Activity 8: Exploration of Chemistry

Exploring Static Electricity by Katherine Frett

My teaching idea, which has a desired grade level of 4th grade, has each of the following education standards met for a 4th grader.
 A.4.1 When conducting science investigations, ask and answer questions that will help decide the general areas of science being addressed. This is met by me asking them why this is happening, this makes them think about what is going on in the experiment and answer questions.
C.4.2 Use the science content being learned to ask questions, plan investigations, make observations, make predictions, and offer explanations. This is met when i ask them what happens and why, it makes them take the information they know and give you an explanation as to why things are happening in the simulation.
B.4.1 Use encyclopedias, source books, texts, computers, teachers, parents, other adults, journals, popular press, and various other sources, to help answer science-related questions and plan investigations. The child is getting a good use out of the simulation, this is a excellent tool for the child to be able to use and gain knowledge from.

Activity 7: Acids and Bases

First assignment on acids and bases

1. The color of the solution determines if it is an acid, base, or neutral solution.

A. True
B. False
C. Pink are Base and clear are Acid.

Answer: is B, False. The color of the solution cannot determine if a solution is acid or base. The pH is the determining factor of acids and bases. In order to tell if one is acid or base you need to get a pH reading. If the reading is below 7 the solution is an acidic solution, if the pH is above 7 it is a basic solution. If the solutions pH is exactly 7 it is considered a neutral solution.

2. Which solution is Basic?

Answer: D. More than one. This answer is correct because both B and C's pH's are above 7.

3. Which Solution is Acidic?

Answer: C. The reason that you can tell is the extremely high level of H30+.

4. Which solution is Basic?

Answer: B. You can tell this easily by looking at the OH- levels. A's levels are equal so it is a neutral solution, B's levels show that the OH- levels are very high, meaning it is basic, C's levels show that the H30+ levels are very high, making it acidic. Additional ifno:

5. Which Solution is acidic?

Answer: D.  This can be explained by looking at H3O+, the neutral solution for H3O+ is 10^16, so both A and B are acidic.

6. How will adding water effect the pH?

Answer: A, adding water to the solution will dulute it, causing the high acidic solution to become less concentrated, because waters pH is 7  the pH of the solution that is 5 will go up.


7. How will equal amounts of water effect the pH?

Answer: B. Adding water to the already Basic solution will decrease the pH, because the solution is very high in basitity adding water (which has a pH of 7) will dillute the solution and lower the pH.


8. What is the order from most Acidic to most Basic?

Answer: A, because the pH of all 3 increase in that order.

9. What is the order from most Acidic to most Basic?

Answer: C. This is explained because right off the bat you know that A is Neutral so it will be in the middle, then you look at B, from looking at B you can see the high amount of OH- from looking at this you can tell that it is a very acidic solution so if we are going from Acidic to Basic then B would be the first one in the line up.

10. If spit has a pH of 7.4,what does that tell you about the water equilibrium?

Answer: A. This can be explained because spit is essentially water with something added. When that extra something was added it caused the balance of the solution to change, which also changes the pH. This being added has caused the equilibrium to shift left.

Second Assignment on weak/strong acid and bases.

Activity 6: States of Matter and Intermolecular Forces

1. Convert 0°F, 32°F, 70°F, and 212°F to Kelvin
0°F = 225k
32°F  = 273.15k
212°F = 373.15k

2. Complete the Teaching Idea: States of Matter Simulation Lab by Kelly Vaughan. Complete the lab worksheet as if you were a student, and then post this on your blog. You can scan it or just take a picture of it.

3. In the States of Matter simulation, choose the Solid, Liquid, and Gas Tab at the top of the screen. Choose the water molecule and cool the water to 0 K. Describe how the water molecules are aligned and attracted to each other. Which atoms are attracted to which other atoms?

The atoms are not moving at all, they are still staying together though because of their molecular forces. The white atoms are attracted to the red ones. As you can see in the picture above the atoms are not in a very neat form but if you are looking at how they are connected you can see that the white molecules are being held to the red ones.

4. Switch to the Phase Changes Tab on the States of Matter simulation. Notice how on the bottom right there is a small red dot that indicates where the system is at as far as temperature, pressure and state of matter. Play with the simulation to notice changes, notice that when you push down the pressure can go way up and explode the box. On your blog, report a temperature and pressure required to make oxygen a liquid. This is sometimes how the oxygen exists in pressurized oxygen tanks, perhaps like ones you may use to go diving.
A temperature and pressure that makes Oxygen a liquid would be 99K and 0 for a pressure.

5. List and describe at least two Science Standards that this activity addresses.

A.4.3 When investigating a science-related problem, decide what data can be collected to determine the most useful explanations. This standard apply's because in order to answer the questions for this assignment and be able to understand  the states of matter you need to be able to understand what happens when the temperature of something in order to understand how something can change between the states of matter.

C.4.5 Use data they have collected to develop explanations and answer questions generated by investigations. This standard apply's to this assignment because we are adding heat or cooling the substances down to get a desired effect. We are then using this data to decide if something is in a particular state of matter and how it would look.

Activity 5: Density

1. Run the Build an Atom simulation http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/build-an-atom and build a neutral lithium atom and a neutral boron atom.  Take a picture, or a screen shot, of these two atoms and place them on your blog.  List the number of protons, neutrons and electrons for each. Also look up and post the density for each of the elements on your blog.

Protons - 3, Neutrons - 4, Electrons - 3, Density -  0.53 g.cm ^-3 at 20 °C

Protons - 5, Neutrons - 5, Electrons -5, Density  -  2.3 g.cm^-3 at 20°C

2. Define density and the equation for density and post on your blog.
Density can be defined as mass or weight per unit of volume, the equation to find density is:

ρ is the density, m is the mass, and V is the volume 

3. Run the Density simulation http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/density and complete one(your choice) of the prepared Teaching Ideas and post your results on your blog. The activity you choose should be one of the student intended activities.

PhET- Density Activity- Funsheet

Custom Section                                                                                                          Name_____________

Material	Mass (kg)	Volume (L)	Density (kg/L)	Does it Float?
Styrofoam	59	100.59	1	Yes
Wood	1.59	101.59	1	Yes
Ice	3.64	103.64	1	Yes
Brick	7.93	103.97	1.99	No
Aluminum	10.71	103.97	2.69	No

1.     In the custom setting, choose the ‘My Object’ option in the material drop down box.  Set the mass of your object to 4 kg.  Adjust the volume to find the minimum volume needed to make the object float.

Volume______4.01_____                Density______.9975_

2.     How does the density of a large piece of aluminum compare to a small piece?

1 kg – 100.37                2.702702702702703  

10 kg – 103.70              2.702702702702703

They are exactly the same, because they are already both completely emerged in water because of their density the volume can't go up any higher.

Same Mass Section

Material	Mass (kg)	Volume (L)	Density (kg/L)	Does it Float?
Blue	5	105.00	1	No
Yellow	5	105.00	1	Yes
Green	5	102.50	2	No
Red	5	101.25	4	No

Same Volume Section

Material	Mass (kg)	Volume (L)	Density (kg/L)	Does it Float?
Blue	6	105.00	1.2	No
Yellow	8	105.00	1.6	No
Green	4	104.00	1	Yes
Red	2	102.00	1	Yes

Same Density Section:

3.  Calculate the density of the blue object in this section.

     Mass ____3.00______         Volume______103.75_________        Density______0.2133_______

4.  Explain why both the yellow and red objects float when they have different sizes.

Mystery Section:

5.  Before you start, pick an object that you think will float.  _____Blue B____________

     Pick an object that you think will sink.  ______Purple E______________

Material	Mass (kg)	Volume (L)	Density (kg/L)	Does it Float?
A	65.14	103.38	0.6301025343393306	No
B	.64	100.64	0.0063593004769475	Yes
C	4.08	104.08	0.0392006149116065	Yes
D	3.10	103.10	0.0300678952473327	Yes
E	3.52	101.00	0.0348514851485149	No

6.  In the Custom section describe the difference between how Styrofoam and ice  

     floated.  Also explain why you think this is the case?

The Styrofoam floated mostly above the water, because its material is much less sense than water, while the Ice floated mostly below the water level because Ice is water, but in a more dense form.

7.  In the Mystery Section, click on the “Show Table” button.  What is the most dense   

     object on the list?  Write its density as well.

Lead, 19.3 is leads density.

8.  List something you learned from this activity.
I learned that with objects looks are not always correct, just because an object is tiny does not mean it will float and be light, whereas just because an object is large does not mean it will be heavy and sink.

4. Complete the Mystery Blocks activity on the Density simulation.  Post on your blog the data you collected (mass, volume, and density) and the identification of the material and the known density.

Material	Mass (kg)	Volume (L)	Density (kg/L)	Does it Float?	Object and known mass
A	65.14	103.38	19.28	No	Gold 19.3
B	.64	100.64	1	Yes	Water 1
C	4.08	104.08	1	Yes	Water 1
D	3.10	103.10	1	Yes	Water 1
E	3.52	101.00	3.52	No	Diamond 3.53

5. Identify and post on your blog the Science Standards that could be met through these activities completed in Activity 5
A.4.3 When investigating a science-related problem, decide what data can be collected to determine the most useful explanations
C.4.2 Use the science content being learned to ask questions, plan investigations, make observations, make predictions, and offer explanations
D.4.5 Construct simple models of what is happening to materials and substances undergoing change, using simple instruments or tools to aid observations and collect data