Pneumonia =(

Last year it was shingles, this year it's pneumonia.  =\
I started coughing the day after Thanksgiving, and it quickly turned bad.  Just walking from one room to another has been exhausting.
This year I have been updating the Physical Science posts as we go (we are finishing up M7), but the first posts were actually the ones that needed more updating, so the M8 post looks pretty good already.  But I usually streamline the way the post is laid out and check Debbie's sites for anything to add, so feel free to check for anything you'd like to add in to your own studies.  She has a student site and an educator site.
We will not be having a class for M8, but I will get the M8 post updated in the near future.

Chemistry Dogs!

These dogs are SO well-behaved!
Amazing.

Remember, atoms are called ions if they lose an electron.
Atoms usually have the same number of protons and electrons and have a net neutral charge.  So if an atom loses an electron to another atom, those atoms are no longer "neutral."

Chemical bonds hold atoms together because they share electrons; and those held-together atoms make up a molecule.
(Hydrogen bonds hold water molecules together, and are more easily broken than chemical bonds.)

Polar molecules are molecules in which one side is more negative therefore making the other side more positive.
Water molecules are polar because the oxygen pulls more and gains more electrons (Oxygen and hydrogen still share electrons -- this is what causes the chemical bond -- but the oxygen keeps more of them.)

Water molecules can dissolve substances that have polar molecules or ionic molecules, but not non-polar molecules.

►See diagram of a water molecule.



Aren't they sweet!  =)

How many molecules in a drop of water???

I emailed Apologia and asked them approximately how many molecules of water would be in a drop on the end of one's finger.

Their reply:

"An average size drop of water has about 0.05 ml, and a drop of that size would have 1.7x10^21 molecules."

That's 1,700,000,000,000,000,000,000!

God's creation is AMAZING!!!

Amazing 9-Layer Density Tower!

Amazing!  We did something similar in General Science Module 1, but this is fantastic.  And way prettier.  =)

Source of pic, with instructions and explanation
Used with permission from Steve Spangler

Video demo of how to do this experiment.


Steve Spangler is on facebook

Water Molecules!

While searching for videos for Physical Science Module 5 today, I came across these that go great with Module 4!
Embedding into a website is disabled, so you will have to click these links to watch them.
They have also been added to the Physical Science Module 4 post.

• Water Molecules - part 1 is a great video animation that shows that water molecules are polar, and will hydrogen bond.  Hydrogen bonding is what enables water (H2O) to stay in a liquid form at room temperature (instead of a gas like other H2__ substances).

• Water Molecules - part 2 shows the state of water molecules in liquid form, as a solid, and as a gas.


Basically atoms and elements are the same thing. 

An atom is just the smallest amount of an element.

Read this ice cream analogy.