moar science

 As an introduction to our new Science class, we learn about matter, its definition and its forms. Matter is what makes up just about everything we know and see. One of the things we learned is what particle theory is.

Particle theory defines what matter is as a whole and how the particles work. It says that:

• All matter is made up of particles
• All particles in a pure substance are the same
• There is space between all particles
• Particles are always moving 
• There are attractive forces between particles
• Temperature affects the speed at which particles move

Also recently, we were taught about diffusion. Diffusion is a movement of particles from a high concentration from a lower one. Examples are the smell of perfume, because it smells strong when it is first sprayed, but since particles are always moving, the smell eventually diffuses. The rules of particle theory that applies is the 4th bullet point; particles are always moving.

In class, we also did an experiment: we were trying to see whether particles spread faster in cold or warm water.

  Aim: Observe the effect of temp. on speed of diffusion.

  Hypothesis: Hot=fast, cold=slow

  Method: We put some potassium permanganate in both petri dishes full of water, one of them hot and the other cold. 

  Observation and Explanation: When the chemical was placed in both dishes, it somehow spread faster in cold water than hot water. In the hot water, the water appears a lighter purple than the cold water which has a darker hue. This is because of the 6th bullet point; temperature affects the speed at which particles move.