Week 20b

After much confusion, I think I am finally back on track with my blogs.

So there I was. I walked into the Chemteam Classroom one day a little distressed. Why? An assessment lurked. But little did I know, this was a false event. I was glad to realize that the assessment had been postponed. I don't think I was ready. Nor were my peers.

I believe towards the end of the week we went over more practice guides that solidified the past concepts. I'm a little concerned though, as my group members aren't as interested as I am and therefore have a weak understanding of anything we've been doing lately. I try my best to help.

The beginning of the week saw the conclusion of the magnesium experiment. Last week I uploaded a picture of a similar experiment. This time I'll present a video I took on Monday:

Note: The video is a little over-exposed, so it's pretty hard to see the light.

I already elaborated on this last week, so I'll continue with the week.

Probably the most notable event during this week was the relative mass experiment with the cups of hardware. In whole, it was a challenging, highly effective experiment.

From the very start I was concerned with the initial objective: To find the mass of the object without measuring it itself. Sounds pretty challenging. I wasn't too worried about it though, because my immediate goal was to get my data. However, more complications came when I realized that my group was a one-man team. Even though our combined group consisted of six students (including me), I knew I would have to do most of the work...and I did. I usually don't rely on my teammates (for the exact reason ahead), but with my research project draining every free hour away available, I for once trusted them with some support. But as I guessed, zero provided any help. 

What really aggravated me was the blame that was centered on me. I'll admit it. I can't do everything. Sometimes you just forget. But during the confrontation about missing lab results, I was disappointed not only when I was let down by my peers, but when a fellow team member put the blame on me and made a big deal about it in front of the whole class. That's what you call bush league.

Naturally, I put this aside to focus on the topic at hand.

Once we had our data, we made some conclusions that all seemed logical at the end. The process was not easy. I really had to think my way through, not only through the new terms, but the general concepts. What I found to be very intriguing is that mass is always relative. Relative to something. What ever that something is, it really defines what we consider a quantity to be. I found this to be pretty amazing. Why? Because I realized that nothing is absolute...meaning that everything that we measure is always relative to something. The same goes for distance, size, and mass (no matter if it's the Earth or a single Hydrogen atom). These discoveries are really propelling me through the class, as I find more and more intriguing information  that further develops my unlimited understanding of the world I live in.

Looking forward for more.