Sage Davis

Seminar Reflection
Steve Smith
11/16/18
Chemistry 3

The Name’s Bonds, Breaking Bonds

By Sage Davis

Reflection:

Throughout our seminar, we only had one major disagreement and that was whether or
not Unknown A was a molecular substance or an ionic bond. After everyone had defended their
side as to why they chose what they did, we talked about where we could have gone wrong as
well as the characteristics of each type of bond. We came to the conclusion that is was a
molecular substance because the substance was not conductive when dissolved in water.
Molecular substances are not conductive because when a molecular substance it is the
molecule that breaks apart, not the ions. Therefore it would not be an ionic bond because there
were not any ions to break apart to create a charge. The most valuable tests for making the
distinction between an ionic compound, metallic substance, and a molecular substance was the
conductivity test, solubility test, and when testing the melting point. The conductivity test was the
most valuable because it would tell us if it was conductive or not when put in water and that
would give a clear distinction between an ionic bond, a molecular substance, and a metallic
bond. Ionic substances conduct electricity very well. Molecular substances and metallic bonds,
however, do not because though they have free moving electrons, they do not have ionic bonds,
which is how you get a charge, two atoms that have the opposite charge. The solubility test was
also very valuable because it determined whether it was an ionic bond or possibly a molecular
substance. Metallic bonds are not solluble in water so it ruled out that option. Testing the
melting point was also very reliable because ionic bonds have very high melting points whereas
metallic bonds have a relatively low melting point and molecular bonds have a very low melting
point. The relation between the melting points could determine whether it was metallic, ionic, or
a molecular substance. The least valuable tests for making the distinction between ionic
compound, metallic substance, or molecular substance was looking at it through a microscope
to see whether it was crystalline or amorphic, and trying to bend/grind the substance to rule out
whether it was metallic or molecular (easy to break). The microscope did not help much
because the majority of the look exactly the same and we could not really tell the difference
between amorphic and crystalline. Trying to bend or grind was only helpful for C which was
metallic because it bent very easily but other than that, all of the others were already ground up
or fine powders so it didn’t give us much data.
The Online Scientific Seminar was similar in many ways however very different. The
Seminar was very similar because in the seminar we practiced, we got in an argument,
however, could argue our side with the presence of evidence and being able to support our
claims with direct data. The conversations we were having were also very similar in terms of
 Sage Davis
Seminar Reflection
Steve Smith
11/16/18
Chemistry 3
what was conversed. The Online Scientific Seminar was different because though we were all
communicating with one another, we did not have the physical interaction with one another. By
having this discussion I learned that in order to make a statement about something you found
you must have the evidence to back it up. I also found that everyone makes mistakes but it is up
to the people conducting the tests to realize where they are at fault and how they could have
made up for the data. I also learned that a lot of the time scientists think similarly, such as in
what tests they should run, which ones would be most and least beneficial, and in what order
they should go about conducting the tests.
This process could be improved by increasing the time we had for this discussion, given
the fact that our group ran out of time. However, other than that I think that this discussion went
really well. I think that the content was really well covered and that all of us had an
understanding of what we had done, how, and why. I honestly truly enjoyed the Online Scientific
Seminar very much compared to an in-person seminar so I do not have many critiques. I think
that though it began slowly, once we began answering the questions the Seminar really flowed
smothly and it all worked out well. It was a great way to see how scientists converse about their
work in a very professional fashion.