Books have not yet been issued. We are using teacher's notes and a copy of the text projected onto the screen in our room. We started to cover vocabulary terms used in basic chemistry including "reactant," "product," "chemical," "states of matter," and "chemical reaction." We discussed and I illustrated reaction types, such as "double displacement," "single displacement" and "synthesis" reactions. We said that reactions resulted in a change of energy levels that could be observed by (for example) change in pH, color, temperature, and state change (liquid to solid, solid to gas, etc.). Reactions that release energy are "exothermic." Those that take energy in are "endothermic." I gave a homework assignment asking students to place in an empty, plastic water bottle, a piece of steel wool, as from a well-washed steel scrubbing pad (remove as much soap as possible). Then, cap the bottle and let it sit for a couple of days. Report on what happened.
We also discussed the history of chemistry. The conflict between Democritus and Aristotle about "basic units of matter" was described. Also, how John Dalton found in 1806 that elements were unique substances, not just "earth, wind, fire and water" as had been expounded by Aristotle.
We are still learning about units of measurement including the prefix "kilo-," "milli-" and how to interconvert them.
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