Overview The "Chemists are Artists" project is our third large chemistry project this year. The driving question of it was "How can we use chemistry to design a work of art for our new STEM building?" Since this was a group project, each individual was tasked with creating a work of art that would be part of a four piece cohesive collection. My group and I decided that we should each paint a different hormone or neurotransmitter which affect how we process feeling. The four hormones/neurotransmitters we chose were dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline, and melatonin. Each of these contribute to a different way we feel about the STEM program or in the STEM classroom. The chemical I chose to paint was serotonin, which regulates mood, desire, behavior, etc. To make our works of art, each of us used four small panes of plexiglass and a different artificially made pigment to decorate the glass. On each of the pieces of plexiglass, we drew a different part of our hormones in sharpie, so that when they were stacked on top of each other the full structure of the hormones would be seen. As for our artificial pigments, refer to the slideshow for reaction details.
Content States of matter in chemical reactions: Solid(s) -For solids and precipitates. When making my malachite pigment, the solid/precipitate was copper (II) carbonate Aqueous(s) - For dissolved solutions Liquid (l) Gaseous (g) Other content: Catalyst: A chemical added to a solution to encourage the chemical reaction. Soluble: When a chemical is capable of being dissolved in a solution Insoluble: When a chemical is incapable of being dissolved in a solution, forms a precipitate. Solubility Guidelines: Guidelines stating if certain ionic compounds are soluble or insoluble with other ionic compounds. This helps us to see which compound forms a precipitate in a double replacement reaction. Synthesis: A reaction where two or more reactants combine to form a compound. Single Replacement: A reaction where one element replaces another in a compound. Double Replacement: A reaction where the cations and anions switch between compounds to form two new compounds. Combustion: A reaction where a hydrocarbon and oxygen react with heat and result in CO2 and H2O Decomposition: A reaction where a single reactant compound breaks into two separate ions.
Reflection This project went very well in my opinion. Although at times there were difficulties in making the pigments at times, we were able to figure it out for the most part. Our idea was solid and we never really second guessed ourselves our how we were doing it. This allowed us to get done with the project at a fair pace since we did not disagree on ideas or constantly want to change them due to difficulties or setbacks. The things I think I did well on this time around were work ethic and decisiveness. I never really got distracted during the work times we had for this project. It was one of the more enjoyable projects, and I was able to focus on making my art piece very well. I did all my research and even successfully created my pigment on the first attempt. As for decisiveness, I realized that I was able to make a decision on how I was going to work on my portion of the art fairly quickly. Thus, I never experienced major setbacks such as wanting to do something completely different in the middle of the process. A few things I could improve on for the next project are leadership and quality of work. When a group member was absent it would have been wise to take on their tasks for the day when I had nothing else to do. Because I did not do this, we felt more of a pressure as a group to finish. For quality of work, I did not really make the art look as good as I wanted it to. Next time, I will use multiple paint pigments instead of just one.