Today in class, my teacher had planned for us to do a lab. Like always, my class was pretty excited. Today's lesson had been about Earth Science. My first thought was: Ugh here we go again. Honestly, I wasn't that keen. Hadn't we learned about all of this in like..6th grade? But my teacher had managed to Chem it up in there. Before this lab, I knew the different layers of the Earth very well. Luckily, Andrew had been able to tell us the exact elements that were in each layer, something my 6th grade science teacher hadn't really done (granted, I don't think I would have known or cared about the elements at the time).
Core: Composed of solid iron and nickel (Thomas Jefferson would have been so proud)
Outer Core: Composed of liquid Fe and Ni (same as above, but more liquid-y)
Mantle: Composed of molten rocks (which is silicates, more to be explained later)
Crust: Outer solidified mantle (not to be mistaken for the pizza kind)
And finally...
Biosphere: The stuff living on the crust (us)
All of this knowledge had led us to our lab, which was all about silicates, rocks, crystal-y looking things, and very tiny vials.
Looking Back: What happened?
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this lab. I was a little confused as to what was supposed to be happening, and what was being put where, etc. Thankfully, everything seemed to do really well, despite my lack of understanding. There was one part where Monique had accidentally spilled some of the solution on the table, and our classroom conveniently never has any paper towels. Fortunately one of my classmates was able to run to the front desk to grab some napkins, so major issue avoided (with the spill, not with the fact that we got NAPKINS and not a ROLL OF PAPER TOWELS). The reaction taking place looked really cool, and I was kind of curious as to how the different metals was able to change to liquid different colors.
Looking Beyond: What do you think has happened? What’s the science?
I learned that silicate ions (combination of silicon - si - and oxygen - o -) in the crust bond with metals to make a large variety of metal silicates, which solidify as rocks once the cool at the crust. Sodium silicate will dissolve and form silicate ions as they would be in the mantel, allowing us to introduce metals and make rocks. For the lav, we combined sodium silicate and calcium chloride to get calcium silicate rock and sodium chloride. This is how we were able to make the different colored metals in the liquid, which will be in the video down below.
Looking inward: Humans doing science
I think that we didn't really get the results we wanted. The vials we used were pretty small, which made it hard to see what was going one, and hard to manage with four people. It would have been a lot better if we had the bigger vials. It was also hard to mix the two substances, and like I said before, we made a bit of a mess.
Looking outward: Collaboration and Impact
I worked with Monique (surprise surprise), Sophie, and Hannah. Again, a really great group for me. We have proven that we work really well together in the past, and it is always reassuring to be able to work with those two. We all get along great. It helps that they're super nice and always lets Monique and I tinker around with whatever lab we get up to. It's especially rad that we get to all come together and do labs, because nowadays there's a lot of partner work and you don't really get to work with the people around you as much. I missed working with Sophie and Hannah, they're cool.
Looking Forward: What next?
If I could do this lab differently, I wish I was able to pay attention to it and the lesson more. I don't think I was as interested in the reaction than I had been with previous labs, and I didn't fully make the connection between what we had learned and what we just did. Maybe I can find a way to go back on the different elements and subtopics of this lab, and look into it more. I'm sure if I find an aspect that is a little more suiting to me, I would be interested in this lab.
Take aways:
Our classroom really needs paper towels, and the Earth and all its layers are so much more than I thought it was previously. Cool stuff!
Core: Composed of solid iron and nickel (Thomas Jefferson would have been so proud)
Outer Core: Composed of liquid Fe and Ni (same as above, but more liquid-y)
Mantle: Composed of molten rocks (which is silicates, more to be explained later)
Crust: Outer solidified mantle (not to be mistaken for the pizza kind)
And finally...
Biosphere: The stuff living on the crust (us)
All of this knowledge had led us to our lab, which was all about silicates, rocks, crystal-y looking things, and very tiny vials.
Looking Back: What happened?
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this lab. I was a little confused as to what was supposed to be happening, and what was being put where, etc. Thankfully, everything seemed to do really well, despite my lack of understanding. There was one part where Monique had accidentally spilled some of the solution on the table, and our classroom conveniently never has any paper towels. Fortunately one of my classmates was able to run to the front desk to grab some napkins, so major issue avoided (with the spill, not with the fact that we got NAPKINS and not a ROLL OF PAPER TOWELS). The reaction taking place looked really cool, and I was kind of curious as to how the different metals was able to change to liquid different colors.
Looking Beyond: What do you think has happened? What’s the science?
I learned that silicate ions (combination of silicon - si - and oxygen - o -) in the crust bond with metals to make a large variety of metal silicates, which solidify as rocks once the cool at the crust. Sodium silicate will dissolve and form silicate ions as they would be in the mantel, allowing us to introduce metals and make rocks. For the lav, we combined sodium silicate and calcium chloride to get calcium silicate rock and sodium chloride. This is how we were able to make the different colored metals in the liquid, which will be in the video down below.
Looking inward: Humans doing science
I think that we didn't really get the results we wanted. The vials we used were pretty small, which made it hard to see what was going one, and hard to manage with four people. It would have been a lot better if we had the bigger vials. It was also hard to mix the two substances, and like I said before, we made a bit of a mess.
Looking outward: Collaboration and Impact
I worked with Monique (surprise surprise), Sophie, and Hannah. Again, a really great group for me. We have proven that we work really well together in the past, and it is always reassuring to be able to work with those two. We all get along great. It helps that they're super nice and always lets Monique and I tinker around with whatever lab we get up to. It's especially rad that we get to all come together and do labs, because nowadays there's a lot of partner work and you don't really get to work with the people around you as much. I missed working with Sophie and Hannah, they're cool.
Looking Forward: What next?
If I could do this lab differently, I wish I was able to pay attention to it and the lesson more. I don't think I was as interested in the reaction than I had been with previous labs, and I didn't fully make the connection between what we had learned and what we just did. Maybe I can find a way to go back on the different elements and subtopics of this lab, and look into it more. I'm sure if I find an aspect that is a little more suiting to me, I would be interested in this lab.
Take aways:
Our classroom really needs paper towels, and the Earth and all its layers are so much more than I thought it was previously. Cool stuff!