This was not too difficult a week in AP chem, in terms of how much we did. I do not understand many of the topics thoroughly though, and I am quite nervous for this upcoming test on tuesday. The quizports helped a little but I still need more work which is a problem because I do not have any time on Monday. I hope I am able to study during class and during other hours in school so that I do well on this test.
   
        On Monday, we went over the white boards we made as table groups, as a class. We made these white boards on IMFs and all molecular bonding and what is related to it or depends on it. Some of these white boards contained a LOT of good information. These white boards talked about almost all aspects of IMFs and what they are, where they're located, and how strong they are. The other whiteboards didn't contain much, maybe a drawing or two that nobody besides them could understand. My white board was moderate. I believe we covered most of the subjects of discussion, but not all the small details that may be more necessary than they seem. I believe my table understands the material fairly well. To reflect on this whiteboarding, it was not too difficult of material and I understand most of it. Whiteboarding definitely helps me get things down.

         On Tuesday, we had no school. On Wednesday and Thursday, we worked on the work sheet named "AP WORKSHEET 02f: Bonding and Properties" and the packet named "Ionic Bonding, Metallic Bonding, and Intermolecular Forces". I am still working on mastering the differences between all the different types of bonding. After doing the Hot Pots and Task Chains, I feel as though it really helped me with understanding and memorizing all the things I need to understand and know for the test, which is really helpful. To reflect on the worksheet and packet I thought they were quite difficult. It is hard for me to know which intermolecular forces are involved when and what roles they play in boiling and melting points along with other things.

        On Friday, we did a mini lab sort of activity. I was partners with Julien and Yishai, as always, and we kind of joined up with Sarika's group. We decided to work on Part 2 first. Part 2 was the longer of the two parts, and we decided to do this first in case we ran out of time, so we could quickly and easily do the other part if need be. In Part 2, we used unknown substances. We had to determine the identity of the six unknowns, and we had a table of six possibilities. We drew the Lewis structures, and began putting the unknowns on the slides and the table. We quickly figured out which one was water, and which was glycerin. The other ones all had very low surface tension, and that was a characteristic of Acetone, Nonane, and Ethanol. I was able to figure out which was Acetone by wafting. I know the smell of acetone, because it is in nail polish remover. I used my sense of smell for the ethanol as well. What was left was the nonane. We also checked to see which ones dissolved into water easily. In the second part of part 2, we swirled these substances around, and we checked to see how viscous each was. The observations matched the ones we had from the first part of part 2. To reflect on this lab, I like working with other people in the class and it was pretty fun overall.

        In Part 1 of the activity on Friday, we tested whether or not substances conducted electricity. My group's predictions were a little off for the "In Aqueous Soln" column. I, for one, thought that they'd all be conductors, since water was a conductor. I found out only Sodium Chloride is a conductor when dissolved in water, out of these seven substances. I also found out that my whole center column was incorrect, besides Sodium Chloride. This activity helped me to understand that ionic solids are not good at conducting electricity AT ALL.

                                                                          
                                                                        Lattice Energy

 This week in chem, we began mastering our knowledge of IMFs, or intermolecular forces. We went more in depth into Van der waals forces, such as Hydrogen bonds, dipole-dipole, induced dipole, and London Dispersion Forces, or LDFs. We also touched on dipole-ionic bonds, and the forces between metals, which are not Van der waals forces. We began the week working on a POGIL on Intermolecular forces, or foced between molecules, in liquids and gasses. This was a bit tough to do, but after the reading you gave to us, it became easier and easier the more we read at my table. That night I also watched some lectures on it, and the POGIL started to become completely clear to me. I was able to finish it with ease after reading the packet and taking notes on these forces. Since we did a lot of practice on these things, it is now sticking in my mind, and I won't forget it for the test. To reflect on this, it was helpful in allowing me to fully be able to understand and memorize everything about intermolecular forces, this is helpful because I will definitely need it for the test.

        Later, in our table groups, we started on a "water" POGIL. This POGIL was fun especially the magnet part. My table didn't have any trouble in this POGIL, besides a few disagreements here and there which were solved by explanation. This POGIL helped me and my table understand Hydrogen bonds, induced dipoles, and sizes of different atoms in a molecule like NaCl, or sodium chloride. I think we could possibly use more of an explanation on this, but we get the gist of it. To reflect on this pogil, I could definitely use more work on the topics covered. I hope we will do more things with hydrogen bonding, induced dipoles, and the sizes of different atoms in a molecule.

         Putting our answers on the board for the Lecture 23 Intermolecular force worksheet really helped my table. Most groups got the answers right, just not the explanations. We were one of those groups. The wrong explanations helped, because you were then able to explain exactly what everyone did not understand, and change our answers so we would remember what we did wrong. Some people got the explanations right, and they were able to explain how they got those answers. To reflect on this, whiteboarding definitely helped me understand the concepts we've learned a little better. My favorite part was when we were asked to summarize all the things we'd learned this unit on the whiteboard. this helped me remember things that we'd learned earlier and know the basics of them. Whiteboarding really helps me learn things by listening to my classmates' explanations.

         The homework this week was not a huge amount, which I really enjoyed. I was able to study more for this class as well as others. To reflect on this week in AP chemistry, we learned quite a few new concepts regarding the intermolecular forces. These concepts were not exactly 'hard' but they were difficult to grasp at first, but doing more work with the things we've learned has helped me understand them further.