TITLE: CHEMICAL CHANGES
AUTHOR: JIM L. TORGERSON, NORTH SEVIER MIDDLE
SCHOOL, SALINA, UTAH
GRADE LEVEL: Appropriate for grades 6-8.
OVERVIEW: The students will compare different types of
chemical changes.
PURPOSE: By doing the following demonstrations,
students will gain an understanding of how chemical
reactions produce new substances.
OBJECTIVE(s): STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
1. Tell what a chemical change is.
2. List some of the chemical properties of common
materials.
3. Understand how chemical changes affect their
lives.
4. Be aware of some of the dangers of chemical
changes.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Chemical changes occur all the time in our daily
lives. Chemical change causes a new substance to be
formed from two or more different elements or
compounds. Students need to have some understanding of
elements and compounds when you do these experiments.
RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
You will need the following materials:
1. iodine 2. alcohol
3. starch 4. iron nail
5. yeast 6. sugar
7. milk 8. vinegar
9. toast 10. toaster
11. hot plate 12. small sauce pan
I usually catch students interest by doing a
demonstration that show how explosive chemical changes
can be. I put one half of an alkaseltzer tablet in an
old plastic 35 mm film container. Add a small amount
of water and put the lid on.
PLEASE MAKE SURE ALL STUDENTS ARE STANDING AWAY FROM
THIS DEMONSTRATION, ALSO DON'T PUT THE CONTAINER
DIRECTLY UNDER A LIGHT FIXTURE.
The following reaction will create some discussion.
This is where I discuss the dangers of chemicals and
their reactions.
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES: You may choose to do the
following as a class demonstration or if you choose you
could have each student do the reactions. I believe it
would be important for students to record observation
and make some conclusions from those observations when
they are done.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO LET EACH STUDENT DO THESE EXPERIMENTS,
BE SURE THEY HAVE REVIEWED BASIC LAB SAFETY RULES.
Listed below are some examples of materials and
chemical changes that can be demonstrated with them.
Discuss chemical changes developed by you or the
students during the experiments. Be sure to discuss
with the students how these chemical reactions affect
their lives during or right after the demonstrations
and/or experiments.
Add the following materials to each other to create the
desired chemical reaction:
Material Chemical Changes
-------------------------------------------------
1. iodine changes to brown in alcohol
change to blue in starch
2. wood ashes make into potash, water released
3. toast burn until charcoal
4. iron rusting of iron with water
5. lime quick lime changes to slaked lime
6. yeast forming of carbon dioxide in water
7. sugar heat changes to caramel
8. milk add vinegar to curdle
Resources:
PHYSICAL SCIENCE TEXT BOOK, ENCYCLOPEDIA, ANY OTHER
RESOURCES THAT RELATE TO CHEMICAL CHANGES THAT ARE
AVAILABLE.
CROSS-CURRICULUM IDEAS:
HISTORY: Have students check any historically
significant chemical reactions and report them in
class.
MATH: Have students calculate the time it takes for
one alkaseltzer tablet to completely dissolve.
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John Kurilecjmk@ofcn.org