Part 2: Pollution
Objectives
After participating in the program Materials and the Environment, Part
2, students will be able to:
| · explain that pollution is a relative term |
| · demonstrate how to calculate the concentration of a solution |
| · describe the origin of acid rain |
Vocabulary
| *pollution | contaminating substance(s) that makes another substance (especially water, air, or the environment) unclean or impure |
| *concentration | amount (mass or weight) of one substance found in a given volume of another substance, usually a solution (e.g., g/ml) |
| *acid | an acid is characterized by a sharp or sour taste, turns blue litmus paper pink, and reacts with a base to form salt and water |
| *base | a base is characterized by a slippery feel, turns red litmus paper blue, and reacts with an acid to form salt and water |
| *neutral | a substance which does not react as would and acid or base |
| *pH | a scale used to indicate the relative basic or acidic nature of a solution; low pH numbers (0 to 7) indicate acids and high numbers (7 to 14) indicate bases; 7.0 is the pH of a neutral solution |
| *sulfur | a pale yellow, non-metallic element that burns with a blue flame and a very characteristic odor |
Materials
(For each small group)
· 8 plastic cups
or glasses, preferably with straight sides
· water
· set of measuring
spoons
· unknown substance
(salt or sugar)
· craft sticks
for stirring
· ruler
· marker
(For each student)
· 16 small tasting
cups
(For the teacher/volunteer)
· concentrated
red cabbage juice
· diluted ammonia
solution
· vinegar
· 2 small beakers
· paper towels
(white)
· candle
· matches
Total Activity Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
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Disclaimer: These activities were adapted from the book1: "The Extraordinary Chemistry of Ordinary Things, 3rd Ed." written by Carl. H. Snyder.
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PDF Format |
Word Format |
This
work was supported by the Center on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular
Assemblies (CPIMA)
as part of the NSF Materials Science and Engineering Center program under
Grant DMR 9808677
Copyright 1996 - 2003, Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.