Classroom Resources: Molecules & Bonding
1 – 25 of 44 Classroom Resources
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Separating Mixtures, Identifying an Unknown, Polarity, Intermolecular Forces, Molecular Structure | High School
Lesson Plan: What Chemicals are in E-Cigarettes?
In this lesson, students will learn about gas chromatography by comparing it to paper chromatography. Students will analyze gas chromatography data to learn more about the chemicals present in e-cigarettes. Finally, students will take the knowledge they learned to create an infographic. Students will post their infographic publicly to make a positive impact in their community.
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Functional Groups, Molecular Structure , Polarity | High School
Activity: Introduction to Functional Groups
In this activity, students will learn about the naming conventions for organic compounds and examine the functional groups of different molecules.
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Solubility, Solubility Rules, Solute & Solvent, Intermolecular Forces, Chemical Bond, Ionic Bonding, Covalent Bonding, Polarity, Intermolecular Forces, Intramolecular Forces | Middle School, High School
Activity: Animation Activity: Solubility
In this activity, students will view an animation that explores how ionic and molecular compounds dissolve (or don’t) in water. They will see that if an ionic compound such as salt dissolves, the ions dissociate, whereas the molecules in a molecular compound such as sugar remain intact but are separated from one another by water molecules. They will also see that some ionic compounds such as chalk do not dissolve, and the cations and anions remain stuck together.
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Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Molecular Structure | High School
Lab: Investigating Water Resistance Through Fabric Identification
In this lab, students will design a procedure to test and compare the water resistance ability of several unidentified fabric samples. Students will then attempt to identify each of the unknown fabric samples by analyzing the polarity of each molecular structure in combination with the data collected in their test.
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Covalent Bonding, Ionic Bonding, Lewis Structures, Polarity, Ions, Electrons, Valence Electrons, Lewis Dot Diagrams, Electrostatic Forces | Middle School, High School
Activity: Animation Activity: Bonding
In this activity, students will view an animation that explores how different chemical bonds form. Examples of ionic, covalent, and polar covalent bonds are animated, and then students are given a sample of compounds to predict the bonding types.
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Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Polymers, Molecular Structure , Functional Groups, Polymers | High School
Video: Ingenious Video 6: Kill More Germs by Cleaning … Less?
There’s clean, and then there’s CLEAN. Even if something looks clean, it might still be harboring microbes – many of them harmless, some of them definitely not. With most of the ways that we clean and disinfect — that is, kill germs — the clean doesn’t last as long as you might think. Disinfectants work by attacking bacterial membranes and viral protein coats, breaking them down so that those germs fall apart and die. But the germaphobes were always right: As soon as a disinfectant dries, and a surface is re-exposed, like if someone touches or (worse) sneezes on it, it needs be disinfected all over again. The next generation of cleaning products, however, add a trick: they lay down an incredibly thin polymer layer that keeps the germ-killing ingredients in place and effective for 24 hours at a time.
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Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Polymers, Molecular Structure , Functional Groups, Polymers | High School
Activity: Ingenious: Kill More Germs by Cleaning … Less? Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, Kill More Germs by Cleaning… Less?, from the Ingenious series produced by the American Chemical Society. Each episode investigates a different topic related to how leading-edge chemistry is taking on the world’s most urgent issues to advance everyone’s quality of life and secure our shared future. This episode investigates the chemistry of cleaning. Unfortunately, clean doesn’t last as long as you might think—this video examines how disinfectants work and also how long they lasts. Scientists share about the next generation of cleaning products, that keeps the germ-killing ingredients in place and effective much longer.
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Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Molecular Structure , Combustion | High School
Activity: Ingenious: Making Shipping Greener with Hairy Ships Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, Making Shipping Greener with Hairy Ships, from the Ingenious series produced by the American Chemical Society. Each episode investigates a different topic related to how leading-edge chemistry is taking on the world’s most urgent issues to advance everyone’s quality of life and secure our shared future. This episode investigates the “fouling” of boats (when aquatic animals like barnacles and tubeworms attach to hulls), and the impact it has on fuel efficiency. Since fouling is a significant contributor to the carbon footprint, this video highlights how scientists were inspired by unique aquatic plants to develop a stick-on silicone coating for ships that prevents animal hitchhikers from getting a foothold.
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Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Molecular Structure , Combustion | High School
Video: Ingenious Video 5: Making Shipping Greener with Hairy Ships
The “fouling” of boats — when aquatic animals like barnacles and tubeworms attach to hulls — has been a nuisance for as long as we’ve been sailing the seas. Fouling messes up a vessel’s streamlined shape, decreasing its speed, maneuverability, and in modern times, its fuel-efficiency. Fouling spikes the carbon footprint of the shipping industry, already greater than that of most countries. For centuries, people used copper coatings to prevent fouling. Modern solutions use toxic chemical paints that pollute the water, kill marine life, and contribute to the degradation of our oceans when they wear off. A new approach is trying to work with nature instead of against it. Taking inspiration from the Salvinia plant, which is covered in tiny hair-like structures that make it basically waterproof, scientists are developing a stick-on silicone coating for ships that prevents animal hitchhikers from getting a foothold.
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Radiation, Molecular Structure, Polarity, Heat | High School
Lesson Plan: Why Does Carbon Get Such a Bad Rap?
In this lesson, students will use a climate change scenario to understand the role that polar bonds play in whether a molecule can be considered a greenhouse gas, while learning the particle nature of matter-energy interactions.
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Intermolecular Forces, Polarity | High School
Lesson Plan: Potential Energy Introduction
In this activity, students will follow a guided inquiry introduction to potential energy. Students begin by investigating a video model of magnetic water molecules and review their ideas about charge, and attraction or repulsion due to charge. Then, using a Google Drawing manipulative box, students place their digital water molecules into attraction and repulsion orientations. Next, they indicate the direction of force and show how potential energy is increasing when the molecules are moved in a direction opposite to the force.
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Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Molecular Structure, Functional Groups, Molecular Structure | High School
Lab: The Chemistry of Hand Sanitizer and Soap
In this lab, students will model the interaction between hand sanitizer particles and virus particles, as well as between soap particles and virus particles. They will apply their understanding of molecular structure and intermolecular forces to analyze their observations and behavior of the particles, in order to gain a better understanding of how soaps and sanitizers work.
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Intermolecular Forces, Ionic Bonding, Covalent Bonding, Lewis Structures, Polarity | High School
Demonstration: Interactions Between Particles
In groups of six to eight, students will observe the behavior of substances and mixtures to determine the relative strength of intermolecular forces between the particles in each substance or mixture. They will then arrange different cards representing ions and molecules based on intermolecular forces to determine the best molecular level representation of the physical samples they observed.
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Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Covalent Bonding, Lewis Structures, Molecular Geometry, Physical Properties | High School
Activity: Simulation Activity: Intermolecular Forces
In this simulation, students will review the three major types of intermolecular forces – London dispersion forces, dipole-dipole interactions, and hydrogen bonding – through short video clips and accompanying text. They will then answer quiz questions using the relative strengths of these forces to compare different substances given their name, formula, and Lewis structure, and put them in order based on the strength of their intermolecular forces, their boiling point, or their vapor pressure. The simulation is designed as a five question quiz for students to use multiple times.
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Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Covalent Bonding, Lewis Structures, Molecular Geometry, Physical Properties | High School
Simulation: Intermolecular Forces
In this simulation, students will review the three major types of intermolecular forces and answer quiz questions using the relative strengths of these forces to compare different substances given their name, formula, and Lewis structure.
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Physical Properties, Covalent Bonding, Electronegativity, Polarity, Molecular Geometry, Intermolecular Forces, Solubility | Middle School, High School
Activity: The Chemistry of Water Video Questions
In this lesson, students will watch a video and answer questions about how the molecular geometry and polarity of water give rise to many of its unusual physical properties, including its relatively high boiling point and its ability to dissolve some substances but not others.
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Ionic Bonding, Bond Energy, Electronegativity, Intramolecular Forces, Lewis Structures, Polarity | High School
Lesson Plan: Bond Strength of Ionic Salts
In this lesson, students will discover that dissolving salts changes the temperature of a solution even though it is a physical change. Students will first collect data during an investigation to compare the temperature change when dissolving three different salts (NaCl, KCl, and CaCl2). Then students will use magnets to construct an explanation of the temperature change based on collision of particles and properties of the metals.
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Chemical Change, Physical Change, Observations, Molecular Structure, Lewis Structures, Polarity, Chemical Change | High School
Lab: DIY Triiodide
In this lab, students will investigate how iodine interacts with various substances. They will use color changes to justify whether a chemical or physical change is taking place. This activity is referenced in the October 2019 ChemMatters article called “Cash, Chemistry, and Counterfeiting.”
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Covalent Bonding, Lewis Structures, VSEPR Theory, Electronegativity, Polarity | High School
Activity: Properties of Common Molecular Substances
In this activity, students will apply their knowledge of molecular polarity, shape, and intermolecular forces to explain the differences in properties between different covalent substances.
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Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces, Ionic Bonding, Covalent Bonding, Metallic Bonding, Polarity, Intramolecular Forces, Chemical Properties, Physical Properties, Interdisciplinary, Culminating Project | High School
Project: Problem-Solving with Materials
In this project, students will develop a presentation to explain how and why a specific material can solve a problem. The explanation will involve researching the properties of the material and how its properties are suited for solving a specific problem.
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Covalent Bonding, Polarity, Electronegativity, Lewis Structures, VSEPR Theory | High School
Activity: Modeling Molecular Polarity
In this activity, students will use electronegativity values and their knowledge of covalent bonding to model the bonds in a molecule. Using this information they will learn how to determine the overall polarity of a molecule.
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Covalent Bonding, Polarity, Electronegativity | High School
Activity: Modeling Bond Polarity
In this activity, students will model the pull of electrons in a bond between two elements, demonstrating covalent bonding. In particular differentiating between polar and nonpolar bonds.
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Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Lewis Structures, Covalent Bonding | High School
Lab: Exploring Intermolecular Forces and Properties of Liquids
In this lab, students will compare and assess the effects of polarity and intermolecular forces of different liquid samples.
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Solubility, Solute & Solvent, Intermolecular Forces, Covalent Bonding, Polarity, Intermolecular Forces | High School
Activity: T-Shirt Chromatography
In this activity, students will learn about solubility, saturation, polarity, and intermolecular forces through chromatography techniques.
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Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Molecular Geometry, Melting Point, Boiling Point | High School
Activity: Examining the Strength of Intermolecular Forces of Attraction
In this activity, students will be able to understand the strength of the attractions of the three intermolecular forces (IMFs) and use this information to help identify physical properties of molecules (such as melting point, boiling point or states of matter).