Now, this was an explosive day for two sections. The O and L sections met in the afternoon. First, we went over homework, talking about balancing equations, telling the difference between synthesis, decomposition, and replacement reactions. We also discussed activation energy and things that speed up and slow down a reaction. This was followed by a short video from unitedstreaming.com that covered all of unit 5.2. We filled out a 10 question quiz while watching the movie, then went over it. Following this, I showed two reactions. The first used potassium dichlorate which was heated in a test tube (a decomposition reaction), releasing oxygen gas. I then dropped a jolly rancher into it and flames shot out. The heat and presence of O2 gas made the reaction take off. This was all done in the fume hood, of course. For the finale, I filled a balloon with H2 gas and put it in the fume hood. Using a long meter stick, I lit the balloon with the window closed and wham! a huge (but safe) bang shook the entire fume hood. This is actually just H2 reacting with the O2 in the air (a synthesis reaction), but it was incredible to watch. I did not assign homework for these two sections, though we will have a quiz on reaction types (Monday for the O's and Tuesday for the L's).
The W and S sections both had a pH lab in the morning, testing 20 different substances with pH paper (1-14) and neutral litmus paper (turns red for acid, blue for base). They were short periods because of our late start, but we got the lab in fine. I did not assign homework from the lab.
Sweet justice.
