8.+Applying+Past+knowledge+to+new+situations

Applying past knowledge to new situations

In the kinetics unit, my lab partner and I decided on using mass as a measurement for the rate of a reaction. In our lab, we planned on using the reaction between HCL and magnesium strips in which the magnesium strips would dissolve in the HCl, causing a change in the overall mass. Before conducting this lab however, I knew from an experiment before that in lower concentrations of HCl, magnesium dissolves very slowly, and therefore I proposed that for the higher concentrations, we would need very acidic HCl in order to show a change. As a result, without ever conducting this experiment in the past, I was able to use my past knowledge to improve the quality of this lab.

My strength in regards to this habit of mind is that I was able to successfully bring up past knowledge. I do not have a problem in bringing up what I learned from the past. However, my weakness in that sometimes, the past knowledge I refer to may be inaccurate as in this lab, there was still not enough change in mass even when using very high concentrations of HCl.