Life, as we thought of it, requires six elements… nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, carbon, hydrogen and phosphorous. Except we now realize phosphorous can be substituted with arsenic.

If you check out the periodic table, you’ll see that the elements phosphorous and arsenic are in the same family/group.

This is just amazing news…

All life on Earth – from microbes to elephants and us – is based on a single genetic model that requires the element phosphorus as one of its six essential components.

But now researchers have uncovered a bacterium that has five of those essential elements but has, in effect, replaced phosphorus with its look-alike but toxic cousin arsenic.

Washington Post: Second Genesis on Earth?

You can watch part of the NASA announcement video here.

And yes… this will be a TYPE 1 EXAM QUESTION on your exam

We all know that diamonds are one of the hardest substances on earth. We also know that pencil “lead” really isn’t lead at all, but a form of carbon called graphite.

So, this is pretty amazing…

Secret of ultra-hard graphite unlocked – tech – 06 November 2010 – New Scientist: “In 2003, an experiment suggested that graphite, which is normally soft, could become ultra-hard when compressed. Graphite squeezed between two diamond jaws at pressures of 170,000 atmospheres managed to produce a crack in the diamond. The atomic structure of the material remained elusive, however.”

We’ll study carbon chemistry near Thanksgiving… it’s a fascinating area of study!

What is life?

Will we find life on other planets or moons (or asteroids) in your lifetime??

Titan’s haze could hold ingredients for life: “In an experiment exploring the chemical processes that might be going on in the hazy atmosphere enshrouding Saturn’s largest moon, a University of Arizona-led team of scientists discovered a variety of complex organic molecules – including amino acids and nucleotide bases, the most important ingredients of life on Earth.”

I think so. The jury is still out. Yet another reason we need you all to be scientists!

And for my benefit…

I’m doomed.

Maybry: Breaking Down Sugar

If you didn’t finish Lab 2 today, brainstorm on what you may need to do/bring for tomorrow!

Let’s try to have these labs (with finished lab reports) finished up by Friday.

Enjoy!

Chemical bond – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: “A chemical bond is an attraction between atoms or molecules that allows the formation of chemical compounds, which contain two or more atoms.”

Study and enjoy the universe!

Compare Ionic and Covalent Compounds

This week, we’ll be continuing our studies of matter by looking at how electron dot diagrams and the periodic table help us figure out what types of bonds certain elements will make.

Watch the vid above for a little preview.

Should be fun!

Also check out this handy video on valence electrons if you need extra help (it’s worth your time!).

Today we started working on our second lab (which is also Test 3). We’ll wrap this up quickly as we head into our studies of bonding.

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Lab 2: Closed Reaction Chamber
Start Date: September 22, 2010

Your Goal: Design and build a closed chamber in which sugar can be broken down.

Your Structure Must:
- be made of materials that are approved by your teacher.
- be built to specifications agreed upon by the group.
- be a closed system so the masses of the reactants and products can be measured.
- be built following proper safety guidelines.

You Must Have a Plan!
- Find out how sugar can be broken down (be creative).
- Brainstorm to determine the safety features of your chamber.
- Sketch your design.

You Must Write a Lab Report in Your Lab Notebook!
- Observe
- Hypothesize
- Experiment with various structures
- Collect Data
- Analyze Data
- Draw a conclusion

Let’s try to have these finished by next week as we study bonding. We’ll have class time to work on your ideas and labs.

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Extra Credit: +1 Point to the first person to comment below with the correct reason the gummy bear reacts so violently with the potassium chlorate in the video above…