the_merriest: (science-y)
Rikku of the Al Bhed ([personal profile] the_merriest) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2011-03-01 12:44 pm
Entry tags:

Science is Awesome!!!, Class #8, Period 3, March 1st

"Okay," Rikku said, clapping her hands together. "I hope all of you are rested from vacation. You look nice and tan. So! This week, we're gonna move from biology to chemistry.

"We're not going to get too into chemistry, because someone else here teaches chemistry and I don't want to be rude, or to cover the same ground if you're in that class, too, you know? But if we're doing an overview in science, we need to spend a couple of weeks on chemistry, because chemistry is totally where it's at."

She was passing handouts, now. "This is called the periodic table of the elements," she said. "Chemistry gets into the base components of things. Matter is made up of atoms. All matter. And atoms have a nucleus -- the bit at the center -- made up of protons and neutrons, and then there are electrons circling around outside of it. How many protons will tell you what the element is. Like, this Ru here? That's Ruthenium. Its atomic number is 44. So it's got 44 protons, and in a stable form, it's got 44 electrons, too."

"You can see there are different colors. That's because elements fall into different categories, usually based on how many electrons they have. Electrons like going into shells -- the first ring is two, and the second can hold eight, and so on out. And electrons really like having complete shells. So this next-to-last column here, these elements are one short, and that makes them grabby. They will totally pull an electron from somewhere else just to finish their shells."

She was now pointing to the first column, instead. "Which is okay, because these elements? They have one too many. If they could just drop an electron, they could go back to being inert instead of having this huge roomy shell taken up with only one electron. So they're sitting and giving away what those other column are looking for."

"What usually happens isn't that the electron just moves over from one to the other, though. It ends up being shared. Sodium, the Na here, will lend its outermost electron to Chlorine, the Cl, and the two will fuse together to form NaCl -- sodium chloride. Also known as, the salt you find in salt shakers and on French fries."

Rikku beamed at the class. "Okay, so, this has been a boring talky class, I know, but this is all necessary background, because next week, I show you what happens when those chemicals get grabby -- when some shove others out of the way, when things swap around frantically like someone's playing musical chairs. There's a reason chemistry is my favorite, and that's because it's essential in making stuff go boom."
heromaniac: (blossom defense)

Re: Sign In - SCI08

[personal profile] heromaniac 2011-03-02 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
Momoko Akatsutsumi

Re: Sign In - SCI08

[identity profile] notlikebobby.livejournal.com 2011-03-02 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
Jack McCallister
awakestheghosts: (Budding Necromancer)

Re: Sign In - SCI08

[personal profile] awakestheghosts 2011-03-02 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
Chloe Saunders

Re: During the Lecture - SCI08

[identity profile] faithandscience.livejournal.com 2011-03-01 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, he was in fact enrolled in that Chemistry class, but William was always up for learning more about the subject, especially since the periodic table had changed quite significantly since he'd first learned it.

Re: Activity - Periodic Table of the Elements - SCI08

[identity profile] i-am-the-rat.livejournal.com 2011-03-01 10:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Cue hydrogen-sodium-potassium's dyslexic hand going up.

"So... How do you pronounce that salt-word? 'Nackel'?"

Re: Activity - Periodic Table of the Elements - SCI08

[identity profile] i-am-the-rat.livejournal.com 2011-03-02 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, but I like 'nackel'," Hank decided. "'Cause salt -- itsnackelicious!"

He could even be hahnium-nitrogen-potassium, if he didn't mind reopening a settled debate and pissing people off.

Or, he could just ask his pop to discover a new element and name it hankventurium -- that was always an option.
heromaniac: (thinking)

Re: Activity - Periodic Table of the Elements - SCI08

[personal profile] heromaniac 2011-03-02 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
It wasn't much in creativity: molybdenum - molybdenum - Potassium - Oxygen

But now Momoko was wondering if they combined into anything. Probably a more powerful something; that would totally make sense.

Re: Talk to the TA - SCI08

[identity profile] faithandscience.livejournal.com 2011-03-01 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Which, shockingly enough, he'd done, looking quite amused by the results.
heromaniac: (Momoko studies)

Re: Talk to Rikku - SCI08

[personal profile] heromaniac 2011-03-02 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
Momoko held up a sheet of paper:

Hydrogen - Iodine, Rhodium - Iodine - Potassium - Potassium - Uranium!!!
heromaniac: (mew)

Re: Talk to Rikku - SCI08

[personal profile] heromaniac 2011-03-02 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
Eeeek! It took a bit more time to translate than it did to write, but Momoko bounced in her chair and wrote: Sulfur - Oxygen, Gold - Uranium ---

(the second 'u' totally made it a 'double-ewe', right?)

- Einsteinium - Oxygen - Manganese

('Mn'... close enough to 'm' 'e')

There were a lot of hearts and exclamation marks added. She totally had to catch Rikku up sometime soon with the news. But not this way.

Yttrium - oxygen - Uranium - rhodium, Boron - Rhenium - Actinium - Potassium?
heromaniac: (here i come)

Re: Talk to Rikku - SCI08

[personal profile] heromaniac 2011-03-02 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
Yttrium - Einsteinium, Boron - Oxygen - Yttrium!!!

... Why did no elements start with 'J'? Would phonetics confuse things... oh, wait, there wasn't anything for the last sound in Jaime's name either. Poor Jaime. And poor Rikku; she'd have to wait for details.

Tantalum - lithium - potassium, Lanthanum - tellurium - rhodium, Yttrium - Einsteinium!!!!!!!!!!

Momoko added another heart to make up for it.