Chemical bonding

Hello! Today I'm going to be talking about Chemical Bonds.

      First, let's quickly go over atomic structure. An atom is a very tiny In the middle of an atom there is the nucleolus, which has neutrons and protons inside of it. Neutrons have a neutral charge and protons are positively charged. Shells are groups of electrons at different distances from the nucleus. Each shell also has a different number of electrons. It goes 2, 8, 8 16, 16, 32, 32, etc. Clouds are a roughly spherical orbit of electrons, moving at around the speed of light! Great, now that that's covered, we can get down to the nitty gritty! Let's talk about chemical Bonds!

       We should first go over what a valence electron is.  I know this was something we struggled with, so I'll ry to be as clear as possible in explaining it. Basically, it is an electron in the outer shell of an atom that can participate in the formation of chemical bonds. When an atoms outer shell is completely full, it is stable and will not react with other atoms. However, an unstable atom, which outer shell isn't full, will react with other atoms or molecules in order to become stable. That's not so hard, is is?

      There are two main types of Chemical Bonds: ionic and covalent. Ionic bonds occur when one atom takes an electron from another. The atom that loses its electron will become positively charged while the atom that gains the electron will become negatively charged. This is also an example of electrostatic attraction, which is a force between a negatively and positevly charged  atom that causes them to attract to eachoher. Almost like the term 'opposites attract'; this is why good girls take to the bad boy y'all! Here is an example of an ionic bond and electrostatic attraction:

In a covalent bond, the atoms involved will share an electron between them. An example for this would be water, or h2o. oxygen is sharing electrons with the two hydrogen atoms :

Well, that covers just about all the basics of chemical bonds. Again, this is a difficult concept to learn, but I hope I made it a little easier for you all. I really hope you liked my blog, I look forward to reading all of your comments C:

-Carly
( I drink all of your milkshakes! I drink them up!!)

links for images:
atomic structure
salt
water

information recieved from Brainpop

The Periodic Table of Milkshakes

       Scientists organize the world in either matter or energy; however, there are many more subcategories. We use the periodic table to organize matter. Well, what is the periodic table? The periodic table is a chart that shows all of the basic elements that make up our ovely little universe. It is arranged into periods and groups. Periods are used to show the number of electron shells an element has. Meanwhile, groups are arranged vertically and have to do with similar configurations of electrons. Bellow is what the periodic table looks like:

     

      

       It took a very long time to come up with this accurate arrangement.  Finally, Russian guy, named Dmitri Mendeleev made the chart in 1869. After much refining, the table finally began catching on.  He set it up in columns and in rows. Something amazing about Mendeleev is that he left extra space for elements that would be used later on. Because of the accuracy of his table, not much about it has changed in the 140 years of its creation. Below is an image of Mendeleev who has lovely facial hair:

 

   

       The periodic table is made up of each square that corresponds to every element. On the middle of the square there is a symbol for the element it represents.  These symbols are international, so everyone in the world can recognize the. Kind of like the scientific name for different flora and fauna. Another important aspect is the atomic number, located at the top of each square, tells the number of protons and electrons an element has. Elements are arranged in order by their atomic numbers. The ones on top are the lightest. The number at the bottom of these squares is the atomic mass. Below is an example of what an element on the periodic table looks like; try to find the symbol atomic number and atomic mass.

 

     

        The why the periodic table is arranged tells us a bunch about an atom; simply by how it’s located. Typically, elements on the left side are metals and elements on the right side are nonmetals. The division of these two types aren’t even however. On the periodic table there are about 2/3 that are metals and only 1/3 non-metals. The periodic table is also grouped in other categories. There are seven of these: Alkali metals, Alkaline-earth metals, Transition metals, Poor metals, Semimetals, and Nonmetals.

        Another interesting fact about the elements on the periodic table is that for elements 92 and higher, they cannot be found in  nature and are made in labs!

        I hope you all liked my blog about the periodic table; I know it looks tough, but I hope this helped you all a little bit!  Just like an elderly learning how Facebook works; I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it eventually.

Bye everyone! Remember: I drink your Milkshake! I drink it up!
-Carly

links for images:
periodic table
hydrogen
Mendeleev

Compunds, Mixtures, and Milkshakes.

      Today I will be talking all about compounds and mixtures and how they are different. First, we should get down to the nitty-gritty and go over how they differ. Mixtures are made through a physical change where a compound is made through a chemical reaction. Now that we covered that teensy weensy easy rule, we can really delve into what compounds and mixtures are about!

       With a compound is a chemical change taking place. A compound is formed when atoms of two or more elements bond in a chemical reaction. For example, two hydrogen atoms, when combined with one oxygen atom will make new compound water. Compounds look nothing like the elements they come from. Another example, a compound you may recognize from the dinner table; salt! Salt is formed when you mix the elements sodium, a metal, with a green gas element, chlorine.

The reaction to make compounds is also very difficult to separate.

      When an element or a compound is blended, it will make a mixture. Each substance that is part of a mixture will retain its own properties. Mixtures are achieved through either mechanical or physical means. There are two types of mixtures: heterogeneous and homogeneous.

      Homogenous is where the substances in a mixture all blend nice and evenly and are normally quite hard to distinguish visibly. Kind of like a milkshake! Milkshakes are homogenous because there’s an even blend of all the ingredients. It also tastes pretty darn good! However, with something like salad is a heterogeneous mixture meaning that the parts have not combined completely. Also salad doesn’t taste nearly as good as a milkshake.

      Well, now you now the rudiments of Compounds and Mixture! Since you are now keen on the topic, when you go about your lovely little lives, see how many things you can identify as being a compound or a mixture. Also, if you find a mixture, find out whether it’s homogenous or heterogeneous. I’d love for you to comment sharing your discoveries!

Here is a really neat little article I found about compounds on science daily:

Goodbye everyone and remember: I drink your homogenous milkshake! I drink it up!
-Carly

links for my images:
salt

 

Today, I will share with you a tale about how atoms came to be. A very long time ago, like over 2,000 years ago, that’s a pretty long time. Ryan Gosling wasn’t around yet; those were dark days. Anyways, 2,000 years ago a Greek dude called Democritus (great name)

Declared everything was made up of atoms.  Yes everything. That means you, me, trailers, Twinkies, pickles, kittens, spiders, tables, Ryan Gosling, everything, are made up of atoms.  In fact atoms come from, a Greek word. This word was atomos which means indivisible. Because, a ton of English words come from Greek ones. Like a ton.



Not that one though; that’s Japanese

Much later, in the 19^th century, another guy named John Dalton refined the idea with his theory that atoms are the smallest particle of an element that retains its chemical properties. That means if you break apart an atom of a certain element, it is no longer that element. One small thing can make a very big difference.  Just like how the color of your nail polish can change your whole look! Now, on the periodic table of elements, they are arranged by their atomic number, which is their number of protons or electrons. When atoms bond together they make molecules. For example, water is a molecule. Its comprised of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, which is why it’s called H2O!

Atoms are made up of even smaller things, subatomic particles, called protons, neutrons and electrons. The center of an atom is a nucleus, much like the center of a cell, only it is a cluster of positive charged protons and neutral neutrons. They are held together by a thing called the strong force, and this keeps protons from repelling each other.  The nucleus is encompassed by a cloud of electrons moving about the speed of light! They orbit the nucleus in shells, depending on the different energy level, and each shell holds a different number of electrons. The further away from the nucleus, the more electrons there are.

Atoms are incredibly small, so most of the universe is actually filled with empty space. That’s probably why it’s called space. Because there’s so much of it! SPAAAAAAAACEEEEEEEE

Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed! feel freeto post a comment containing feedback.
-Carly


Links:
Democritus Pic
Greek dad quote
Space sphere