Even before I knew about stuff in chemistry, my grade school teacher always taught me that the periodic table was one of the most useful tool to be used in my life. My grade school teachers even regarded it as the “bible of chemistry” Up until a while ago, I just regarded the periodic table as this paper with unknown numbers written on the paper. Not only numbers were present, even those unknown letters that are with one capital and one small letter of the alphabet. For the first time in my life, the periodic table was clear to me. This was the first time after all those introductions in grade school to know what the periodic table is all about. This was due to the self exploration that was given to us as something to study and report to. I realized that the periodic table was very useful and contained a lot of information that made the lives of scientists a way too easier. I was then assigned to the topic of ECN. Before i knew how easy it was to get the LSE of the element, I used to start from 1s2 2s2 etc. Now, given the periods and the groups, I can easy determine what the LSE is without even doing maths! I really enjoy chemistry even though it contains lots and lots of words to remember and understand. I think this is really what IB is all about. Trying to understand things even though it maybe new to us, but most importantly, making sense about what we are learning and using it in our daily lives. Maybe the things that we learn are too theoretical, but it gives us knowledge on how things do work from square one. Let’s try to make our learning more productive!
So I believe a TOK discussion can make us think more. Just something to think about as we continue our lesson in periodicity here is an article that I got from a book:

Phlogiston and a paradigm shift?

‘The early discoverers of the elements allowed chemistry to make great steps with limited apparatus, often derived from the pseudoscience of alchemy. Lavoisier’s discovery of oxygen, which overturned the phlogiston theory of heat, could be discussed as an example of a paradigm shift.’

© IBO 2007

Fire, and out ability to control it, is one of the major things that has helped us advance beyond other animals. Looking at flames two things are obvious – there is something coming out of the thing that’s burning and the process gives out heat and light. Heat seemed part of many natural processes (sunlight and hot-springs), but what could be causing the flame. This is where phlogiston (from the Greek phlogistos, meaning burnt up or flammable) came in – it was the material released when things burnt. There seemed to be less of things after they burnt (compare the ashes that remain to the piece of wood they came from) so it all made sense. The theory is attributed to Johann Becher, a German physician and alchemist, who lived in the middle of the 17th century. It was the accepted theory of combustion for at least a century and so was probably the explanation for combustion in the first edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1768? It is a bit disturbing to reflect on what in the current edition will be considered nonsense a couple of centuries from now!

About a century later however scientists were starting to make more accurate quantitative observations and they noted that some substances (magnesium would be a good example) gained mass when they burnt. It is perhaps interesting to reflect whether previous results to the contrary (i.e. that metals lost weight when they burnt), by such eminent people as Robert Boyle, were a result of poor technique or through wanting the results to fit in with the theory! (Of course you would never “edit” the results of your chemistry experiments to “improve them?) As so often when a paradigm seems to be refuted, some people tried to keep the phlogiston theory alive, even if it meant postulating that it had a negative mass! The real death blow for phlogiston came with the work of Lavoisier in the late 18th century, who produced oxygen and showed that it was necessary for combustion. The discovery of oxygen is variously attributed to Scheele (a German), Priestley (an Englishman) and Lavoisier (a Frenchman) – which you support probably depends on what you feel the word “discover” implies and maybe on where you come from!

Source:  Chemistry by Damji and Green

So what are your insights? Just comment below! 

Many days ago, I planned to blog. I just simply want to express myself in a more formal way which is writing.

I am part of the IB Diploma Programme in Xavier School. It is a hard and rigorous course that was being offered by the school in order for students to get into better universities. I had the subject choices of ENG SL, MAN SL, HIS HL, BM HL, CHE HL and MAT SL. I really enjoy the way and style on how the IB goes. I can say that it’s very liberal, creative and at the same time, hectic. I really love to see how things go and being pressured with different things in life. I believe these things make me a better person. 

I have been active in many extra curricular activities for the past years. This year I am a member of the YCLC, H3-H2 Interaction Committee, Freshmen Interaction Committee and hopefully the Swimming Varsity Team which has not yet released their official roster for school year 2011-2012. I am also part of some self made committees that would help things work. SImply like the CAS Committee for the IB, St. Ignatius Committee that I formed for the feast of St. Ignatius this July 31 and finally the Catechism Committee that would make our apostolate this year in the YCLC easier. 

I believe these things are very much academic related and very hard to manage. It is very hard to manage since it involves a lot of time and effort in making these things work. Even though it maybe hard, I believe it is for my betterment and will make me a better person. I pray that I can be helped by God who I have been doing all this for.