powered air nozzles for a change.

iProposeWe Make Slime

I propose we make SLIME!

This is part of my chem class today: making up a lab. Whoot!

Making Slime

Materials:

• Borax Powder
• Water
• 4 ounces (120 mL) of Elmer's Glue
• Teaspoon
• Bowl
• Jar or Measuring Cup
• Food Coloring (optional)
• measuring cup

Safety Precautions: Wear Goggles! You are playing with dangerous chemicals. Eating the slime is toxic for you. The slime cleans up easily, just remove the dried slime after soaking it with water. The more you play with the slime, the harder it will get. Store the slime in a plastic bag in the refrigerator to prevent mold from forming.

Procedure:

1. Pour the glue into the jar.
2. Add about half a cup of water into the empty glue bottle and stir.
3. (Optional) Add food coloring.
4. In a separate jar, mix a cup of water with a teaspoon of borax powder.
5. Slowly stir the glue mixture into the borax solution.
6. Put the forming slime into your hand and slowly knead it until it feels dry.

Scientific Purposes:

1. To make and mix solutions and mixtures
2. To make a chemical reaction
3. To observe the weird properties of slime

To see this in action, watch this YouTube video.

SPRING BREAK

Portland, Seattle, Vancouver ---> ROADTRIP.
It was pretty fun. Got to shop, got to see family, got to play. Perfect. It was a fast week, sadly, and I neither swam nor slept in. Bummer. But fun. Lotsa food. So much food in fact that I now have a "muffin top" when I wear my speedo. Gross. Not a serious one, but noticeable from where I stand! But reality is, no swimming, no burning, FAT.

Well, this Chemistry Review Packet has been a killer. So much that I forgot. Well, STAR TESTING continues next week, not a lot of fun ehh?

Finished Breaking Dawn today. Best out of the four books. Finally, a good insight on being a vampire and what not. Too much sex though, but ehh, at least they waited till marriage? Anyways, interesting book. The dialogue at the end between them and the Volturi was epic. Loved it. Good series in terms of the plot, but I think a rather sucky book to read. Like the TIME magazine, I suggest you skim it, but read the really good parts. You'll know where they are.

Hey, also got to read a bit of Green Lantern comics at my cousin's house. He has a great collection. I love Green Lantern though I don't know much about it. Cool though, and pretty gory but epic.

Test Day

So, the test is over. Hooray. Once again, so many questions I jitter as i sit in my seat filling out the scantron. I really hate scantrons, they bother me because i hate how you make slash marks instead of bubbling in. Bubbling in is fun and relaxing and stuff, but making lines is just too complicated and weird for me. I don't know, I just guess I'm weird anyways.

We finally beat a team, Westmoor. WHOOT. About time. So nice races. My shoulder hurt so I couldn't really do much, but I did the best I could for my team so I guess I did ok.

I finished New Moon today. Greatish. Don't really like the middle with Bella and Jacob. I think I'm team Edward because Edward as a vampire is just cool, ya know? No sleep, forever young, flawless. Yes. I want to be just like that. But a werewolf where I always gotta strip and run like a dog.... cool to have the muscles and stuff but not me. Well, I picked up Eclipse and Breaking Dawn from my friends today, but my friend put me on this scavenger hunt because he was mad that I was reading it. Yes, I admit, Twilight is kind of a girly book. Interesting plotline none the less. Anyways, I hate scavenger hunts, but I finally got them back right before SPRING BREAK!

Week Full of Meets

So, this week has been filled with meets for me. Right now, my body feels like it's dead! This weekend was my SOLO meet. I made all personal records, making an amazing 55.9 on my 100 free sprint. One of my goals is to reach the JO time, which is 53, and according to my goal plan, I'm right on track! Two other astounding achievements: a 4:57.9 (under 5 minutes!!) in the 400 IM and a 1:12.9 in my 100 breaststroke event. They're all amazing times which i hope to continue breaking. This totally remotivated me for a while, because high school swimming has been kind of a drag compared to awesome club swimming!

Today I had my first official high school swim meet against Carlmont. As a sophomore against a varsity team of juniors and seniors, I did pretty well! Well, the glory's not the same as being a freshmen, like I was last year. I basically made life best times today even though I wasn't feeling so great. So, my 200 free event I made a life best time compared to what I swam at the better pool in SOLO. So, that was great. Also, because I didn't do so well in my 200 free event at SOLO, I learned one very big lesson - DON'T HOLD BACK, which I quickly learned, leading me to the record SOLO meet times I wrote up there. Anyways, I beat my swim buddy, but he still has a faster time than me. Props to him!! Also, shout out to this girl on my team. I think she will read it and know this is for her. Rumor has it that she, who has been swimming a bagillion years longer than me, has an eye out for a 1:12 on the 100 breaststroke. I hope she gets it because she's one of the amazing swimmers I've been watching and learning from!! Well, back to me swimming. I had the 200 IM right after the 200 free, so I was crazy tired. The first 50 fly was ok, but then in back I was losing it. I gave up in breast, took it sorta easy in the first lap of free. Then I found one of my teammates losing it there, so I went turbo and finished with a life best time. I can go faster, and dang, that was me when I was tired!

In the end, we all swam well, and as our former coach last year said: "Based on times, not bad for a first meet." Our JV team has a TON it needs to work on, so I hope they improve!!

Bummer, I lost my ASB election. Oh well, I'm just going to reapply for Leadership and hope for the best!

Well, to the main point of this blog, chemistry. The test was ridiculously easy. There were a couple things I didn't get, but I'll still have an A in the class anyways. We've moved onto stuff about Pressure and Gasses. Its really confusing and our labs lately have not been working. Well, another fun filled week of chemistry! Honestly, I think this blog should be called "Swimming..." or something, because all I can cough up about is swimming more than chemistry!

Equlibira What?

So now we're doing stuff with equlibrium and stuff, about how gas changes in concentration when you add more moles of gas or change the temerature or pressure. Ok, so so far I get how by adding more moles of reactants you get more moles of products. But I have no idea what is going on with the pressure and temperature. I really don't get it, and I need help quick. I'm lucky enough to not have school tomorrow - teacher's work day or whatever - so my test is on Friday. But still, not enough time to understand what we're doing.

A Heck of a Week

Last Saturday was my birthday. My sixteenth in fact. You know how people have their fabulous "sweet sixteens" with some sorta party and everything goes right. Well, nothing happened to me at all. I usually am not much of a birthday person, I think it's really embarrassing to have happy birthday sung to me and all, but this year i actually wanted a little party and all. But my parents never asked so I didn't hold one. They ask every year except for this one. Thanks mom and dad. Better yet, they don't even SAY happy birthday to me. Come on, some of my friends bothered to call me, but of course they didn't, my own parents. I also specifically told them what kinda cake I wanted, but of course they get me the wrong one. I wanted a vanilla buttercream chocolate cake, no fruits. It's really a simple cake they coulda gotten at the local Safeway. Really, that's all I wanted.

No.

Instead, they give me this crazy cake from Satura, a day after my birthday. It was a medium sized, chocolate mousse cake. Once again, my mom only hears the half of what i tell her. Typical of my parents.

Yea, I'll admit to anyone who reads this, I think I'm pretty depressed about it. Well, not in any serious way! My parents now are trying to make it up to me, my mom at least. My dad is mad at me, but whatever, I'm sick of this on and off relationship with him so now i just say to myself that I have nothing to say to him and only ask him for rides and stuff. Seriously, my parents can't do anything to fix up what they've done for my "sweet sixteen". Now, I can only wonder what I'm gonna tell people years from now when they ask what I've done for my sixteenth birthday.

Swimming isn't as interesting for me anymore. Swimming at the Mills Pool is really hard. My jammer tan is going nowhere, not even a shade better than I started with three or four weeks ago. I'm trying to be hopeful for the Solo Club Meet this weekend. I'm gonna see all my buddies from BAC! Thats a good thing.

I'm having an obsession to watch Code Geass again. Its really cool, and I enjoy it. Its one of two animes that I like to watch. I hear they're coming up with a new season, possibly in a different time place but with the same basic plot. Hey, as long as it's got the Holy Britannian Empire and Knightmare Frames, I'm good.

Finally, the main event of this week's blog: chemistry. We're doing thermochemistry. It's all about this great equation Q=MC(delta)T. I honestly don't get it and I'm struggling through it. Its all about how stuff is heated and cooled and releases energy and what not. Its great. Got a test next Friday, you should know the drill by now. Enough said. You can figure the rest of my chem life out now.

'Til next week!

Thermochemistry

Yet another annoying song to have stuck in my head: M, C, Delta T. M, C, Delta T. (my chem teacher goes further and says "Thats Calorimetry Yo!"). The great thing about having such a song stuck in your head is that you remember the thermochemistry formula, but the downfall is that it doesn't help in figuring out what M, C, and Delta T stands for. So, brain farts are devastating. You have this song stuck in your head with no meaning. Horray.

Anyways, we got to burn metal and I got to play with fire, so I'm good.

My brand new blue speedo turned purple after four days, so I just got a new one which arrived today. Note to ANYONE who reads this and is a swimmer: ALWAYS BUY SPEEDO ENDURANCE. Anything else is just plain useless. The fabric fades and wears out so quickly. That was a waste of some 30 bucks.

I am running for ASB Secretary. Wish me luck people, cause I think I'm gonna need it. I have a bet with my opponent, and it's that whoever loses owes the winner lunch. I don't wanna buy a Junior that, 'specially when I know I am SMARTER and more RESPONSIBLE and a BETTER SWIMMER than her. The downfall is, running for ASB requires me to make a speech and a slogan, something I'm horrible at. Suggestions anyone?

Meanwhile, I'm planning on all the classes I'll take for next year. I'm taking two weighted classes. Not too bad for Junior year ehh?

Tomorrow's my school's Winter Formal. No date :( But my buddies and I are, hopefully, going to have a blast. Of course, High School Time Trials first! Hope I beat _____________________.

Speedo Day

My turn to wear the speedo. The pic above sorta looks like what I wear, minus the body shape and horrible tan line.

I actually made this decision two weeks ago, and my speedo brief came friday. Yay me. Now i get to show off my horrible jammer tan. All my swim buddies say that my thighs are so white:
1. NASA can spot them
2. I still look like I'm wearing white jammers with a blue middle part
3. It's just plain scary...

It's a weird experience, my thighs just hang out and jiggle, and I'm so self conscious.

Winter Olympics this year anyone? For some reason, I'm not that into it this year... I suppose its the homework I just seem to keep getting everyday.

I saw Valentine's Day, and don't call me a loser, but I actually liked it. It's not a bad storyline, I mean, it made sense and all, and it tied together. Loved Anne Hatheway and her phone sex business. Even better when Queen Latifa tried it out. It was good, and 'cmon, give creds to Taylor Swift for acting like a dumb blonde. I loved it when she was talking about how her boyfriend called and she didn't see her boyfriend but only this big stuffed animal. Another favorite: "I stand behind you... metaphorically". Watch it to find out what it means!

I got to pie my chem teacher today. That was EPIC. Three of my buddies and I did it consecutively. Well worth my charitable $2. Man, a whole year plus more to go of chemistry with him, dang it felt good.

Well, back to chemistry, the main reason I'm writing blogs, we have a test on Friday. Isn't it getting boring, me ranting about how I don't know anything, me getting upset about how I have a test on Friday, me ranting about Chemistry? Well, I have BIG NEWS. I kinda get the stuff this time. We're doing stoichiometry. I still don't think its a legit name for this, and it doesn't seem like a real chemistry thing. Seriously, I thought my teacher made up the name, along with the millions of other songs. Anyways, sure, it's a bit complicated, making all those unit conversion stuff, but its the same throughout. The hard part is figuring what molecules to use and balancing the equations, something I bet i will not get. Trust me, anyone know about the chemical equation of..... nitrate? I'm once again

SCREWED

Sexy Riley!

So, we had an epic spirit week this week. One day we dressed up like we went to BHS, and i wore a BHS tee shirt, and people were like "YOU WOULD" to me. Some people here think I'm a BHS lover because I swim there (thats where my swim team BAC trains).

In the BEST RALLY ever, we had the ACADEMY OF VILLAINS come and dance for us. They're an amazing dance crew, starred America's Best Dance Crew, and they're going to try out for America's Got Talent. They are really talented, made me want to dance, and their music choice is off the charts.

Then, at the rally, one of our seniors, RILEY, did this amazing stunt. It was during the Boys Varsity, and while someone had to do those freethrow shots, he stripped down to his SPEEDO and danced for a while. I <3 MILLS was written all over his body. It was hilarious, and he's definitely a hero. SEXY RILEY SEXY RILEY. We chanted that for a while. Just so you know, I think he distracted the BHS team, cause we ended up winning. MHS FTW!

Chem...
We did more of that Moles X Grams X whatever whatever stuff. Its taking me forever to get it in my head. Chemical equations ick me. We did this failure of a lab, cause the magnesium string didn't burn up and oxidize, so a bad lab. Oh well, not like I would have understood what was going on anyways. A fire is way too mesmerizing.

RILEY's MY HERO..... RILEY's MY HERO.....

GramsXMolesX

We learned a pretty interesting, and i seriously mean interesting, song today. GramsXMolesX MolsYGramsY. Say that in your head over and over again. So, I don't exactly know what it means, but I'm sure it's important!

We just did our CAHSEEs. Pretty epic. It was also like crazy easy. Some questions were silly. You could narrow yourself down to two possible answers and then you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.

Back to Chem. We did more on stuff with chemical reactions. We even burned Methane Gas. Pretty epic.

New Unit

Chemistry...

Finally, something I can understand. Chemical Reactions! Really, to me they're easy, and its been a breeze. Finish the pink packet? I'm done within a class period. No Joke.

I got a B+ on that test. Asian Fail? Well, luckily my parents don't look at my grade so often, cause my PreCal grade is going down, down, down, down, down. I got a D on the last test, B in the class right now. I GOTTA GET IT UP. But its so dang hard. Well, the stuff on the test I got wrong, I'm working on getting it right, so for the big test, I'll be ready.

WE WON! WE WON! We got First in our Division at the championships. I didn't do so hot, but I did drop some times. I got my first disqualification too. Bummer, cause my coach says I was swimming legally, just the official didn't see me. That dude couldn't even explain WHY I got disqualified! But hey, next year, we're gonna try and bring down PASA and DACA. Watch out, we're BAC!

Test Week

Oh dear, test week.



So first of all: this packet makes no sense. Fill in the blanks, and equation here, equation there. Did i mention 'c-books'. Yes, i mean Composition Books. Radical name my Chemistry teacher uses. Anyways, this 'c-book' really helps cause I can write down anything I want, so basically, cheat notes? Well, with a million equations to do, it never really hurts. Especially when it comes to things like titration?

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING!
NOTHING IS MAKING SENSE.

Well, good news is, the test has been postponed. Meaning - ZONE CHAMPIONSHIPS. I am so ready for this

To the East, to the West.
Burlingame is the Best.
B E A T beat 'em, beat 'em
B U S T bust 'em, bust 'em
Beat 'em, Bust 'em
That's our custom
Come on team
Let's ReAdjust them!
Goooooo BURLINGAME!

- and I mean Burlingame the Swim Team, not the high school. I love Mills!

Solubles

Chemistry....

Solutions, Solutions, Solutions.
Thats basically what we've been doing. Mixing here, mixing there. Lab everywhere. Its a lot. We make some pretty funky colored solutions you know. We're working with acids too ya know. Really confusing. I mean, I'm supposed to know all this stuff about acids and bases and stuff, but I honestly have no idea what is going on. TITRATION? Oh gosh, is someone seriously gonna teach this to me. BY FRIDAY!? Yes, test Friday. We screwed or what.

Well, gotta get to powerpoints and finish almost impossible worksheets, which some are conveniently found online with some answers. 'Using my resources'. Cool or what?

First Week, New Semester

Phew, First half of Sophomore year is done! Kinda scary how old we're getting.

Chem.... like dissolves like? I'm not sure whats going on. Just more chemical stuff and reactions. We're doing stuff with solutions, so we get to mix things and use beakers and the whole lot. It's great.



I can't believe that I have ANOTHER semester of Chemistry. Seriously, I was overjoyed when the first semester ended.

I NEED A BREAK ALREADY.

Toronto was great by the way. GREAT food. Seriously, if you bother to read this, you should all go and eat the wonderful Asian food.
I got back into the pool and I'm good as new. ZONE CHAMPIONS coming up, and my team's aiming for 1st in our division. GO BAC!

Like Dissolves Like

Dissolving is a process where solid or liquid substances form a homogeneous mixture with a solvent, forming a solution.





Like Dissolves Like helps you understand how dissolving works. Solutes, the thing being dissolved, will dissolve best when it is dissolved with a solvent that has similar polarity. It is a basic rule that applies to all solutions.




Boring blog, I know, but its my classwork. A+ worthy? What a way to start off 2010