LAB ACTIVITIES
| Acids and Bases |
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Alka SeltzerÒ
Rainbow
- ChemFax Demonstration (Flinn Scientific)
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ANTacid
- Acids and Bases Activity
This is very cute and fun for lower chemistry
levels and can get the kids out of the classroom on a nice day.
Students make their own indicator paper and test ants for formic acid.
This can be planned as a two-day activity with a shortened day schedule.
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Buffer Balancing Acts - ChemFax Demonstration
(Flinn
Scientific)
- Quality
Control at the Pickle Factory: ~P.M., Indiana
I will be discussing
titrations and acid/base stoichiometry with my AP Chem classes in the
next few weeks. I have found the following URL for labs entitled Quality
Control at the Pickle Factory
- Soap Making (MS
Word doc file) ~SJS, New Hampshire
I asked our
General Chemistry lab director Jeudi Davis [jdavis@keene.edu] if she
would share her new soap lab that I remembered her raving about with
respect to how well it works, and what a nice soap it makes. She
graciously sent it along. There is a story with this lab:
One of our chemistry majors, Juan Cueva, is from Ecuador, and when he
went home for Christmas break, knowing that Jeudi was looking for a
better soap lab, he found an old soap-making book, and copied the recipe
used in this lab. Of course he translated the directions from the
original Spanish, and had to make major adjustments of scale in order
for it to work as a lab. He also found that the pH of the
fresh product was very high--12--and followed that with time, finding
that it finally dropped to pH 8 after a week or more.
SAFETY CONCERNS: I still have some
safety/health concerns about anyone's doing this with high school
students, since it uses NaOH as a 50% by weight solution, and that as
you are well aware is a very dangerous substance, especially vs. the
eyes. Jeudi says that she uses a pump dispenser set to deliver the
proper amount, so that there is little to no splashing, and students are
not pouring the solution. We do not know how it would work
using a weaker NaOH solution. For high school students, it
would probably be wise to have the teacher dispense the NaOH directly
into the students' melted coconut oil.
The high pH of the finished product also needs some
very careful supervision too, of course. IMPORTANT: The next
day, remove the soaps from the mini-muffin pans and invert
the soaps onto suitable plastic dishes so that the surface formerly in
the pan will be on top. Do not touch the wet surface, since the
wet film is the very strong NaOH solution. Disposable plastic
gloves could help a lot here if the students are to do this step.
An iron rule that the product is not to be used for three weeks
after preparation would also seem to be prudent, since the pH was around
9 even a week or two after the original synthesis. The
following of the pH with time could be a useful exercise, involving a
personal appreciation for the kinetics of organic reactions, as well as
the pH measuring aspect itself.
MATERIALS: Coconut oil can be purchased at a
health foods or "organic" store. We use 50% w/w NaOH
rather than the pellets, which can be tricky to dissolve.
She and Juan tried many different recipes from various lab manuals
and soap-making books, but this one has a huge advantage of simplicity,
not requiring mixtures of oils, fats, etc., or further chemicals, e.g.
alcohol. They found that other recipes using peanut
oil [a dangerous allergen for some people] lard, etc. produced very poor
soaps, as well as being complex to use.
- Tie-Dying
Activity through Flinn Scientific
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| Atomic and Molecular
Structure |
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| Chemical Analysis |
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| Chemical Bonds |
- Patterns
in Electron Configurations and the Periodic Table ~ C. J., Texas
(right click
to download this Word Document)
I use this worksheet
to help the students find periodic patterns in electron
configuration. I originally used a longer version, but found that
this brought them to the same conclusions in less time. I do this
after covering the concept of electron configuration using an energy
chart to determine the orbital order. Then, I tell them that they
don't have to memorize the chart because the periodic table tells them
the correct order to use. You'll need a periodic table that shows
the valence configuration (many textbooks have this on the cover).
After the students work through the activity in groups, we discuss the
results as a class. I hope it helps!
- Molecular
Geometry Worksheet - (Marshmallow Lab) Worksheet
Key ~J.B., California
I do a Molecular
Geometry Lab using large marshmallows (central atom), small
marshmallows (substituent atoms) and toothpicks (bonds) to get the kids
involved in 3-D manipulation and application of VSEPR.. I lead the
students through construction of each of the basic structures and the
resulting structures due the existence of unbonded electron pairs in the
lab activity form. Students then use the form as a study
guide.
- Polarity
Activities ~ P.M., Indiana
(right click to download this Word Document)
Contains three
activities; 1) solubility in different solvents 2) capillary
action 3) hydrogen bonding
- IR Spectrophotometry
Activity -
~J.B., California
Versions A, B
and C (MS Word)
- This IR Spec Activity is based on actual data I
collected. Students are to plot the absorbance and
frequency readings and compare peaks (pointing down) to the
given chart identifying the bond in their unknown substance and
then comparing them with the three possible structures.
The answers are in hidden text at the top of the page.
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| Chemical Equilibrium |
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| Chemical Thermodynamics |
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| Conservation of Matter and
Stoichiometry |
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Sweet 16
Chemistry Compound Tournament
(Flinn
Scientific)
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Sweet 16 Chemistry
Ion Tournament
(Flinn Scientific)
- Candy Cane Lab
~ Holiday Lab
Construction
of Varigated Disaccharide "J" Tubes
~ J.S., Indiana
- "Keep
You Eye on the Ions"-Double Replacement Model Demonstration (Flinn
Scientific)
- Peanut Brittle Lab
~
Holiday Lab
Partial
Thermal Degradation of Carbon Dioxide formed Disaccharides with Protein
Inclusions
~J.B., California via
J.J.,
Florida
AKA Peanut Brittle Lab (MS Word)
My students LOVE this lab which is
traditionally done on the last day prior to Winter Break. I tell
them nothing, handout the procedure and label each of the
reagents on the counter for them to weigh out and carefully
measure. I do my very best to obscure the identity of the
reagents (even tried dying the "protein
inclusions"...it didn't work).
- Popcorn Labs
- Popcorn Labs
as found on
the internet February 2003 per member request.
- S'Mores: An
Introduction to Chemical Equations, Stoichiometry and Limiting Reactants
(doc file) (pdf
file) (wps
file)
One of my students' favorite labs is the
S'mores lab (attached). It applies to balancing equations, mole
ratios, stoichiometry, & limiting reactants. I use it as an intro to
get the concepts of stoichiometry across. We roast marshmallows
over Bunsen burners --use no normal lab equipment, that way they can eat
them. That, of course, is why it is their favorite lab. They
also generally understand the calculations.
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| Electrochemistry |
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Electrochemistry:
Electroplating, Coloring and Etching of Metals (pdf file)
Holiday Lab
This is from Wellesley College and is quite nicely written.
- Electroplating Zinc
on Copper
(MSWord)
~ R.A., Texas
Holiday Lab
Upon completion of this lab you should be able
to describe the process of electroplating,
identify the anode and cathode and what is occurring at each in
terms of oxidation and reduction, identify the products of
electroplating, write balanced half-reactions representing what is
happening at each of the electrodes, predict changes in mass and
concentration over time, and propose explanations for these changes,
diagram
the electroplating system, identifying the components, the cathode and
the anode, the positive and negative poles, flow of electrons and the
flow of ions. A GREAT HOLIDAY LAB!
(NOTE: The copper surface
can be cleaned with vinegar and salt to avoid using nitric acid if you
do not have a hood, and designs can be drawn directly on the metal surface
using a Sharpie permanent marker which can be removed after plating with
isopropyl alcohol to avoid having to use single-edged razor blades and
masking tape - JFB)
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| Gases and Their Properties |
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| Mole
Concept |
- Molarity : Kool Aide Lab
~ P.M., Indiana
Teaching Molarity through a Taste Test (Non lab
environment)
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| Nuclear Processes |
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| Organic and Biochemistry |
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| Reaction Rates and
Kinetics
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| Solutions |
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- Freezing
Point Depression Lab (pdf file)
~B.H.,
Indiana
Freezing Point Depression Lab
(MW Word Document)
I have attached a lab
that I use with my 2nd year chem students. If you accept pretty
lousy numerical results (percent errors as high as 50% or more), it's
OK. It lets them calculate a molar mass from a freezing point
depression without working with toxic chemicals. By the way,
because of the long time required to measure the melting curve, I
usually have 1 lab team do the pure water and another do the solution.
They exchange data afterward.
- Ice
Cream in a Baggie
~J.P., California
(pdf file)
Standard Freezing Point
Lab - simple recipe calls for the use of a zip-loc bag
within a zip-loc bag.
- More Recommended Ice Cream Labs:
Finding
Science in Ice Cream - Complete with History and Full Food Science
Vocabulary
- University of Guelph, Ontario
Salt:
The Essence of Life - Chemical Reactions of NaCl - Excellent
chemistry concept applications
~D.B., Indiana
I especially like the food science link because it discusses terms like
stabilizer, emulsion, hydrophobic, flocculate. I use the article in
a physical science class. I pass the article out in a lab where we
make ice cream using baggies. As a homework assignment students take
the article home and make lists of the words they don't understand
and then look up and write down the definitions. Even with a
dictionary, not all the definitions are comprehensible so we then
discuss the meanings of the words in our next class. Sometimes I'll
even do follow on activities where ingredients are omitted to see
what effect that has on the resulting product from a chemistry point
of view (everyone knows a priori that ice cream without sugar tastes
awful but they don't always know what effect it has on the
consistency of the final product - so one might try artificial
sweetener instead of sugar for example). Students enjoy the lab
activity because it relates technical things to something they know
about, and more important, it relates to something they like.
I especially like the ice cream lab because it makes a good way to
transition from physical properties/ thermodynamics to
chemistry.
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We All
Scream for Ice Cream! Chemistry Lab Experiment (MS Word)
~E.K., New Jersey
I do this ice cream lab with my
students each year to celebrate Mole Day. We use zip-lock bags
filled with milk, sugar, and vanilla mixture which we put into
water-tight refrigerator plastic jars filled with ice and salt.
The students roll the jar back-and-forth on the tables between them
until the mixture in the bag freezes. It takes about 15
minutes if done correctly.
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~ Author Unknown, Unknown
Submitter
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LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS |
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Teacher Recommended Labs
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- All
My Labs (MS Word doc file)
~E.R.,
Texas
I'm including eleven
labs that I have set up for my chemistry classes along with some teacher
information for them. I hope it's helpful. Look through them, I
make a lot of speeling mistakes, uh spelling mistakes. And try
them out first, as always. I'm enjoying all the information and
figured I should try to add
something.
1. Physical and Chemical Changes
2. Measurement and Density
3. Atomic Structure
4. Half-Life Simulation
5. Formula Writing and Chemical Names
6. Waters of Crystallization
7. Mass Relations in a Chemical Reaction
8. Changes in Physical State
9. Ideal Gas Law
10. Solubility Curve of a Salt
11. Neutralization and Titration with Acid and Base
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- High
School Lessons and Experiments - Rohm and Haas
Company: provides lesson plans and experiments in HTML or PDF format for
topics in biology, environmental science, chemistry, physical science,
and physics. The chemistry labs cover biodegradability, a comparison of
liquids, chromatography, pollution, oxidation, adhesion, and esters.
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We do a quarter long
project with our honors kids that basically does this for ten solutions.
I am enclosing the handouts for that. We make them come up
with everything they might need. They must do the majority of the
project on their own time, with only a few lab periods devoted to it in
class.
Teacher note: We pretty much choose seven
to ten soluble ionic salts that we have lots of in the stock room! We use 0.25 to 0.5 M solutions, depends on the stock we have. I am enclosing our evaluation rubric that we used that has the
identities of the solutions we used some year, not sure which one.
We switched it this year to have set ups with dropping bottles of all the solutions, ten sets. That way we could have no more than ten groups working at the same time. Before we tried to give each group their own chemicals in pipettes. Got too crazy with refills. |
Lab Final |
High
School Chemistry Lab Final with Excel Spreadsheet
~H.O.,
California
(Zip file - Word
and Excel documents) |
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The lab attached
is determining the molarity of an HCl solution using calcium
carbonate. I like this as a cumulative lab experience because
students have to come up with their own procedure, determine the
reaction that occurs and calculate a quantitative answer. It also
allows me to assign a different molarity to each lab group so they can't
fake their data. Students really like it because they get to work
together (groups of 3) and most do very well. To help in grading I
created an Excel spreadsheet that does the student calculations. I
plugged in their data, and could check their calculations quickly.
It also allowed me to make sure no more than three students had the same
data. I've attached both the lab and the Excel sheet with some
actual data from a couple of years ago (some good, some not so
good.) |
Lab Links |
|
Lab
Archive at Everett Community College ~ looking for a lab? |
| Computer-Based
Labs Online |
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| NMR
& IR Online at UCLA
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Good Laboratory Practices (GLPs) -
A Link to Real Lab Applications
*Student
Information on GLPs
*Industrial Background Links and
Information on GLPs
(no longer active: was http://www.glpguru.com/) |
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