Sydney Geisinger
3/15/13
Period 4
Mr. Casey's Physical Science Class
An experiment to determine the reactivity of various powders and liquids.
3/15/13
Period 4
Mr. Casey's Physical Science Class
An experiment to determine the reactivity of various powders and liquids.
Introduction
On 3/19/13, in Mr. Casey's period 4 physical science class at JMMS, we will be conducting an experiment to find out how reactive different liquids and powders are by themselves and when mixed together. We will be seeing if they react when they are put under heat. When we are testing, we will be seeing chemical reaction first hand. This will help us understand what it is and when it happens.
Hypothesis
If we test various powders and liquids, then about 70% of them will react. This is because almost all of the items we are using are every day cooking ingredients and are mixed and put under heat everyday. For instance when I was making my dinner the other night (I was making pot stickers) and I had to put vegetable oil in a pan and heat. When it got hot I put the pot stickers in then water! I didn't know it would pop all over the place and burned my self. :(
Materials
1. Stainless steel bowl
2. 10cm x 30cm strip of foil
3. Petri dish
4. Votive (tea light) candle
5. Lighter
6. Tongue depressor
7. Corn starch
8. Salt (NaCl)
9. Chalk (CaCO3)
10. Sugar (C12H22O11)
11. Baking soda (NaHCO3)
12. Water (H2O)
13. Vinegar (5% acetic acid (C2H4O2)
14. Isopropyl alcohol (C3H2OH)
15. Vegetable oil
Procedures:
1. gather all materials
2. select 1g of each sample of each untested powder in your petri dish combine each sample with one of the solvents
3. make observations and record
4. report steps 3+4 until all untested powder has been observed with each solvent.
5. repeat steps 3-5 until all powders have been tested with each solvent
6. now light the votive candle and place in bottom of the bowl
7. fold the foil into a strip that spans the bowl place an untested powder on the foil centered over the flame and observe
8. repeat steps 7-9 until all powders have been heated
9. clean up all materials
Conclusion:
This powder lab was conducted to help Mr. Casey's science class understand chemical change. By seeing the various powders mixed with liquids, and heat I can safely say that we achieved this goal. I was very surprised by the results of our test, I thought that 70% of the powders would react, I was FAR off.
We found that only about 29% of the powders were reactive with the liquids we chose. This didn't support my hypothesis at all. I thought lots of the powders would react. If I can take away anything from this project it is that chemical change is every where. I can also tell you that baking soda is very reactive.
Like any experiment, our experiment had its road bumps. For instance we ran out of time at the end and had to put 3 powders on flame at the same time! If I could do this experiment again I would try more liquids with baking soda because it seems that it would react to lots of different things. To take this further I would research more chemical changes, say dangerous ones.
This lab relates to life because it is all about chemical change. Chemical change is every where around us. An example is cooking; meat, cake, toast, etc…