kristinemjs Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 I have a question about my Internal assessment for Chemistry HL, which I hope you can help me with. I would like to measure how effectively different metal plates can stop different types of radioactive emission. I was pretty skeptical about the idea, considering IB experimentation policy. However, it is something I really want to do for my Internal assessment. I have talked with my Chemistry teacher about it, as well as the physicists and they told me that the radioactive source we have in school is completely safe, and that they use it in their labs. They have also tested the radioactive sources to make sure that they are not harmful. Can you please advise me if this can be approved as an idea for the Internal assessment lab, due to experimentation policy? I hope that someone can help me with this. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mechnight Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 Well, I did that lab this year, but it was for Physics IA. How are you planning to present it for Chem? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinemjs Posted April 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 Well, I did that lab this year, but it was for Physics IA. How are you planning to present it for Chem? It applies to Chem as well I guess. My teacher is a very experienced IB teacher, and he said it was a very good idea. Hmm Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vioh Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 (edited) I have a question about my Internal assessment for Chemistry HL, which I hope you can help me with. I would like to measure how effectively different metal plates can stop different types of radioactive emission. I was pretty skeptical about the idea, considering IB experimentation policy. However, it is something I really want to do for my Internal assessment. I have talked with my Chemistry teacher about it, as well as the physicists and they told me that the radioactive source we have in school is completely safe, and that they use it in their labs. They have also tested the radioactive sources to make sure that they are not harmful. Can you please advise me if this can be approved as an idea for the Internal assessment lab, due to experimentation policy? I hope that someone can help me with this. mechnight is right. I'm afraid this belongs more to physics than to chemistry. Perhaps, you've misunderstood your teacher. So make sure that you ask your teacher again. Now to your question, I've never heard of experimentation policy by IB (except for animal experimentation policy). Radioactivity is one of the essential part of physics syllabus, and it was one of the topics that we did laboratory work on. Back during IB, our class did a lab to measure the half life of Ba-137m (which decays to Ba-137 by emitting gamma rays). However, we did it under a strict supervision from our teacher. The radiation isn't actually dangerous, because the expose time is very little. However, we don't want to get the radioactive materials onto our body, because they will stick to our body, and get us exposed to radiations for a long time. That's why we had to wear gloves during the experiments. We also had to be extremely careful not to spill any of it onto the floor, etc. So it's absolutely fine to do lab on radioactivity. You just need to be extremely careful with safety measures. Edited April 10, 2015 by Vioh Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinemjs Posted April 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I have a question about my Internal assessment for Chemistry HL, which I hope you can help me with. I would like to measure how effectively different metal plates can stop different types of radioactive emission. I was pretty skeptical about the idea, considering IB experimentation policy. However, it is something I really want to do for my Internal assessment. I have talked with my Chemistry teacher about it, as well as the physicists and they told me that the radioactive source we have in school is completely safe, and that they use it in their labs. They have also tested the radioactive sources to make sure that they are not harmful. Can you please advise me if this can be approved as an idea for the Internal assessment lab, due to experimentation policy? I hope that someone can help me with this. mechnight is right. I'm afraid this belongs more to physics than to chemistry. Perhaps, you've misunderstood your teacher. So make sure that you ask your teacher again. Now to your question, I've never heard of experimentation policy by IB (except for animal experimentation policy). Radioactivity is one of the essential part of physics syllabus, and it was one of the topics that we did laboratory work on. Back during IB, our class did a lab to measure the half life of Ba-137m (which decays to Ba-137 by emitting gamma rays). However, we did it under a strict supervision from our teacher. The radiation isn't actually dangerous, because the expose time is very little. However, we don't want to get the radioactive materials onto our body, because they will stick to our body, and get us exposed to radiations for a long time. That's why we had to wear gloves during the experiments. We also had to be extremely careful not to spill any of it onto the floor, etc. So it's absolutely fine to do lab on radioactivity. You just need to be extremely careful with safety measures. I was discussing this with my teacher, about if it belongs more to physics or not. He said that it does apply to physics, BUT since I will be using different metal plates and focus on this in my lab, he said it would be fine. Maybe I will be down-graded because of this issue? OK! That's what I think as well. I'm sooo uncertain if I should do this as my IA or not… Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vioh Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 I have a question about my Internal assessment for Chemistry HL, which I hope you can help me with. I would like to measure how effectively different metal plates can stop different types of radioactive emission. I was pretty skeptical about the idea, considering IB experimentation policy. However, it is something I really want to do for my Internal assessment. I have talked with my Chemistry teacher about it, as well as the physicists and they told me that the radioactive source we have in school is completely safe, and that they use it in their labs. They have also tested the radioactive sources to make sure that they are not harmful. Can you please advise me if this can be approved as an idea for the Internal assessment lab, due to experimentation policy? I hope that someone can help me with this. mechnight is right. I'm afraid this belongs more to physics than to chemistry. Perhaps, you've misunderstood your teacher. So make sure that you ask your teacher again. Now to your question, I've never heard of experimentation policy by IB (except for animal experimentation policy). Radioactivity is one of the essential part of physics syllabus, and it was one of the topics that we did laboratory work on. Back during IB, our class did a lab to measure the half life of Ba-137m (which decays to Ba-137 by emitting gamma rays). However, we did it under a strict supervision from our teacher. The radiation isn't actually dangerous, because the expose time is very little. However, we don't want to get the radioactive materials onto our body, because they will stick to our body, and get us exposed to radiations for a long time. That's why we had to wear gloves during the experiments. We also had to be extremely careful not to spill any of it onto the floor, etc. So it's absolutely fine to do lab on radioactivity. You just need to be extremely careful with safety measures. I was discussing this with my teacher, about if it belongs more to physics or not. He said that it does apply to physics, BUT since I will be using different metal plates and focus on this in my lab, he said it would be fine. Maybe I will be down-graded because of this issue? OK! That's what I think as well. I'm sooo uncertain if I should do this as my IA or not… I don't think using different metal plates will make it chemistry because to stop these ionizing radiations, 'physical' interactions must be involved, and not 'chemical' interactions..... if that makes sense. For example, to stop gamma radiation, you need a thick block of lead (Pb) because lead is super dense; and density is a physical property. Similarly, the gold metal (used in Rutherford's experiment) could stop the alpha radiation because the positive charge of the gold nucleus repels & deflects the positive charge of the alpha particles. These electrical repulsion and deflection belong to physics, and not chemistry. I can't say for sure, but I truly doubt it. You are stepping into a very dangerous zone here. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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