Things I Learnt during CHEMISTRY!
1. I learnt the different methods of separating liquids, solids and gas. Such as simple distillation, fractional distillation, filtration, crystallisation, chromatography and many more. I also learnt how these separation methods would aid in our daily lives and the steps to carry out each method. I learnt about the different apparatus and what apparatus is needed for each method.

2. I learnt how to use which instrument to measure an item. I also learnt the accuracy of each instrument and what instrument is most suitable to measure a certain item. In this topic, i also learnt the SI untils of physical quantities and their abbreviations.

3. I learnt that how to write an Ionic equation and we need to write down the state symbols for each equation. I also learnt that there is a table of solubility of salt that are soluble and insoluble in water. I discovered that when it is an Acid + Carbonate reaction, the ionic equation would always be CO3 2- (aq) + 2H+ (aq) ----> H20(l) + C02(g). And for Acid + Alkaline reactions, also called neutralisation, the ionic equation for any reaction will be OH-(aq) + H+ (aq) ------> H20(l)

Feelings During Chemistry lessons!
1. I enjoy doing the M&M practical as it encourages us to think and have a feel of how SPA is like. The M&M practical also allowed me to have an experience of doing chromatography.

2. After chemistry lessons, i understand how important chemistry is to our daily lives and how useful it will be to us in the future when we are looking for jobs and to think about our future career.

Interesting Facts!
1. Alginic(al-jin-ick) acid that is found in seaweed is useful for keeping cake moist and when added to bandages, it helps to stop bleeding. In recent years, sodium alginate has been used in molecular gastronomy at some of the best restaurants in the world. Ferran Adria pioneered the technique, and it has since been used by chefs such as Grant Achatz and Heston Blumenthal. Sodium alginate is combined with calcium lactate or similar compound to create spheres of liquid surrounded by a thin jelly membrane. It is also used in ice-cream to stop the different ingredients separating. So, the ice creams that we eat know started off as SEAWEED!

Adapted from: Chemical Chaos-Nick Arnold

As the years go by, more and more people are getting obese. In the bar graph above, it shows that each year there is an increasing number of children becoming obese starting from the age of 2.

Factors affecting trend
1. Inactive Lifestyle
Due to the advancement in technology, more and more kids are hooked onto the computer. Hence, they do not get up and exercise or move about as frequently as before. Many of them also watch television programmes for hours and do not get up to walk about or exercise. Another reason is that many start relying on cars instead of walking, fewer physical demands at work or at home because of modern technology and conveniences, and lack of physical education classes in schools for children.

2.Environment

• Lack of neighborhood sidewalks and safe places for recreation. Not having parks, trails, sidewalks, and affordable gyms makes it hard for people to be physically active.
• Work schedules. People often say that they don't have time to be physically active because of long work hours and time spent commuting.
• Lack of access to healthy foods. Some people don't live in neighborhoods that have supermarkets that sell healthy foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. For others, healthy food may be too expensive for them
• Food advertising. Often children are the targets of advertising for high-calorie, high-fat snacks and sugary drinks. The goal of these ads is to sway people to buy these high-calorie foods, and often they do.

Identifying Low in fat foods
By looking at the ingredients found in each food package, one can find out if the food product is low in fat. Also, but looking out for the healthier choice labels would also aid in identifying food products that are low in fat.

taken from:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/obe/obe_causes.html
http://webactivate-dublin19.com/fight-the-fat-generation/

Components of Slimming Product:
1.Cocaine - optimizes energy, promotes thermogenesis and increases focus.
2.Vitamins B6 & B12 - promotes metabolic functions while providing serious energy and vitality.
3.Phenylethylamine - one of the chemicals in the brain that promotes pleasure and euphoria.
4.Evodiamine - reduces both fat uptake and burns the fat inside the body.
5.Sclareolide - used to aid in weight loss.
6.Razberri-K - help to gain less body fat.
7.Yohimbine - make one feel better as they lose weight.
8.Ginger - decrease joint pain from arthritis and may have blood thinning and cholesterol lowering properties that may make it useful for treating heart disease.
9.Dimethylamylamine - chemical messenger that triggers fat release.

Slimming down naturally
A proper diet can help a person slim down naturally as when one eat the same foods they usually do, with a balanced amount, with some slight modifications. Fad diets fail because they don't work with one's natural lifestyle.

Slimming Products Entirely BAD?
Slimming Products are bad to a certain extend. Although taking slimming pills and going for slimming sessions would be more efficient to help loose weight, but it would definitely be healthier if one chooses the natural way of slimming down. By eating healthy and going for regular exercises, it would help loose weight too. One can choose not to spend large amount of money to slim down but doing the naturally way instead of paying huge amounts of money on slimming products that may cause harm to your body. When you eat healthily and exercise regularly, not only will you loose weight but you will also be able to stay healthy whereas, when one takes slimming pills or going for slimming sessions, it may cause great harm to your body and may even lead to death.

taken from:
http://www.phenphedrine.net/phenphedrine-ingredients/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4742822_slim-down-naturally.html

Common Components found in Isotonic Drinks are:
1. Sodium
2. Potassium
3. Calcium
4. Magnesium
5. Chloride
6. Bicarbonate
7. Phosphate
8. Sulphate

What Isotonic Drinks does.
Isotonic drinks are mainly made up of water and glucose with some vitamins and minerals. When we exercise, many minerals in our body are either burned up or is released out of the body through sweat. Hence, when we drink isotonic drinks, it helps to replenish our lost minerals and helps boost our energy level. Therefore it also replenishes the water we loss through sweat, rehydrating a person.

Selection of isotonic drink after vigorous activities.
Isotonic - quickly replenishes fluids lost by sweating and supplies a boost of carbohydrate. This drink is the choice for most athletes, middle and long distance runners. Glucose is the body's preferred source of energy therefore it may be appropriate to consume Isotonic drinks where the carbohydrate source is glucose in a concentration of 6% to 8%.

Hypotonic - quickly replenishes fluids lost by sweating. Suitable for athletes who need fluid without the boost of carbohydrate This drink is a choice for gymnasts, jockeys etc.

Hypertonic - used to supply daily carbohydrate intake. Normally after exercise to top up glycogen stored in the muscles. In long distance events, high levels of energy are required and Hypertonic drinks can be taken during these exercises to meet the high energy demands. If used during exercise Hypertonic drinks need to be used in conjunction with Isotonic drinks to replace fluids.

taken from: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/drinks.htm