3: Bonding

Below are pictures and videos from an experiment where we tested the conductivity of some mixtures and random objects around the classroom. We created our own indicator by sautering wires and an LED light to a 9 volt battery. If the object of mixture was conductive, the LED would light up, indicating that electrons could pass through it, thus creating a mini-circut with the battery.

We learned about the importance of binding energy and valence electrons in terms of what kinds of compounds can be created because of them. We learned how to draw Lewis Structures, and the geometry of them; linear, bent, triagnol planar, triagnol pyramidal, and tetrahedral. We also discovered how to indentify the geometry of compounds, which was tough at first, but after memorizing the general shapes, and where lone pairs come into play, it became a second nature. I think the hardest part of this Journey for me was wrapping my head around Organic Skeletal Structures. I understood the broken down versions of them, for example, a straight line is equal to C2H6, but looking at a Skeletal Structure by itself caught me off-gaurd a lot. I think it was confusing to look at something like that and have little or no indicators on it to help you start to understand it. On the other hand, one of the most interesting parts of this journey was definetly learning about opoids because it's relevant in our societies now. I thought it was really fascinating to learn how opoiod addictions start, and how they plant themselves into our brains. Additionally, hearing all the side-effects that come from opoiod addictions, makes me wonder if people really know what they're doing to themselves by taking them in the first place...