http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wi-fi-connected-sheep-badgers-help-8630010I found a really interesting article online that is not really related to chemistry. It is about connecting rural areas to the internet by using sheep. The sheep will be equipped with electronic collars that can track the animal's movement and understand its habitat. The project plans to create many Wi-Fi hotspots using the sheep. However, the main purpose of this project is to access environmental benefits. The collars will provide information to researchers to help understand the pollution of rivers caused by sheep.
For my first independent experiment, my group and I created a smoke bomb. The questions we based our experiment on were: How do smoke bombs work? and what reactions take place? To create our smoke bomb, we needed our main ingredients. This was 20 grams of potassium nitrate and 13 grams of sugar. We first mixed the two together on a pressure cooker. We then scooped out the mixture and put it inside a small tube. After we finished putting it inside the tube, we stuck a fuse on one end. When it finished drying, we were ready to set it off outside. We stuck the smoke bomb in small hole and we stood opposite of where the wind was blowing for safety. I thought the experiment worked because turned out exactly how I imagined it. The bomb created a good amount of smoke, at least more than I expected it would. I also thought it was interesting and fun to look at.
When a smoke bomb is set off, the mixture of potassium nitrate and sugar breaks apart into water vapor and carbon dioxide. I felt that we got desirable results for two reasons: Creating the smoke bomb was not really anything complicated. All we had to do was burn the mixture of two ingredients. It would be hard to fail that. We also followed all of the safety precautions and took note of all the safety hazards. This would ensure that we did everything how it was suppose to be done. I thought that I performed this activity well for the time I was there. I was absent when my group began creating the smoke bomb. When I came back, I was a little confused about how the smoke bomb worked. Then I started asking questions on how everything worked so that I could get caught up. In my group, I worked with Angel Muneton and Francisco Diaz. I thought we worked really well together since we did not argue. We seemed to be very efficient in creating the experiment. If I were to do this experiment again, I would not be absent the days we began it. I would be okay with working with this group again on other experiments. I think I could continue this experiment if I was able to change the color of the smoke. However, I do not really wish to continue working on it. In this experiment, I thought it was important that I learned a way to mix ingredients. This also gave me my first experience with chemical reactions. I could also put what I learned about safety in chemistry to use. |
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May 2015
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