In this page, I will be summing up the Science topics I have learnt so far. Because some of the topics are split up over the terms, consolidating these topics can be quite messy and unorganised. Therefore, instead of going by per term, I will be consolidating these topics based on their general Science modules for much more convenience and better organisation. Hope that this decision will help make these summaries more pleasing to the eyes.
Chemistry:
I heard about the Periodic Table so many times before the year started, yet when I glanced upon it, I had no idea whatsoever about its meaning. All the symbols, the numbers, the words...everything seemed so complicated. Despite this, I did not even bother to do further research about it, instead indulge myself in gaming during the past holidays, and now I regret doing so. In the beginning of the term, when Dr Tan started introducing the Periodic Table, I was stunned. Well, I was not stunned by the fact that I knew absolutely nothing about it, but rather that my classmates already knew quite a lot about the elements of the Periodic Table! We first covered a brief introduction of the Periodic table, whereby we learnt about the history of its formulation by Dmitri Mendeleev (which is much simpler and more basic than what we have today) as well as the way it categorises elements; it uses Groups and Periods. The catch with Groups was that the numeral must be roman, not arabic, something that fascinates me. I was intially confused with Groups and Periods, constantly mixing them up. Well, Groups are vertical columns while Periods are horizontal rows. Pretty easy to identify, but also hard to differentiate in the beginning.
The main groups we focused on were the alkaline metals (Group I) and the halogens (Group XII). Along with this, we had to learn the electronic structure of the elements, whereby the number of electrons in the outer-most shell would be the number of group (in arabic form) that the element is under (it took me awhile...but I got over it). Both groups contained extremely reactive elements, with reaction increasing as the alkaline metals went down and the halogens went up. What I was most familiar with were the Noble Gases. All we have to remember is that they do not react with other elements, hence the name "Noble". The thing is, I wonder why they exist in the Periodic Table. Then we have the transitional metals, which are in-between the second and third group, but we did not really touch on that.
We also studied about the atomic structure and various different structures of elements. We learnt about the basic proton, neutron and electron, as well as the more specific Giant Ionic, Giant Covalent, Giant Metallic and Simple Molecular. Well, I think we did go through this topic in class, but I wasn't paying much attention as I could not understand even the basics of elements then. Better do some self-study to improve that! Anyway, I also learnt about isotopes, which are basically atoms with the same atomic number but different mass number, in other words, similar atoms with different number of neutrons. There was quite a huge discussion on isotopes, unfortunately I didn't catch the main points, but with a little more effort, I was able to get pass this obstacle.
Next up was more abstract. We learnt about Chemical bonding. They include two forms of bonding: Ionic Bonding and Covalent Bonding. Ionic bonding always includes metals as the name suggests, whereby atoms lose or gain electrons to stabilize. I remember a saying from Dr. Tan: "Remember, nature always takes the easy way out". Take Sodium of Group I for example. Since it has one extra electron in its outer shell, it has to obtain the neutral/stable state like that of the Noble Gases. So, it can either lose one electron or gain seven electrons. Which is easier? Of course losing one electron! Thus, it loses one electron to a Chlorine, which is from Group XII and has seven electrons in its outer shell. Covalent bonding involves the sharing of electrons. For example, oxygen has six electrons in its outer shell while hydrogen has one. Since Hydrogen needs one more electron to make it neutral while oxygen needs two, two hydrogen atoms can share one electron each with oxygen, while oxygen shares one of its own electrons to both hydrogen atoms, thus forming a molecule of H2O, or water. Crosses and dots are used to differentiate the electrons between the different atoms. Now, let me get straight to the point. I realised that in Science, one requires understanding of the basics and some logic to understand more complex ideas like this one. When I say logic, I mean visualisation skills and interpretation, just like in mathematics. Enough of the long-windedness, let's get to the next point.
Next up in line is Acid and Bases. Bases? Well, I had perceived that since the characteristic "alkaline" is often used as the contrast for "acidic", then the contrast of acid would be with alkali. Anyway, that problem got stuck in my head for a real long time until finally, I clarified it with Dr Tan and found out that there was a slight difference between the terms "base" and "alkali". Water was a base, but not acidic. With our advancement in chemistry topics, we also had to master chemical equation writing, which was a major challenge to master. First, I had no idea what kinds of mixtures/compounds would usually be formed. Next, I could not understand the math behind balancing equations. Actually, all I had to do was connect this theory to equation writing: Acid + Base = Salt (through a process called neutralisation). With some practise and guidance from peers, I became more familiar with identifying salts that could be formed and the mixtures hydrogen could make (most commonly leaving hydrogen as a gas or water). From this, I learnt that though things may seem challenging and impossible, all it really takes is the courage to try and the power to persevere and before you know it, success is near. Now that more or less concludes my summary on Chemistry. Sorry for the lengthiness and now, let us begin on Physics!
Physics:
Okay, so my summary in Physics will not be as long and draggy as Chemistry or else even I am going to fall asleep writing it :) So in Term 2, we first touched on reflection. Since I already had some basic foundation about reflection since Primary School, it was not as a tough a challenge as the other topics in Physics for me. Basically, instead of learning countless theories of light which would be recapping instead of learning, we learnt about light and the image formed in a mirror. Well, reflection applies much more on plain mirrors, whereby an image formed will be the same size as the original, same distance away from the normal as the original, virtual and laterally inverted. So it was not too tough for me to learn all these because Dr Tan has gone through these theories various times (thanks Dr Tan!) which really helped to prevent me from being confused about their characteristics. The only thing that I found tough was making it a habit to draw invisible lines, which was time-consuming in the beginning but very much a give-away later.
Then came the more challenging topics: Refraction and lenses. I was always confused with what angles from normal the refracted ray had to be constructed at, when total internal reflection occurred, what was the refractive index, etc. Fortunately, I attended one of Dr Tan's "mugging" sessions for a short period of time, when I realised that formulas such as (sin i/sin r = refractive index) could really do wonders in answering my questions! I also realised the importance of formulas here; formulas were not only used in one way, but can twisted to solve any problem regarding the variables in it! However, I did not realise that refraction could be used with mathematics, which I will reserve for another section. It sure was a pity, but there is not point crying over spilled milk, at least learning it now is better than never.
As if refraction was confusing enough. In lenses, there were so many variations regarding the light rays and focal length! The variations seemed intimidating at first, but with revision and some practise, I was able to overcome it. Actually, it seemed pretty simple after we have grasped the topic and understood the reason behind object's placement with regards to the focal length instead of memorising the variations. Well, lenses consist of two different types of mirrors: concave and convex. I always mixed the two up because I regarded their outer-shape instead of the inner-shape (sorry, I can't really find other words to describe it...). Anyway, we practised a lot more with convex lenses, so it was not longer before I was able to clear up the mess in my head.
Biology:
I have to say that biology is my favourite and strongest topic among the three :) Well, this could be because of my fascination with animals, as well as personal studies on the human body. Some may say this is the hardest topic to master, but I find it considerably easy to handle (sorry if it sounds arrogant). Well, the first topic we learnt about was Ecology. As I already somewhat studied the basics of ecology in Primary School, it was nothing too difficult, more like a recap of what I had already learnt as well as some new pointers to note down. We mostly discussed relationships between organisms in class such as mutualism, commensalism, parasitism and predatory as well as abiotic and biotic factors, which I had background knowledge of because of my Project's Day Competition. Nothing too difficult, though a little confusing, I finally found something I had quite some interest in :D
We also had a few class lessons on Sexual Reproduction, which is kind of "yucky" in the beginning (it is the nature of such a topic :3). I had little background knowledge on it due to the fact that we on briefly went through this topic in Primary School, whereas now we go into the nitty-gritty parts. So first, we learnt about sexual processes such as copulation, fertilisation and gestation, which we had gone much further in-depth. We also had a somewhat entertaining lesson on contraceptives, whereby the process vasectomy (or male sterilization) really scared the living light out of me! Well, at least I don't intend to go through such torture and I learnt something new...Anyway, we also took an in-depth study of the sexual organs of both male and female, which I could say was very confusing. Specific enzymes such as oestrogen and progesterone (which I continuously misunderstand as "protesterone") were hard to remember, while similar spelling terms such as uterus and urethra were a pain to differentiate. We also went much more in detail into the menstruation cycle, which included the various periods whereby processes such as implantation were carried out. Very challenging topic to begin with, but interesting once one has mastered this topic. :) So this is officially the end it seems... Well, of course, Chemistry seems to take up a humongous amount of space! This is probably because it is somewhat the only topic I do not have any background knowledge about (sad to say). Thanks for reading through this entire chunk of information! Now, you can head out of here or access yet another section of this page which I hope may interest you :D
Chemistry:
I heard about the Periodic Table so many times before the year started, yet when I glanced upon it, I had no idea whatsoever about its meaning. All the symbols, the numbers, the words...everything seemed so complicated. Despite this, I did not even bother to do further research about it, instead indulge myself in gaming during the past holidays, and now I regret doing so. In the beginning of the term, when Dr Tan started introducing the Periodic Table, I was stunned. Well, I was not stunned by the fact that I knew absolutely nothing about it, but rather that my classmates already knew quite a lot about the elements of the Periodic Table! We first covered a brief introduction of the Periodic table, whereby we learnt about the history of its formulation by Dmitri Mendeleev (which is much simpler and more basic than what we have today) as well as the way it categorises elements; it uses Groups and Periods. The catch with Groups was that the numeral must be roman, not arabic, something that fascinates me. I was intially confused with Groups and Periods, constantly mixing them up. Well, Groups are vertical columns while Periods are horizontal rows. Pretty easy to identify, but also hard to differentiate in the beginning.The main groups we focused on were the alkaline metals (Group I) and the halogens (Group XII). Along with this, we had to learn the electronic structure of the elements, whereby the number of electrons in the outer-most shell would be the number of group (in arabic form) that the element is under (it took me awhile...but I got over it). Both groups contained extremely reactive elements, with reaction increasing as the alkaline metals went down and the halogens went up. What I was most familiar with were the Noble Gases. All we have to remember is that they do not react with other elements, hence the name "Noble". The thing is, I wonder why they exist in the Periodic Table. Then we have the transitional metals, which are in-between the second and third group, but we did not really touch on that.
We also studied about the atomic structure and various different structures of elements. We learnt about the basic proton, neutron and electron, as well as the more specific Giant Ionic, Giant Covalent, Giant Metallic and Simple Molecular. Well, I think we did go through this topic in class, but I wasn't paying much attention as I could not understand even the basics of elements then. Better do some self-study to improve that! Anyway, I also learnt about isotopes, which are basically atoms with the same atomic number but different mass number, in other words, similar atoms with different number of neutrons. There was quite a huge discussion on isotopes, unfortunately I didn't catch the main points, but with a little more effort, I was able to get pass this obstacle.
Next up was more abstract. We learnt about Chemical bonding. They include two forms of bonding: Ionic Bonding and Covalent Bonding. Ionic bonding always includes metals as the name suggests, whereby atoms lose or gain electrons to stabilize. I remember a saying from Dr. Tan: "Remember, nature always takes the easy way out". Take Sodium of Group I for example. Since it has one extra electron in its outer shell, it has to obtain the neutral/stable state like that of the Noble Gases. So, it can either lose one electron or gain seven electrons. Which is easier? Of course losing one electron! Thus, it loses one electron to a Chlorine, which is from Group XII and has seven electrons in its outer shell. Covalent bonding involves the sharing of electrons. For example, oxygen has six electrons in its outer shell while hydrogen has one. Since Hydrogen needs one more electron to make it neutral while oxygen needs two, two hydrogen atoms can share one electron each with oxygen, while oxygen shares one of its own electrons to both hydrogen atoms, thus forming a molecule of H2O, or water. Crosses and dots are used to differentiate the electrons between the different atoms. Now, let me get straight to the point. I realised that in Science, one requires understanding of the basics and some logic to understand more complex ideas like this one. When I say logic, I mean visualisation skills and interpretation, just like in mathematics. Enough of the long-windedness, let's get to the next point.
Next up in line is Acid and Bases. Bases? Well, I had perceived that since the characteristic "alkaline" is often used as the contrast for "acidic", then the contrast of acid would be with alkali. Anyway, that problem got stuck in my head for a real long time until finally, I clarified it with Dr Tan and found out that there was a slight difference between the terms "base" and "alkali". Water was a base, but not acidic. With our advancement in chemistry topics, we also had to master chemical equation writing, which was a major challenge to master. First, I had no idea what kinds of mixtures/compounds would usually be formed. Next, I could not understand the math behind balancing equations. Actually, all I had to do was connect this theory to equation writing: Acid + Base = Salt (through a process called neutralisation). With some practise and guidance from peers, I became more familiar with identifying salts that could be formed and the mixtures hydrogen could make (most commonly leaving hydrogen as a gas or water). From this, I learnt that though things may seem challenging and impossible, all it really takes is the courage to try and the power to persevere and before you know it, success is near. Now that more or less concludes my summary on Chemistry. Sorry for the lengthiness and now, let us begin on Physics!
Physics:
Okay, so my summary in Physics will not be as long and draggy as Chemistry or else even I am going to fall asleep writing it :) So in Term 2, we first touched on reflection. Since I already had some basic foundation about reflection since Primary School, it was not as a tough a challenge as the other topics in Physics for me. Basically, instead of learning countless theories of light which would be recapping instead of learning, we learnt about light and the image formed in a mirror. Well, reflection applies much more on plain mirrors, whereby an image formed will be the same size as the original, same distance away from the normal as the original, virtual and laterally inverted. So it was not too tough for me to learn all these because Dr Tan has gone through these theories various times (thanks Dr Tan!) which really helped to prevent me from being confused about their characteristics. The only thing that I found tough was making it a habit to draw invisible lines, which was time-consuming in the beginning but very much a give-away later.Then came the more challenging topics: Refraction and lenses. I was always confused with what angles from normal the refracted ray had to be constructed at, when total internal reflection occurred, what was the refractive index, etc. Fortunately, I attended one of Dr Tan's "mugging" sessions for a short period of time, when I realised that formulas such as (sin i/sin r = refractive index) could really do wonders in answering my questions! I also realised the importance of formulas here; formulas were not only used in one way, but can twisted to solve any problem regarding the variables in it! However, I did not realise that refraction could be used with mathematics, which I will reserve for another section. It sure was a pity, but there is not point crying over spilled milk, at least learning it now is better than never.
As if refraction was confusing enough. In lenses, there were so many variations regarding the light rays and focal length! The variations seemed intimidating at first, but with revision and some practise, I was able to overcome it. Actually, it seemed pretty simple after we have grasped the topic and understood the reason behind object's placement with regards to the focal length instead of memorising the variations. Well, lenses consist of two different types of mirrors: concave and convex. I always mixed the two up because I regarded their outer-shape instead of the inner-shape (sorry, I can't really find other words to describe it...). Anyway, we practised a lot more with convex lenses, so it was not longer before I was able to clear up the mess in my head.
Biology:
I have to say that biology is my favourite and strongest topic among the three :) Well, this could be because of my fascination with animals, as well as personal studies on the human body. Some may say this is the hardest topic to master, but I find it considerably easy to handle (sorry if it sounds arrogant). Well, the first topic we learnt about was Ecology. As I already somewhat studied the basics of ecology in Primary School, it was nothing too difficult, more like a recap of what I had already learnt as well as some new pointers to note down. We mostly discussed relationships between organisms in class such as mutualism, commensalism, parasitism and predatory as well as abiotic and biotic factors, which I had background knowledge of because of my Project's Day Competition. Nothing too difficult, though a little confusing, I finally found something I had quite some interest in :DWe also had a few class lessons on Sexual Reproduction, which is kind of "yucky" in the beginning (it is the nature of such a topic :3). I had little background knowledge on it due to the fact that we on briefly went through this topic in Primary School, whereas now we go into the nitty-gritty parts. So first, we learnt about sexual processes such as copulation, fertilisation and gestation, which we had gone much further in-depth. We also had a somewhat entertaining lesson on contraceptives, whereby the process vasectomy (or male sterilization) really scared the living light out of me! Well, at least I don't intend to go through such torture and I learnt something new...Anyway, we also took an in-depth study of the sexual organs of both male and female, which I could say was very confusing. Specific enzymes such as oestrogen and progesterone (which I continuously misunderstand as "protesterone") were hard to remember, while similar spelling terms such as uterus and urethra were a pain to differentiate. We also went much more in detail into the menstruation cycle, which included the various periods whereby processes such as implantation were carried out. Very challenging topic to begin with, but interesting once one has mastered this topic. :)
So this is officially the end it seems...
Well, of course, Chemistry seems to take up a humongous amount of space! This is probably because it is somewhat the only topic I do not have any background knowledge about (sad to say).
Thanks for reading through this entire chunk of information! Now, you can head out of here or access yet another section of this page which I hope may interest you :D