Cosmic Chemistry

Our Goal

For the Cosmic Chemistry project, our group had to choose three different projects from the Tic-Tac-Toe board and analyze three components of cosmic chemistry: the big bang theory, the composition of the nucleus of an atom and the energy released during nuclear fission, fusion, and radioactive decay, and nuclear transmutation. We chose to write a children's book describing the big bang theory and analyzing three pieces of evidence. To demonstrate our knowledge of the composition of the nucleus of an atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion and radioactive decay we created an infographic on Canva. The last piece was completing the Nuclear Transmutation problems.

Children's Book

How Was the Universe Created? - a story on the big bang theory

Content

Cosmic Chemistry-

The study of the chemical composition of matter in the universe and the processes that led to those compositions. This was the study of our unit and overall topic of the project.

Subatomic Particles -

A particle smaller than an atom or a group of these particles. The particles consist of protons, neutrons, electrons, where protons and neutrons are found in the nucleus and electrons are found on the valence rings. A group of these particles would be an alpha particle.

Nuclear Fission -

The process of a an atom's heavy nucleus splitting into two or more smaller nuclei or fragments. A large amount of energy is released during this process.

Nuclear Fusion -

The process of two or more lighter atomic nuclei fusing together to form a different atomic nuclei or subatomic particle. A large amount of energy is released during this process.

Radioactive Decay -

The process where an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. Three of the most common types of radioactive decay are alpha, gamma, and beta decay.

Half life -

The half life of a radioactive isotope is the amount of time it takes for one half of it to decay. It is a characteristic constant and is caused by radioactive decay. This process emits radiation. Ex: 8mL --> 4mL --> 2mL --> 1mL --> 1/2mL = 5 half lives.

Nuclear Transmutation -

A process that involves the change in the nucleus of an atom, creating an isotope or another element. This occurs when the amount of protons or neutrons changes in the atom.

Nucleosynthesis -

The process that creates new atomic nuclei from pre existing nucleons and nuclei. The first nuclei were formed through nucleosynthesis reactions just after the big bang.

Alpha Decay -

A type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle (Helium nucleus), and decays into a different atomic nucleus. The mass number is reduced by 4 and the atomic number is reduced by 2.

Beta Decay -

A type of radioactive decay that occurs when, in a nucleus with too many protons or too many neutrons, one of the protons or neutrons is transformed into the other. A beta particle (fast energetic electron or positron) is emitted from the nucleus and unstable atoms obtain a more stable ratio of protons to neutrons.

Gamma Decay -

A type of radioactive decay that occurs when a nucleus changes from a higher energy state to a lower energy state through the emission of a gamma ray proton. The number or neutrons and protons does not change in this process.

Big Bang Theory -

The big bang theory is used by scientists to describe how the universe was created. They believe that a super dense and hot particle exploded and this singular explosion created our expanding universe. This is supported by Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, Hubble's redshift observation, and the elemental composition of the universe.

Supernova -

A powerful star explosion that happens when a star's nuclear fusion cannot hold the core against its own gravity. The core then collapses and explodes, creating new atomic nuclei due to their extreme power.

Reflection

This unit was the first of the year and with that came lots of new information and new challenges. This unit introduced all new topics so I had to work really hard to understand what was going on. Along with that, my assigned group did not work very well together due to a lack of communication and lack of effort among the other group members. Although there were negatives I felt that my group worked productively during the last part of the project and I was able to think critically about the topics assigned.

One area I felt that I excelled in this project was being a critical thinker. As mentioned earlier, cosmic chemistry was a topic that I had never heard of and did not fully understand when it was presented in class. When completing the project, I assumed the role of completing the children's book about the big bang theory. We had only done one assignment on it in class so to create a story I had to think deeply about the topic and use my resources to fully understand what I was writing about. I was very proud of my completed project because of my work ethic in completing this. One other aspect I did well in was being a conscientious learner. In writing a children's book, I knew that I had to manage my time effectively in class. I spent my time creating a storyboard, a rough draft, and then eventually the final draft of the book. There were times in class where I was feeling bored or overwhelmed, but I practiced self-regulation and continued to work efficiently on my part of the project.

One area that our group could use improvement on was communication. I found it challenging to communicate with other members in my group because they were somewhat unresponsive and not driven in completing the project. In the beginning we assigned roles and when I checked in about two class periods before the project was due, almost nothing had been done because my groupmates did not communicate with each other and did not communicate that they were confused. One way that I will work to improve on this in the next group project is doing check-ins more often and reaching out to my teammates to assist with any potential issues. Another area I feel that I can improve in is collaboration. This somewhat goes along with communication, but overall there was not much teamwork within our group. I feel that if we had collaborated more on tasks and communicated with each other better, then the project would have been completed better. With this said, my goal to improve on collaboration is to ask my teammates questions throughout the project and encourage them along the way.