monday

Today we had a volleyball game at our home court and we won. When I got home and ate dinner I started on my homework.

I began by working on our water quality project. After getting out the project sheet I started on a powerpoint. I made the title slide, the first slide descibing what pH is, and i formatted the other slides so all we have to do tomorrow is fill in information.
Anne said that we would not have much time during class to work on this project so I wanted to make sure that we worked on it regularly so we are not having to rush at the end. The project is due on thursday which gives practically two days to finish the project (which is not much time). I hope we get it done, but we all seem to work well after school.

I sent the powerpoint to my school account, hopefully we will get to work on it tomorrow during Anne's class.

While setting up the powerpoint I found parts of information that I had not researched in depth yet. Today I focused on "Buffering Capacity".

Here are some links and information I found:

http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-chem.html
Buffering capacity refers to water's ability to keep the pH stable as acids or bases are addedIf the water has sufficient buffering capacity, the buffering capacity can absorb and neutralize the added acid without significantly changing the pH. Conceptually, a buffer acts somewhat like a large sponge. As more acid is added, the ``sponge'' absorbs the acid without changing the pH much. The ``sponge's'' capacity is limited however; once the buffering capacity is used up, the pH changes more rapidly as acids are added.Buffering has both positive and negative consequences. On the plus side, the nitrogen cycle produces nitric acid (nitrate). Without buffering, your tank's pH would drop over time (a bad thing). With sufficient buffering, the pH stays stable (a good thing).

http://kywater.org/ww/ramp/rmalk.htm (****)
Alkalinity refers to the capability of water to neutralize acid. This is really an expression of buffering capacity. A buffer is a solution to which an acid can be added without changing the concentration of available H+ ions (without changing the pH) appreciably. It essentially absorbs the excess H+ ions and protects the water body from fluctuations in pH.

http://www.water-research.net/Watershed/alkalinity.htm
Alkalinity is the water's capacity to resist changes in pH that would make the water more acidic. This capacity is commonly known as "buffering capacity." For example, if you add the same weak acid solution to two vials of water - both with a pH of 7, but one with no buffering power (e.g. zero alkalinity) and the other with buffering power (e.g. an alkalinity of 50 mg/l), - the pH of the zero alkalinity water will immediately drop while the pH of the buffered water will change very little or not at all. The pH of the buffered solution would change when the buffering capacity of the solution is overloaded.

Alkalinity refers to the capability of water to neutralize acid. This is really an expression of buffering capacity. A buffer is a solution to which an acid can be added without changing the concentration of available H+ ions (without changing the pH) appreciably. It essentially absorbs the excess H+ ions and protects the water body from fluctuations in pH. In most natural water bodies in Pennsylvania the buffering system is carbonate-bicarbonate ( H2CO3, HCO3, and CO3).

BASICALLY I THINK I GOT SOME GOOD INFORMATION