Form 4 Assignment : Manufacture Substances in Industry

This holiday assignment is a bit different. I really hope that form 4 students will enjoy fun of exploring some familiar chemical substances we're familiar in our daily life. Alloys, polymers, glass, ceramics and composite materials.

There are many ways of learning. Learning is not always confined in a classroom. It happens everywhere. Nowadays most of us are used to search from Internet. It is the easiest! Just one click, thousands of information is just right there in front of you. Here is the challenge for each of us to understand and pick up relevant information.

For those who are fortunate enough to access a library, go ahead. I have been to the National Library, Shah Alam Library. I would stay there till night browsing books from one rack to another. Ha ha..Go and look for encyclopedia, journal or magazine. It is a quick start for everyone of us to understand the subject matter. On the other hand, books provide deeper explanation.

Perhaps some of you might travel during this holidays with your beloved family members, just look around, Craft centre, shopping complex, science centre or anywhere. Perhaps you might see any examples of alloys, polymers, glass, ceramics and composite materials, just snap a photo. It is more interesting when you discover their uses in your daily lives. I'm sure it'll make your folio more meaningful.

Some of the girls popped up with a lot of creative ideas when I briefed this project.

"Teacher, can I create a blog and post whatever information I get there?"

"Teacher, can I bring samples of of polystyrene used?"

Dear girls, you're encouraged to use your creativity in this projects. Perhaps if your projects are very outstanding, I might think to have an exhibition on the subject matter for SESERI!

If you have any problems, try to make full use of this blog.

• post your questions in the chat box
• meet together online here and discuss through the chat box
• write your thoughts, your finding here....
• read comments from others, you might get inspired.

All the best!!!

Mid Year Examination

The exam fever is just over. What would you do normally? Put aside all your books and have fun?

How would you respond when you get back your exam papers?
"I'm not good!"

"I didn't study. I'll study harder!"

"Let me check what changes I can do to improve!"

A successful student normally will go through her/his own examination paper and identify type of her mistakes. There are many reasons why a student may get a question wrong.

1. Don't understand the concept,
2. No idea how to apply the concept
3. Careless
4. Don't know answering technique
5. No revision
6. Forget

Why must we identify our mistakes?

"Troublesome?"

"Can't afford to face the reality"

That's the only way to know your true standard. So, what's next? Get your exam papers and start identify them one by one.

Once you have categorised your mistakes, the next step is to....

Study?!

The easiest mistakes to solve is careless. Budget some times to recheck your answers; Focus the requirement of the questions; Practise answering possible questions until you become familiar with.

But if you are weak in certain topics, then you gotta work hard. Identify those topics. Revise each of them until you really understand them. Yet, how you know that you already understand? Teach someone! Or Answer different types of question related. In chemistry, some basic chemical knowledge, e.g. chemical formulae, mole, chemical equation, proton number, electron arrangement, atom, ions and molecules are very important. A good understanding of the basic knowledge really helps when you go to topics like electrochemistry, acid, bases and salts. redoxs, thermochemistry and carbon compounds.

So, what do you discover after checking through your exam papers? Lots of reason why you are unable to score, right?

So, what's next. Start a good plan/strategies to solve each mistakes. I'm sure you won't repeat the same mistakes in your coming exams. All the best!

Plastic? Polymer?

Plastic bags? Plastic bottles? Polystyrene? PVC? You won't get rid of them in your daily life. They are known as polymers. They are many types of polymers available now. What are their uses?

Have you ever counted how many plastics stuffs you use daily? Countless. Most of the polymers are non-biodegradable. When not being disposed properly, polymers causes lots of environmental problems to our lovely mother earth. What can we do to overcome these problems? Some people start to bring their own lunch box, some bring their own bags when go shopping. Share with us what is your practice to reduce usage of plastic?

Polyethene/polyethylene bag from Adidas company.

Glass and Ceramic

Open your eyes big. Look around things around you. Can we name some examples of glass and ceramic around us?

What are their uses? Do they have similar properties? What are their differences?

In fact, they are many types of glasses, namely:

1. fused glass
2. soda glass
3. borosilicate glass
4. lead glass
5. etc...

Try to list down their composition, properties and uses.

Naming Alcohols

The photos below shows two molecule models for alcohol. The white ball represent a hydrogen atom, black ball represent a carbon atom and the red ball represent an oxygen atom.

(a)

(b)

Answer the following questions:

1. What are the elements present in alcohol?


2. What is the molecular formula for the alcohols shown?


3. What is the name for the alcohols shown?