Project 1: Grow Your Own Crystal

Details of activity

Term:1/2

Name of Activity: Grow Your Own Crystal Holiday Project

Objective of Activity: To allow us to better understand the crystallisation process

Venue: Home

Pictures/videos of Activities:

     This is a video montage of my whole adventure through this project. Hope you all will enjoy it.

*If you have missed the comments link, do find it here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TAins1JxDS1CTQCIe7RpoY7Wgsi5CyRIfIOiYDln-mg/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link

  Reflections

Wow! It's been a while since the start of the activity. Anyway, it's been quite a fruitful experience since the start.(Watch the Bloopers!) I learnt that adding too much water or sugar is bad for crystal growing.Ha ha!

By the way, this activity did tell me much more about how crystals are formed.For example one pert which I stated that the nicest crystal is the one with most surface area(I found that from internet:o), I never new that that was one factor we needed to consider. I always thought that the factor was temperature alone. Similarly, about the part where we simmered the sugar solution in hot water, it was to make sure temperature cools down slower for better crystal to form. So, to sum up, it gave me a better understanding of the filtration method of crystallisation and also a bit more on the terms used in solutes and solvent, saturation.

Well, I'm not done yet! I liked this experiment best as it was of course the first home activity I did, and for two, I gained new experiences the fun way.(err, and tedious way.Watch the Bloopers!!! So many failures!) Yup, but I disliked it for the large amount of resources(sugar, iMovie, cups,etc) that I had to use and for the fact that more had to be used with every failure. Come to think of it, failure is good anyway, so long as we learn from our mistakes.

So, to end this off, I'll like to thank all the people in my credits list again(Mr Tan, mum, Pianoguys, iMovie) and anyone else I have left out(I hope not?). Without you all, I would never have completed this activity. I hereby draw my postings for the term to an end. Thank you all viewers.

Chromatoghraphy-Science Lab Experiment

Details of activity

Term:1/2

Name of Activity: Chromatoghraphy



Objective of Activity: To have a better understanding of the filtration method- Chromatography

Ink Type no.3

Venue: Science Laboratory

Pictures/videos of Activities:

Ink Type no.1

Ink Type no.2

 

 

 

Hi all, welcome to my second blogpost in my activities page.Well, the first daunting question you may ask is, why did I put a post which should be under work samples here? Simply, I feel this activity was one of, or I not the best, science experiment we did in class.

Why do I say so? In this experiment, as you all know, is working on chromatography, one of the many filtration methods. What makes it interesting is that we are doing a nit like a CSI kind of detective work. A cheque has been forged and we are to find out what sort of marker did the thief use. With this in mind, we embarked on a fun-filled science experiment using ethanol to cause the different colours to move at different rate, a bit like a rainbow, and the three types of marker, each coming out with the results above.

From this experiment, we learnt that colours of those like Type 2 and 3 are considered mixtures as there are many colours placed together to form the black ink colour.Cool! We also studied that chromatography can be used to find colours in dyes and those in that of food products.

What was most exciting was when the colours started to spread out. It gets so fascinating to watch the dye level go upwards that we even asked for some more filter papers from our science teacher to try it out again. Some cheeky ones even used the pilot G2 pen to have a go! However, what I disliked was the shortage of filter paper. You see, we work in pairs, which means that the faster groups get the extra filter paper to play with first, which also means that at the end of the day, the two students in the slower groups would have to discuss on who to keep the done filter papers. On hindsight, this actually boosted us to work faster to get the extras.

Through this activity, I also learnt to work closer and faster with my partner, which is great as I get to know him as a fast-mover and perfectionist who likes to ask questions to clarify. This gives me a platform to find possible group mates for the next few projects in school.

To say a goodbye to this post, I would like to thank our science teacher, Mr Tan, and the school, for giving us the necessary resources needed to carry out the chromatography. I also like to thank them for giving us this fun-filled 'CSI' adventure, while at the same time allowing us to learn much from this experience.

Details of activity

Term:1/2

Name of Activity: Science Eureka(Sabbatical Course)

Objective of Activity: To give us a wider and fun-filled exposure to science

Venue: Science Research Centre

Pictures/videos of Activities:

One of our more exciting science experiments, called catching a rainbow. This experiment included nailpolish and this black paper. As nailpolish was dropped in, it diffused to form a wonder of art.

One of our more exciting science experiments, called Put Out Candle From a Soap Bubble.This included a candle, funnel and cup of detergent water. When air was blown into the detergent water, forming a bubble, and placed over the flame, the flame extinguished.



Hi all, welcome to my post on the activities page. In every term, except term 4, my school will have something we call sabbaticals. Basically, we can sign up from a list of courses one that you are most interested at and for that week, there will be no lessons, only playtime from the courses. This time, I chose a sabbatical called Science Eureka, one of the science courses that can be taken. Over the week of sabbaticals, I learnt many, ranging from how enzymes work to static electricity to diffusion(the nailpolish experiment) and many others, all from a wide range of scientific topics.It's just too much to talk about.

However, I do have time to talk about what I liked and disliked about this sabbatical. I like this sabbatical partly because it was some free time for me from all the stresses in school, put the main thing was that it was an eye-opener for me. The lessons not only allowed us to learn science the fun way, but also gives us a chance to do never before things. Take for example one of the experiments, we used concentrated Hydrochloric Acid and concentrated Ammonia to turn copper (2) sulfate solution from blue to green and back to blue again. As much as I liked it, I feel that the let down came when we did too many experiments in one day, leading to my mind getting so blown up and confused about what we did at the end of the day.

To end this off, I hope that the number of experiments done could be put forth to us by other means like videos, lessons, etc. to spice up the lesson to make it more attracting and exciting instead of many experiments in one day. Lastly, I would like to thank the teachers in charge, upper-secondary student volunteers who carried out the lesson for the exiting experience and fun-filled journey.

                                                     Term 2-Secondary 1      


     Hello all, term 2's ended, just like that! Remember my first post? Time flies. It's very true indeed. In here, I'm going to summarise my overall learning experience in term 2 and some goals I'm planning to set next term. So let's get started!
     Firstly, this is the first term we are having a common test. I feel the results were satisfactory, at least better than the mini-test we had in term 1. A1, yes it is. So for next term's target, I'll like to maintain this standard, and even do better than I expect.
     Having started my planned studying on MRTs, I hope to take this a step further.  For next term, I hope to start giving myself mini-breaks in between work . I feel working is better when sufficient rest is given instead of my crash course sessions I have up till when my CCA's start(at 4 30pm). With this, I hope I'll be able absorb more from what I'm learning.
    Now to some areas of improvement in my work. Similar to term 1, one of the main mistakes is carelessness. Sigh.So that's still something I have to work on. Others I feel include science process skills, or in other words, the way of answering science questions. To make concrete steps, I hope to start going through some science process skill books and most importantly, make my own collection of notes for keywords commonly found in a type of science question. With die-hard memorisation,  even though lots of hard work is needed, at least I can be confident that I would be able to answer questions the way teacher wants it to be.

                                                 Term 2-Secondary 1 

     Time flies! Now Term 2 has come to a closing. Overall, it was alright, with my science common test achieving an A1. I can do better actually, I feel. keep improving, that's it.
     To start off, I'm going to talk about some problems I faced this term. For one, we just started on the topic of elements a while ago. Needless to say, the problem of memorising the periodic table came out. Even though it may not be tested in exams, the knowledge of the periodic table will come back and bite you in other nicely phrased questions, just like one I encountered in the common test asking for the symbol for Nitrogen, it indirectly points us back to the periodic table! So, I set to work. I would start by going through the first five elements, followed by increasing it to 10 and so on. In the end, it turns out that memorising that large chunk isn't that hard anymore.
     Next is a mini- mistake of getting solvent and solute mixed up. (Solvent is the one dissolving solute) To overcome this problem, I relate 'solvent' to 'movement', which allows me to remember that solvent is the active one while solute is the passive one. It's quite a useful method actually, which can be used in other aspects of remembering.
     Now to the scientific concepts I learnt. This term has been a fun-filled term, with new and captivating topics like 5 states of matter, solubility, Filtration methods and many others. These concepts are very much relevant to our world now. Take for example 5 states of matter. Look around you. Everything around you must be made up of any 1 state. Doesn't this topic open you up to start admiring the world around you? As for solubility, without it, we wouldn't have soothing drinks like Milo or even any soft drink you can think off! Last is filtration methods. Think about it. Without filters, we won't have reverse-osmosis(I did a write up on this found here), or in other words no drinkable water and wouldn't be able to separate mixtures like salt and water, which means no salt, leading to many inconveniences in our lives right?
     To end this off, I would like to talk about some things I have learnt out of my textbook. For one, I did manage to learn a bit about enzymes and how they work through my termly sabbatical, Science Eureka. I also gained some exposure to how Singapore's water filtration system works through these blogging. Last but not least is knowing a bit more about asthma, which kills two birds with one stone by 1) keeping up with current affairs and 2)learning more about the chemistry of how one symptom leads to another.