Week 4 Term 2

Hi Guys! This week in tech arts I did science. I made soap for mother's day. The first soap I made was red and yellow, but someone spilled water all over it, so I had to make a new one. this one was better anyway. It was pink and white, and the science teacher cut stars and hearts out to put on the top. We also did an experiment with blue food colouring and salt water. We had to distill the salt water, which also had the food colouring in it, to make fresh water. The only equipment we were allowed to use, was two side arm flasks, a hot plate, and a tube. The science teacher began by pouring the coloured salt water into one of the flasks. We connected the two flasks using the piece of tube, and then sat the flask, with the liquid in it, on the hot plate, before turning the hot plate on. It took a while to begin to work, but soon enough the water vapour began to rise. He went down the tube and into the other flask. Afterwards we learnt why only the water particles found there way into the other flask. Well the way it works, is to do with particles and temperature. The water particles don't need as much heat, as the colouring and salt particles do. The heat turns the water into vapour and it rises up, and because the flask is sealed with a bung, the only place it can go is down the tube. The tube, of course, is not heated, so when the heat is taken away, the water particles turn back from vapour into fresh water, which then drips down the tube into the other flask. Another thing I did in science just yesterday was pH testing. I had to decide whether a liquid was an acid, neutral, or a base, judging by what I could taste, smell, and feel. I then created a hypothesis for each liquid. The pH testing was really interesting. I had to use a red cabbage indicator. This is basically just dipping red litmus and blue litmus into the liquid. If it is an acid, the blue litmus will turn red and the red litmus will pretty much stay the same. If the liquid is a base it will do the opposite thing, and if it is a neutral it will turn a purple colour. Then I actually had to test the pH levels in each liquid. To do this, I had to use a universal indicator. This was done with a yellow piece of paper (obviously you can't just use any yellow paper, it has to actually be special stuff). I dipped a piece into each liquid, and watched it change colour. You had to run over to the pH chart really quick, otherwise the colour could change. If it was 6.9 and below it was a acid, and if it was 7.1-14 it was a base. A straight 7 meant it was a neutral. All my hypothesis's turned out to be correct. Overall it's been a good week. See ya next week!