Flinn’s Exploring Chemistry™

Introduction

Everything you need to plan your curriculum, prepare labs, and teach chemical reactions! You get one great experiment, three terrific demonstrations, as well as a POGIL™ activity. Chemical reactions are the lifeblood of chemistry in the real world, transforming reactants and products into products with useful applications. Chemical reactions also play a central role in understanding the principles of chemistry. Developing students’ chemical literacy skills is thus fundamental to their success in learning the principles and applications of chemistry. The purpose of Flinn’s Exploring Chemistry™ Chemical Reactions Package is to provide a comprehensive, integrated set of laboratory activities to accomplish the learning objectives for this vital unit in your curriculum.

Concepts

• Chemical reactions
• Combustion
• Oxidation−reduction
• Combination vs. decomposition
• Exothermic reactions
• Metal activity
• Single vs. double replacement
• Catalysis

Background

What’s in this Chemical Reactions Package?

Your package includes chemicals and specialty equipment to perform the lab and learning activities listed below. Quantities of chemicals are sufficient for three classes of 30 students working in pairs! Instructions for all lab activities may be found in Chemical Reactions, Volume 6 in the Flinn ChemTopic™ Labs series, which is included in the package. Student handouts for each activity may be reproduced for classroom use. Comprehensive instructions and teacher notes, with real sample data and answers to all questions, are also provided for each activity. All of the lab activities were created under the direction of the Flinn Scientific Curriculum Advisory Board of master teachers, and then tested and retested to optimize safety and success. The following activities may be performed in any order. One possible lesson plan is described.

• Foiled Again—Single Replacement Reaction (Demonstration)
• Classifying Chemical Reactions—Analyzing and Predicting Products (Experiment)
• Types of Chemical Reactions (POGIL Activity)
• The Chef—A Chemical Reaction that Really Cooks (Demonstration)
• Old Foamey—Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide (Demonstration)

Experiment Overview

Foiled Again
Observations that may be associated with a chemical reaction include color changes, release of a gas, formation of a solid, and production of heat and light. All of these “signs” of a chemical reaction are observed in the “Foiled Again” demonstration of aluminum metal with copper(II) chloride. The demonstration offers the perfect starting point for this unit—the observations are clues that will help students predict products.

Classifying Chemical Reactions
Observing signs of a chemical reaction is also the starting point for the “Classifying Chemical Reactions” experiment. Students perform eight chemical reactions, identify patterns and classify the reactions. Help students make sense of the great variety of chemical reactions! All types of reactions are featured—combination, decomposition, single-replacement and double-replacement reactions.

Types of Chemical Reactions
Reinforce the reasoning and analysis for classifying reaction with this great POGIL™ activity.

The Chef
Recognizing chemical reactions and “translating” them into chemical equations are important skills. Chemical reactions are more than formulas on a piece of paper however. They are dynamic and exciting events, especially when heat and energy are produced. In “The Chef” demonstration, the combination reaction of calcium oxide with water generates enough heat to fry an egg!

Old Foamey
Close out your unit with a WOW! demonstration. Old Foamey needs no introduction! Simply mix hydrogen peroxide with dishwashing liquid, add sodium iodide catalyst, and watch—a cascade of steaming foam is the perfect capstone for the study of chemical reactions.

Materials