Tuesday, May 17, 2011

EXAM REVIEW!

22. Limiting Reactants
a) If 8.6L of H2 reacted with 4.3L of O2 at STP, what volume of excess reactant will remain after the reaction is complete? (reaction on review packet)

First, figure out the limiting reactant



As you can see, both of the reactants equal the exact same number of moles, .38. In this case both reactants are adequate, and neither elements needs the other to react. There is no excess. 


b) If a total of 1134g of NaHCO3 and 864.0g of C6H8O7 react, how many moles of CO2 and Na3C6H5O7 will be produced? 

First, find the moles of the limiting reactant in terms of CO2



As you can see, NaHCO3 is the limiting reactant. now use 13.50 moles and convert it to NaC6H5O7



13.50 mol CO2, 4.500 mol Na3C6H5O7

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Nuclear Chemistry: Chernobyl and Japan

To understand the crisis in Japan or the disaster of Chernobyl, one must first understand how a reactor works:

HOW REACTORS WORK:


Nuclear reactors work by fission, or splitting atoms apart. The most common fuel for reactor plants in the United States is Uranium- 235. The Uranium starts out as an ore, Uranium- 238, and has to be enriched to better suit the reaction process. It is easier to cause the Uranium- 235 atoms to split (fission process).  The reactors are made up of fuel rods, which are twelve-foot long rods that contain pellets of U-235 and are pumped with helium. This mixture is the cause of the fission process: the helium atoms hit the U-235 atoms and cause them to split. The fuel rods are placed in spacer grids that allow for coolant to flow around the rods to keep them cool enough.  The fuel assemblies are always placed underground in a pool of water (Site 4).

There are two types of reactors that are used in the U.S., the boiling water reactor and the pressurized water reactor. They both work the same way, creating steam to turn the turbine and create a current or flow of electrons though wires, creating energy. The boiling water reactor is less pressurized and the heat causes the water to boil and create steam, while the pressurized reactor keeps the water at such a high pressure that even at extremely high temperatures the water wont boil. After the steam is produced and moved through the turbine (the element that turns the electric generator) it condensed back into water and sent back into the reactor to cycle around again (Site 1).


http://scitechie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/h20.jpg

Second, we look at the disaster of Chernobyl and what went wrong:

CHERNOBYL DISASTER: 

The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the largest uncontrolled radioactive release into the environment ever recorded. Due to a flawed reactor design and poorly trained personnel, radioactive substances were released into the air for 10 days, killing and injuring hundreds of people in the area.
The accidental disaster occurred in April of 1986 at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine. The reactor used Uranium-235, as most other plants, and was a boiling water reactor made by the Soviet Union (Site 2).
On April 26, the crew at Chernobyl was to test out new energy regulator designs. The automatic shutdown mechanisms had been disabled due to a series of actions by operators, but the routine test began to see if they could use less energy. The reactor went into a very unstable state, and they could not shut it down in time manually. The control rods were also strangely designed and caused a major power surge as they were inserted into the reactor. The reactor destructed as the steam from the very hot fuel rods and the cooling water collided. The fuel channels were ruptured and the control rods were jammed, only halfway inside. The large amount of steam created a very large explosion, shooting fission products (radioactive materials) into the air. A second explosion occurred seconds later, sending large amounts of graphite into the air as well. This problem and explosion only happened to one of the four reactors present at Chernobyl. It caused a major disruption in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine because the elements in the air traveled to these countries. Hundreds of thousands of people had to be resettled into safer areas, many had to get treatment for radiation poisoning, and many hours and a lot of money was put into cleaning the mess up and getting the remaining three reactors up and running again.  It took over two years to fully clean it all up (Site 3).

http://www.our-energy.com/pictures/static_content/chernobyl/chernobyl_today.jpg



Japan's nuclear crisis: is it as bad as Chernobyl?

JAPAN'S NUCLEAR CRISIS: 
The nuclear crisis in Japan began with an earthquake and tsunami at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-1 nuclear power plant. After the earthquake the emergency shutdown of the reactors went into effect, and worked perfectly. The shutdown was not the problem, as in Chernobyl, but what happened afterwards. The cooling facility to the reactors was hit by the tsunami and halted the cooling process of the rods and reactors, leaving the past fission products to remain harmful.  As in Chernobyl, by the time operators got there to manually turn back up generators on, it was too late.  The people managing the situation knew the gas build up would lead to an explosion, so they vented a lot of it into a containment facility, where it reacted with another gas and exploded. This was the secondary chamber, which was good, because the primary chamber contained most of the harmful elements. The primary chamber was getting too hot, and the rods were beginning to melt. This is very bad because if the rods melt too much and create a pool in the chamber, the Uranium and other elements will eat through the walls and eject massively radioactive substances into the air. The chamber walls did crack, but then helicopters full of water were sent to dump cold water onto the reactor to try to cool it down and contain the nuclear elements. Some of the radioactive substances were released into the air and caused harm to some of the population around the reactors when the explosion happened, but the primary containment vessel is being kept cool enough to keep most of the nuclear matter contained. Also, some of the substance is said to have been leaked into the water supply and the ocean. The operators’ biggest fear is that more radioactive substances will be leaked into the ocean or water supply that would harm many people either way. They have blocked off an area of the ocean to stop people from fishing near the reactors, in case the fish have been exposed, and are trying to contain the rest of the radioactive substances. We should be a bit worried, but for now it is contained and is not much of a harm. Although it has harmed many and has sent many people away from their homes, it is not as bad as the disaster at Chernobyl(Site 5).

Here is a video to further explain the crisis in Japan in relation to the disaster of Chernobyl! Click on the word "video."


Sites used: 
Video- YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDfAZhhqkCI
SIte 1- http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/teachers/01.pdf
Site 2- http://www.tesec-int.org/chernobyl/History.htm
Site 3- http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html
Site 4- http://science.howstuffworks.com/japan-nuclear-crisis1.htm
Site 5- http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/energy/nuclear/explainer-what-went-wrong-in-japans-nuclear-reactors

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Would anyone eat this?

Many ionic compounds are in everyday foods and drinks that I come across everyday. I never knew so many ionic compounds were in them! Here are a few examples:

1. a) Phosphoric acid


  c)  found in Coke Zero


2. a) Calcium Carbonate


  c)  found in Nutrigrain Bar (strawberry)


3. a) Zinc Oxide


  c)  found in Nutrigrain bar (strawberry)


4. a) Potassium Chloride


  c)   found in Progresso chicken and barley soup


5. a) Sodium Phosphate


  c) found in Progresso chicken and barley soup


6. a) Magnesium Sulfate


  c)  found in One a Day women's vitamin drink mix


7. Manganese Sulfate (II and III)

(III)


 (II)

  c) found in One a Day women's vitamin drink mix


8. a) Chromium Chloride 

 (II)

 (III)

  c)  found in One a Day women's vitamin drink mix


9. Ammonium Sulfate 


  c)  found in Old London bread crumbs


10. Calcium Sulfate 


  c) found in Old London bread crumbs



For 10 other items check out Puja's Blog!!!


Thursday, October 7, 2010

Glogster on Rutherford's Experiment

Hey guys! I researched Rutherford and his experiment with gold foil and helium particles. His conclusions and theories are what we base our knowledge on atomic and nuclear sciences today.
Check out my GLOGSTER!
(click on the word glogster above)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Baking Soda!

Ever wonder what would happen when you mix certain things with baking soda? I did. Puja and I selected baking soda as our item. We found the physical properties, then we needed to find chemical properties. Everyone has baking soda in their houses, and we wanted to see what would happen when it was places with other household items. We made many conclusions and observations. Here are our results:




Physical:


  • Baking soda is white
  • Baking soda is a solid at room temperature
  • Baking soda is a light, grainy, powdery substance
  • Baking soda does not have an odor
  • Baking soda is soluble in water
                                                                                                      Original
                Baking soda dissolved in water                 

Chemical Properties:

  • First, Puja and I put a teaspoon of baking soda into a bowl. We then added 3 teaspoons of vinegar to the bowl. This mixture grew, bubbling a lot. The vinegar reacted with the baking soda to bubble and foam. The baking soda then dissolved. After we found this, we put the mixture into a pan and put it on the stove to heat it. This immediately caused the substance to bubble again, a lot. The heat made the substance speed up the process, and the bubbling was not boiling, because t=it was immediate. 
                                 Heating the substance after a few seconds


  • Second, we heat the baking soda by itself. The baking soda did nothing. After about ten minutes on medium heat, we decided to turn it off. Heat does not do anything to baking soda by itself, no reaction occurred. 

  • Third, we mixed one teaspoon of baking soda with one-fourth cup of orange juice. We thought this would have a reaction since it has some acid in it. This mixture makes a bubbly orange substance at first, and then it dies down to a creamy, foamy liquid. We then decided to heat the mixture. It rose, bubbled, and foamed. We then let the mixture cool, finding that the liquid left was yellow and transparent, with a little foam on top. The smell had changed also from orangey to bad and cake-like, with just a hint of orange left. 
Before Heat                                                                              After Heat















  • Fourth, we added lysol disinfectant spray to the baking soda. We added 20 squirts to a couple teaspoons of baking soda. The mixture immediately foamed and bubbled, leaving a white foam on top. 

                                      





                       Spraying lysol into baking soda





  • Fifth, we put 3 teaspoons of baking soda in with a fourth of a cup of vinegar. After it bubbled and foamed, we wondered what would happen if we put an egg in the mixture. The egg, especially the whites, reacted very well with the baking soda and vinegar. The egg foamed and grew and would not stop. 


                         Gross. 


During this experiment Puja and I concluded that baking soda reacts with many things, especially things that contain acid. The baking soda makes things grow, which is probably why they use it to cook cakes. We had originally tried to use honey for this experiment. We quickly found that honey is very non-reactant to many things. We wanted to have more fun with the experiment, so we tried baking soda. We were very happy with the results we found.