I found some old schoolwork on a CD while clearing out some stuff, and came across this. Obviously, I knew back then how to make a PDF file from a Word document, and I do remember this. Old schoolfriends will probably remember the Science teacher whom I’ve forgotton the name of – she was the one whose classroom was downstairs opposite Mr Berry and Mr Hayes classrooms, if anybody can remind me. This was a piece of GCSE coursework (yes, proper coursework!) that I handed in when she showed us an experiment one day. Unfortunately, I was off sick this particular day so didn’t see the experiment, and the teacher was very helpful in explaining to me what happened so I could do the writeup.

So this is what I ended up with. I’ve put the text here for those who can’t be bothered to download the PDF, and to be honest there’s not much difference except a very large font size (to increase the page numbers), and a nice scientific bit of clipart on the front page.

Reacting Magnesium and Hydrochloric Acid
Richard Graham 10D

Introduction
This reaction is between Hydrochloric Acid and Magnesium

Aims
To find out what happens when Hydrochloric Acid reacts with Magnesium

Prediction
I don’t really have a prediction, as I was absent from school when the reaction took place, and therefore don’t know what happened, or what we were supposed to predict.

Method
This is where I have a bit of a confession to make. I haven’t actually got round to doing this investigation until the day before I was supposed to hand it in (even though it was handed in late too), and when it came to it, found out that I had lost my sheet with the method on it. However, I am doing this to get myself out of a detention, and when you think about it, a investigation handed in – albeit crap, is better than no investigation handed in at all. However, if you read on, you will get a decent(ish) analysis.

Analysis and Evaluation
In the reaction, the magnesium reacted with the Hydrochloric Acid, which caused a reaction. The reaction was between the Hydrochloric Acid and the magnesium, which reacted when it was put into the Hydrochloric Acid. The acid caused theMagnesium to react, which gave off Hydrogen Gas. Of the two test tubes, the one with the highest acid concentration caused the fastest reaction between the Magnesium and the Hydrochloric Acid, which reacted with the magnesium giving off Hydrogen gas. The one with the least amount of acid concentration still gave off the same amount of Hydrogen gas, as it was still reacting in the same way, with the same amount of magnesium and the same amount of acid solution and the same amount of glass in the test tubes and the same starting temperature and the same teacher doing the experiment and the same other stuff. The reaction between the Magnesium and the Hydrochloric Acid happened because when the Magnesium entered the ‘Acidic Zone’, its atoms were bombarded with hits from the Hydrochloric Acid, and therefore came away from the clump of Magnesium solid. This reaction, between the Magnesium and the Hydrochloric Acid, was an exothermic reaction, which means it gave off heat during the reaction.

Evaluation:
Was the evidence good enough? No.
Explain any wrong results? As mentioned before, I was away when the experiment took place, so I can’t explain any wrong results. Sorry.
Were there enough results? No. The more results there are, the better conclusion you can come up with.
What could you do to improve it? Everything, because I didn’t do it, so doing something would be an improvement.

The End – Or is it?
probably not, as I’ll probably have to do it again as it is a load of…… No, I’d better not say it before the 10:00 Watershed.

Yesterday while I was in the shower, for some reason I started thinking about the designs that have been on this very website in the past. I remember posting a copy of an old design which I found that had been done in MS Word, and other designs had been completed in MS Publisher and Dreamweaver before I started coding the pure HTML of sites.  One design that I remembered yesterday was composed mostly of lego, where all the page headings and the like were created in Lego and then photographed. I mention designs because I’m currently contemplating switching over to WordPress so I’ve actually got a website that works…

I’ve also been looking at some old websites that are still around, and earlier on today came across this little snippet of text: “If your browser can cope with it, there is a bigger version of this photo (1402×1170 pixels, 168 KB).”

I very much doubt that you’d need to put that on images any more…

I’ve also forgotton what the main point of this post was except to say that I’m still alive… Take care all.

• DriverHeaven.net: where I am referred to as ‘A Stupid Brit’, where ‘renovation’ reveals himself as the guy who went to pay £30,000 for the Banana, ‘MIG-31′ implys he’s bought two things off eBay without paying, and British irony seems to be lost on these people.
• PCA Forums: which looks to be the same site, where the original SS Blog post was quoted, the potential buyer gives a sarcastic apology, and informs us that this was reported to eBay before the high price appeared.

However, a few important points are made here – well, one – and that is that the Ebay Banana would have cost me in listing fees, especially should it have gone through at £30,100. I’m not sure how much I would have owed Ebay had that have happened, but even so it is a good point they have there.

Still, I got my fifteen minutes of fame out of it.