Chemcom Core Lab Summaries

9-12 SCHOOLS

ChemCom

(Chemistry in the Community)

Core Lab Summaries

Revised Summer 2001

The water, chemical resources and petroleum units contain the most basic concepts for the course.

It is not possible to teach all of the material in the book. Depending on the interest and background of the teacher, he/she is free to choose among the remaining units.

Page numbers for the ChemCom book are for the OLD 2nd edition.

ACTIVITY 1
Meter Sticks
(Your Turn, page 7 Chem Com)
CONCEPTS: / To help students become familiar with the metric unit; specifically length measurements.
EQUIPMENT: / meter sticks
yard sticks
small change
SUMMARY: / Students measure coin diameters and associate various length measurement units with everyday objects.
SAFETY: / no special concerns
ACTIVITY 2
Foul Water Lab
CONCEPTS: / Aid students in understanding water purity. They will perform oil-water separation, sand filtration, and charcoal absorption/filtration.
EQUIPMENT: / See ChemCom Teacher’s Manual for specifics.
SAFETY: / No concerns
ACTIVITY 3
Construct a Periodic Table
Starting at Ground Zero, Vol. 3, p A7-12
CONCEPTS: / Modeling Mendeleev procedure in ordering elements into a periodic table.
EQUIPMENT / element property cards
SAFETY: / None
ACTIVITY 4
Town Council
CONCEPTS: / Students will be assigned a special interest group and will present a defense to the class.
EQUIPMENT: / None
SUMMARY: / Students represent power company officials, scientists, engineers, Chamber of Commerce officials, county sanitation commission, and taxpayers in dealing with a fish kill in the fictional town of Riverwood.
SAFETY: / None
ACTIVITY 5
Making a Petrochemical
CONCEPTS: / To help students understand how an acid (from a hydrocarbon) and an alcohol can produce an ester with a pleasing fragrance.
To help students understand how reaction rate can be changed.
EQUIPMENT / See ChemCom teacher’s manual
SAFETY: / Standard operating procedures.
ACTIVITY 6 /

NEW FOR 2001-02; replaced “Classification of Mixtures”

Levels of Science

CONCEPTS: / Students identify physical and chemical properties as well as construct and interpret a line graph.
EQUIPMENT: / matchescandles
centigram balance aluminum weighing trays
metric rulersgraph paper
SUMMARY: / A candle is described in both qualitative and quantitative terms. As it burns, students record mass changes which permit the construction of a line graph which can be used to summarize trends and predict additional data. Finally, students propose models that explain their observations.
SAFETY: / Precautions associated with open flames
ACTIVITY 7
Solubility and Temperature
CONCEPTS: / Students will observe rates of solubility at different temperatures, and connect the observations to a mental molecular model.
EQUIPMENT: / food coloring mortar and pestle
sugar cubes
SUMMARY: / Students drop dye and sugar into containers that have water of different temperatures, and make observations of rates of diffusion and dissolving.
SAFETY: / Hot water can burn.
ACTIVITY 8
Concentration and PPM Lab
CONCEPTS: / Help students understand the concept of concentration of solutions.
EQUIPMENT: / Spot plates India ink
Eye droppers paper towels
De-ionized water
SUMMARY: / Mix water and ink using spot plate procedure to produce a solution with 1 part per million.
SAFETY: / No concerns.
ACTIVITY 9

Physical Properties, Viscosity Lab

ChemCom p. 160
CONCEPTS: / Measure the relative viscosities of several organic materials.
EQUIPMENT: / mineral oilasphalt
keroseneparaffin wax
motor oilhousehold oil
SUMMARY: / Students measure mass and volume to calculate densities of petroleum based materials and determine relative viscosities with falling beads. They then relate the variables.
SAFETY: / Caution in the use of flammable kerosene; do not dispose of in sink.
ACTIVITY 10
Metal Reactivities
ChemCom, p. 105
CONCEPTS: / Observe and compare chemical reactivity of metals.
EQUIPMENT / Cu(NO3)2
Mg(NO3)2
Zn(NO3)2
AgNO3
Al metal
Zn metal
Mg metal
SAFETY: / Standard operating procedure.
ACTIVITY 11 /

NEW FOR 2001-02; replaced “Water Softening Lab”

States of Matter
CONCEPTS: / To illustrate the force of expanding steam.
To measure the percent water in popcorn.
EQUIPMENT: / popcorn beaker tongs
small beakers centigram balance
toothpicksaluminum foil
hot plates
SUMMARY: / Popcorn kernels are weighed before and after popping. Weight changes are used to calculate the percent water in the popcorn. Models are portrayed of the particles in solids, liquids, and gases.
SAFETY: / Standard operating procedure for using hot plates.
ACTIVITY 12 /

NEW FOR 2001-02; replaced “Bohr Model Races”

Chemical Changes
CONCEPTS: / Students identify symptoms of chemical change and then classify several types of common reactions.
EQUIPMENT: / effervescent tabletsspoons
magnesium ribbonbeaker tongs
copper chloridetest tubes
metal squares (Al, Cu, Sn, Zn)100 mL grad. cylinder
small beakers3M Hydrochloric acid
steel woolmatches
thermometers
SUMMARY: / Students observe and describe a set of chemical changes and then classify selected chemical events from everyday life.
SAFETY: / Acid is corrosive. Students should not look at burning magnesium.
ACTIVITY 13
Tinker Toys (molecular models)
CONCEPTS: / Help familiarize students with molecular structure.
EQUIPMENT: / Organic model kits
SUMMARY: / Students build molecular models.
SAFETY: / No concerns.
ACTIVITY 14
Lentil Lab
CONCEPTS: / Help students understand concept of how many 6.02 x 1023 is.
EQUIPMENT: / 6-8 lbs of lentils for class
scales
large beakers of pie pans for each pound of lentils
SUMMARY: / Students design a procedure for determining the number of lentils in a pound, the dry volume of a pound of lentils, and the density of dry lentils.
SAFETY: / No concerns.
ACTIVITY 15
Molarity Lab
CONCEPTS: / Aid student understanding of concentration of solution.
EQUIPMENT: / Kool-Aid funnel
graduated cylinder glass stirring rod
styrofoam cup pen light
SUMMARY: / Students compare the molarity of four different solutions mathematically and by color, clarity, and viscosity with optional taste test.
SAFETY: / No concerns.
ACTIVITY 16 /

NEW FOR 2001-02; replaced “Limiting Reactant Lab”

Heat of Combustion of Candle Wax
CONCEPTS: / Students will determine the calories emitted by burning candle wax.
EQUIPMENT: / candlescrucible tongs
can lids ring stands
coffee cansstirring rods
soft drink cans100 mL grad. cylinders
centigram balanceice
thermometers250 mL beakers
SUMMARY: / As a candle burns, students measure its weight loss and the amount of temperature increase for water positioned over its flame. These data are used to calculate the calories per gram from the wax. Selected food samples may then be compared for their calories per gram.
SAFETY: / Precautions for open flames.

Science Curriculum: November, 2001Lab Summaries: Page 1 of 6ChemCom