Commendation

Hi, everyone,

A new year has started. Before you move on, lets congratulate those who have worked hard last year!




Happy New Year! Continue to do well in Chemistry.

Biofuel Development Shifting From Soil To Sea

Hi, all,

Some of the classes watched a video discussing about biofuel.

As can be seen from the video, biofuel has its benefits and disadvantages.

Now, instead of food crops, people are looking to using algae as a source of fuel. Read this to find out more!

Guiding questions:
- Why is algae a good alternative?
- Are all algae species useful?

Enjoy your holidays!

Picture from ScienceDaily

Teachers' Day 2009

Hi,

Must thank all for a great Teachers' Day celebration.

This is the tribute this Monarchy has collected this year. Some of the gifts are rather unique: a self-made photo frame, a pen craved out of twig, etc..

Thanks to all, even if there wasn't any gift. Words of encouragement are actually all that is needed.

Enjoy your holidays!

Cheers,
Mr Koh

From 4A

From 4M, 4R & 4RA

From 4T

Catalysis - Size Matters

Hey,

We have done catalysis in rate of reaction and we know that the size of the particles does affect the rate. However, does the particle size of the catalyst matters?

Read this to find out more.

Picture from The Future of Things

Metals and Corrosion

Yoz,

We have finished the topic on Metals and Corrosion.

In the topic, we briefly mentioned that salt water will promote corrosion. Do you know that this simple phenomenon has applications in forensic investigation? Read this for more information.

In addition, some of you asked why in a electric cell, the displacement occurred at the less reactive electrode. E.g. when put into the lemon, effervescence occurred at the copper electrode and not at the zinc. There is an explanation offered at this website.

Enjoy!

Picture from University of Leicester

Commendation

Dear all,

Here's the first ranking of the year.

While the results are commendable, there is definitely room for improvement.

Work harder. There is still a long journey ahead.

Chemical Analysis

Yoz, everyone,

Since you have 2 'free' days, I think you can afford some time to do some reading.

As I've mentioned in class, there are 2 types of chemical analysis - Qualitative (what?) and Quantitative (how much?).

In class, you've learnt chemical methods to detect ions. But, what are some limitations of these tests? How to chemists overcome these limitations?

To help detect really small quantities, machines have been invented. One such machines is the Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS). The AAS not only identifies the metal (e.g. elemental or ionic form) present, but also tells the quantity that is present. Read this for more.

Those who are keen to find out more about analytical chemistry, you could read this. It includes the various work done by analytical chemist.

Enjoy ur weekends!

Picture from Université de Montréal