When section 2 started Handy and I knew we wanted to experiment with something cool but we weren't sure what. While sitting there thinking about possible ideas Bradon came up to us with a piece of Bismuth. After looking at how beautiful it was we knew we had to make some crystals of our own. We melted pieces of bismuth twice because it didn't come out right the first time.
Looking Back: What Happened?
We took pieces of bismuth and put it into a little pan on top of a flame. We waited a couple minutes before it started to melt down. The once hard bismuth was turning into liquid right in front of our eyes.
Looking Beyond: What Do You Think Has Happened? What's The Science?
Before melting the bismuth we researched it a little bit. We discovered that if you change the amount of oxygen it receives it changes color. It could be a gold, blue or purple depending on how much oxygen it gets. Because of the pan we used the bismuth was a in a bowl like shape, the outside was gold and the inside was blue and purple. We also found out that if you stuck an object into the bismuth as it was cooling it would form crystals. Some crystals looked like staircases which we thought was pretty cool.
Looking Inward: Humans Doing Science - Lab Practice
I think we got desirable results. We got really cool looking crystals and we were able to get blue and purple to show up on the final piece.
Looking Outward: Collaboration and Impact
Since we were melting the bismuth Handy and I weren't able to do much. It was too hot for us to handle so our teacher was the one who would move it.
Looking Forward: What Next?
I don't think I would change anything about how it went, we got really cool looking crystals so I believe this experiment was a win for us.
Take Aways
I'm really glad I decided to do this experiment. We were able to see how bismuth melted and how the crystals were formed inside. We found out that it changes colors depending on how much oxygen it received and overall it was really interesting to take part in.
Looking Back: What Happened?
We took pieces of bismuth and put it into a little pan on top of a flame. We waited a couple minutes before it started to melt down. The once hard bismuth was turning into liquid right in front of our eyes.
Looking Beyond: What Do You Think Has Happened? What's The Science?
Before melting the bismuth we researched it a little bit. We discovered that if you change the amount of oxygen it receives it changes color. It could be a gold, blue or purple depending on how much oxygen it gets. Because of the pan we used the bismuth was a in a bowl like shape, the outside was gold and the inside was blue and purple. We also found out that if you stuck an object into the bismuth as it was cooling it would form crystals. Some crystals looked like staircases which we thought was pretty cool.
Looking Inward: Humans Doing Science - Lab Practice
I think we got desirable results. We got really cool looking crystals and we were able to get blue and purple to show up on the final piece.
Looking Outward: Collaboration and Impact
Since we were melting the bismuth Handy and I weren't able to do much. It was too hot for us to handle so our teacher was the one who would move it.
Looking Forward: What Next?
I don't think I would change anything about how it went, we got really cool looking crystals so I believe this experiment was a win for us.
Take Aways
I'm really glad I decided to do this experiment. We were able to see how bismuth melted and how the crystals were formed inside. We found out that it changes colors depending on how much oxygen it received and overall it was really interesting to take part in.