In the first quarter, my class covered 3 chapter. The first chapter is called “Matter and Change” and it is about the basic of chemistry, such as properties and elements. This chapter is divided into 3 sections: Chemistry is a Physical Science, Matters and Its Properties, Elements. What I learned is that chemistry is the study of the composition, structure, and property of matter and the changes that matter must undergoes. Also, I learned that solid, liquid, and gases are the 3 states of matter and they can be classified as metal, nonmetal, and metalloids. This chapter, it is really important for me to learn because this applies to the next chapter as well.

 

The second chapter is called “Measurements and Calculations”, and is also divided into 3 sections. This chapter involved a majority of math because not just we had to know about volume and density, we had to know about conversion factor and scientific measurement. Scientific measurement are about rounding using the rule of zeroes, significant values and accuracy and precision. As you can see, we had to master the skill of rounding number to be able to understand section 3.

 

The last chapter in the last quarter was “Atom: The Building Blocks of Matters.” This chapter involve with the history of atomic theory and we had to know how did the atom were discovered. To be specific, what experiments led to the discovery of electron and particles. So we study a few significant people, such as John Dalton, Ernest Rutherford, and J.J. Thomson. John Dalton came up with 6 statements about that elements were composed of atoms and that only whole numbers of atoms can combine to form compounds. Rutherford conducted the gold foil experiment, which later showed that existence of atomic nucleus. While J.J. Thomson’s Cathode-ray-tube showed the existence of electrons.