Our time in the first semester of junior year was spent learning about chemical equations and how one can predict reactions by following a certain equation. In order to prove how much we learned, we set out to make a board game that used chemical reactions in it.
There were certain chemical reactions that we had to include:
If you don't know what a meme is, click here for info and here for some examples.
Our single replacement reaction was Copper(II) Chloride and Aluminum Foil. When you poured Copper(II) Chloride onto the foil, you could see a reaction that fizzed up and even created smoke. When it settled, the aluminum foil had been corroded and copper was visible, meaning that the other substance is now Aluminum Chloride.
Our double replacement reaction was Potassium Chromate and Copper Nitrate, which clearly changed color when mixed. This was because they had turned into two different compounds, yet with the same elements. The new compounds were Potassium Nitrate and Copper Chromate.
Besides the replacement reactions, we had to show production of a gas. So we decided to use the Sodium Bicarbonate and Acetic Acid mixture, more commonly known as the baking soda + vinegar mixture. When the two combine to make a foamy mess, the bubbles in the mixture are carbon dioxide. The other products are Sodium Acetate and water.
Our two final reactions were a physical change of energy, and the lighting of an LED, so we had the meme barrel, which would be pushed down on to a switch that would activate the LED. The movement of the meme barrel produced kinetic energy.
The reason these chemical changes occurred were because some chemicals were more reactive than others. For instance, aluminum replaced the copper because aluminum is a more reactive material. What's more, each substance either has negative ions or positive ones. The copper used had positive ions (also called cations), and chloride has negative ions (or anions). Aluminum is also a positive ion, and this is why when combining copper(II) chloride and aluminum foil, aluminum replaced copper instead of chloride.
I think we did a great job with our game. I especially like how we constructed the game and our idea of having the game board rise in elevation as the race to the top of the mountain continued. I also like our idea and our game cards. Memes are something we are all into, so we thought that we could all contribute to the game if we focused it on something we had experience with.
I do believe we could have improved our usage of time so we weren't finishing up the game cards the day of presenting. I also feel as if we had many ideas that we didn't communicate properly to each other, often ending up in confusion because we thought we had the same idea but it turned out that we didn't. Nevertheless, it was a fun project and I hope that some day we will be able to come back to it.
I collaborated with http://brandonfieldsstem.weebly.com, http://noahgersh.weebly.com, and http://brandonyu.weebly.com for the project.
There were certain chemical reactions that we had to include:
- A single replacement reaction, when a compound and a single element combine and the single element replaces one of the other elements in the compound (for instance: AB + C --> AC + B)
- A double displacement reaction, when two compounds combine and one element from each ionic compound switch places, forming two completely new compounds (for instance: AB + CD --> AD + CB)
- A reaction that forms some sort of gas (for instance: CO2, O2,)
- A lighting of an LED using a breadboard and some outside force
- A physical change of energy (for instance, kinetic energy)
If you don't know what a meme is, click here for info and here for some examples.
Our single replacement reaction was Copper(II) Chloride and Aluminum Foil. When you poured Copper(II) Chloride onto the foil, you could see a reaction that fizzed up and even created smoke. When it settled, the aluminum foil had been corroded and copper was visible, meaning that the other substance is now Aluminum Chloride.
Our double replacement reaction was Potassium Chromate and Copper Nitrate, which clearly changed color when mixed. This was because they had turned into two different compounds, yet with the same elements. The new compounds were Potassium Nitrate and Copper Chromate.
Besides the replacement reactions, we had to show production of a gas. So we decided to use the Sodium Bicarbonate and Acetic Acid mixture, more commonly known as the baking soda + vinegar mixture. When the two combine to make a foamy mess, the bubbles in the mixture are carbon dioxide. The other products are Sodium Acetate and water.
Our two final reactions were a physical change of energy, and the lighting of an LED, so we had the meme barrel, which would be pushed down on to a switch that would activate the LED. The movement of the meme barrel produced kinetic energy.
The reason these chemical changes occurred were because some chemicals were more reactive than others. For instance, aluminum replaced the copper because aluminum is a more reactive material. What's more, each substance either has negative ions or positive ones. The copper used had positive ions (also called cations), and chloride has negative ions (or anions). Aluminum is also a positive ion, and this is why when combining copper(II) chloride and aluminum foil, aluminum replaced copper instead of chloride.
I think we did a great job with our game. I especially like how we constructed the game and our idea of having the game board rise in elevation as the race to the top of the mountain continued. I also like our idea and our game cards. Memes are something we are all into, so we thought that we could all contribute to the game if we focused it on something we had experience with.
I do believe we could have improved our usage of time so we weren't finishing up the game cards the day of presenting. I also feel as if we had many ideas that we didn't communicate properly to each other, often ending up in confusion because we thought we had the same idea but it turned out that we didn't. Nevertheless, it was a fun project and I hope that some day we will be able to come back to it.
I collaborated with http://brandonfieldsstem.weebly.com, http://noahgersh.weebly.com, and http://brandonyu.weebly.com for the project.