Friday, 15 October 2021

Acid Spill

 Needed to top up some acid but when I went to the store the Nitric acid bottle had decomposed and split. Nearly all the acid was contained in a plastic bag but my jeans suffered a bit. Now in the washing machine #Science




I Can't Be Asked to balance equations

 #GCSE #Chemistry CBA Can't Be Asked to balance chemical equations. The students seem to find this easy to remember and do and it works. #iteachchemistry #STEM #Science First the student writes down the equation with the correct formula. Sometimes we need to see that something like a carbonate is the same at the beginning and end, then they draw out a grid. Chemical, Before and After CBA

They write down each chemical in the equation and then write down the number of atoms of each.
Then they balance, If there are two Fluorine atoms at the beginning then there must be two at the end. They then rebalance the equation until its done.


Thursday, 14 October 2021

Series and Parallel Circuits

 #GCSE #Physics Using both the old and new to teach Electricity and circuits. Also using the @MatrixTSL Locktronics to more effectively build all the circuits. Easy to build using the same diagrams. #STEM #Science #iteachphysics @PhETsims





Wednesday, 13 October 2021

Rates of Reaction

 #Chemistry Using a @pascoscientific colorimeter to determine the rate of reaction of Sodium Thiosulfate and HCl Some excellent rate graphs produced #iteachchemistry #STEM #Science





Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Kipps Apparatus

 #GCSE #Chemistry setting up a couple of Kipps apparatus. One to make hydrogen and the other to take apart and explain how it works to the students - Such a cool piece of equipment #STEM #Science #iteachchemistry


To Make Hydrogen, Acid is poured in the top and it makes its way through a tube to the bottom tank which gradually fills up. The middle tank has some zinc metal in it which will react with the acid to form hydrogen and will come out of the middle gas tap as the acid enters the middle tank and reacts with the acid. Now the clever bit. When the gas tap is turned off the pressure increases, the acid is pushed down into the bottom tank and up into the top tank. No acid touches the zinc so the reaction stops. When you need more hydrogen the gas tap is opened, releasing the pressure and the acid level rises again and touches the zinc and the reaction starts all over again.
The Kipps apparatus is very versatile making several different gases, not not used much as it is more convenient to buy a cylinder. Now this may be true but nothing like so cool.

Monday, 11 October 2021

Pressure and Temperature

 Pressure and Temperature #GCSE #Physics Some hands on practical making a difference to learning. #iteachphysics #STEM #Science As the temperature increases so does the pressure



Friday, 8 October 2021

Heart dissection

 Getting ready for a heart dissection. #Biology I feel it is so important that the students what the real structures are like rather than just looking in books. #iteachbiolgy @chatbiology #STEM #Science




Doppler Rocket

Demonstrating the Doppler effect with the @pascoscientific Doppler Rocket: As the rocket moves away, students can hear the pitch drop (red s...