Richardson 1

Summer Science Lesson Plan: States of Matter

Overview/Motivation:

  • Reveal to the students what the already know about the states of matter
  • Show them that not all things are solids, liquids, and gases

Materials:

  • Materials for making slime
  • Water (fill up a bowl and pour it out for the kids)
  • Bowls to mix in
  • Spoons for stirring (optional)
  • Newspaper (pick up a few free newspapers from the T stop)
  • Ziplock bags to keep slime in at end

Goals:

  • Students should leave with a basic understanding of the states of matter and things in each state they see every day
  • They should know that not all things are solids, liquids, and gases

Vocabulary:

  • Solid
  • Properties: hard, holds its own shape without a container
  • Liquid
  • Non-compressible, molds to shape of its container, maintains constant volume
  • Gas
  • Compressible, expands to fill its container

Introduction:

  • Ask the kids if they know the 3 main states of matter
  • List them on the board
  • Ask for characteristics of each (list)
  • Fill in any that they miss
  • Give examples from everyday life
  • “What kind of matter is this desk?”
  • “What is the air we're breathing?”
  • Walk over to window: “What about this window?”
  • Trick question! It's a liquid! (though extremely slow moving)
  • Say that if you go up to a very old window, you can see it's sunk a bit toward the bottom
  • Ask for examples of each from everyday life (list)
  • Tell them we are going to make something

Demonstration:

  • Tell the kids we are going to make something cool that will make them think about the states of matter
  • Making the slime:
  • Mix ¼ cup glue with ¼ cup water
  • Add a few drops of food coloring to color
  • Dissolve ½ teaspoon borax in ½ cup water
  • Slowly pour glue into borax water
  • Should have slime

Discussion:

  • Ask the kids what they think the slime is (solid, liquid, gas)
  • Talk about the fact that not all things are solids, liquids, or gases, that there are some things in between
  • Talk about Jello, the slime, etc
  • Talk about how temperature causes phase change:
  • Ice -> Water -> Steam
  • Ask the kids if they know the temperatures
  • Melting: 0 degrees Celsius, 32 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Evaporation: 100 degrees Celsius, 212 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Metal
  • Gold melts at 1800 degrees F!
  • Rocks -> Lava
  • Lava is around 2200 degrees F!
  • Name a metal that is a liquid at room temperature
  • Mercury (used to be used in thermometers)
  • Thermal expansion
  • Matter expands when it gets very hot or very cold
  • Ever put a can of soda in the freezer? (kids: do not try this at home)
  • Ice cubes are usually bigger than the water you put in there originally
  • Cracks in sidewalks are there to allow for thermal expansion
  • What is the hardest solid?
  • Diamonds (well, they recently invented something stronger)
  • Spider silk is among the toughest solids known to man (we just think it's soft because
  • Random facts
  • If you put a cup of hot coffee and of cold water in the freezer at the same time, which will freeze first?
  • Answer: they'll both freeze at the same time, because the heat will transfer to the other cup (think MC-delta-T)

Q/A:

  • See if they have any questions