SG Chem - Sixth Post

This week in chem 2 we started learning a new unit and to do this we did a lot of experiments. We did the sticky tape lab, the conductivity lab, and the "u" tube lab. I think my favorite lab was the Sticky Tape lab, which was a way for us to understand the interaction between positive, negative, and neutral charges. We started by taking two pieces of tape, placing one on top of another and then quickly pulling them apart to give them a charge. Then we hung them up next to a strip of paper and foil. We created another set of charged tape and then we tested the reaction between the hanging charged tapes (top and bottom), paper, and foil.

The hanging foil and paper before tape is charged 

The process of charging the tape
Right before separating the top and bottom pieces of tape

The hanging foil, paper, and two charged tapes
The two tapes were moving slightly because of their attraction to one another

The top tape had a positive charge while the bottom tape had a negative one. When tested against the foil, paper, and another set of top and bottom tapes we found that each tape attracted the foil, the paper and it's opposite charged tape, but it repelled against it's same charge (i.e. positive repelled positive, negative repelled negative). We also observed that when the two tapes were together, they had neither a positive nor a negative charge because they weren't attracted to anything. This must've meant that the two tapes had the same amount of electrons but when separated, the amount of electrons became uneven. We came to this theory because the two tapes (positive and negative) were now attracted to each other compared to before we put them together to create the charge. We discussed this as a class and came to the conclusion that the electrons became uneven NOT when the two tapes were pulled apart, but rather when the two tapes were put together. Somehow at that point some electrons "jumped" from one piece of tape to another, creating unbalanced amounts on each piece of tape. This is what created the attraction and repulsion between the two tapes.

I really liked this week in chem because we got to do so many things, and each class was very interesting. Something I'm still struggling with is understanding what our "u"tube lab helped us learn. I think that it's partially I'm forgetting because it's new information. I remember going over it on Friday, but because I didn't take a picture or notes, I can't remember exactly what it taught us. Another thing I don't fully understand is how you know how many electrons switch on the two tapes in the sticky tape lab. For the post lab we took notes and I have the amount of electrons switching from a three positive three negative, to a two positive four negative and I don't understand how you'd know that only one electron switches. 

I think my participation was pretty good this week. I helped with the labs, and asked my table mates questions. I think what I need to improve on is asking for help until I understand the concept, because I'll ask once or twice, but I feel bad for asking too many times, so if I don't understand I'll just leave it, which is bad because then I can't learn it. I need to work on the persistence to find the answers in a way that makes sense to me. Because of that, and the fact that some of the post lab things confused me slightly, I would rank my understanding of these week as a 6/10.