Classroom Resources: Solutions
1 – 25 of 44 Classroom Resources
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Solubility, Precipitate, Solubility Rules, Predicting Products | High School
Lesson Plan: Investigating Precipitate Formation
In this lesson, students will learn about lead and the contamination of drinking water. Through collaboration, students will then consider strategies for decontaminating water, and have the opportunity to perform small-scale precipitation reactions as a method of extracting metal ions from a water sample. Finally, students can conduct research and reflect on their experience to propose a possible solution for decontaminating drinking water.
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Observations, Physical Properties, Solubility, Physical Change, Precipitate, Identifying an Unknown, Chemical Change, Indicators, Chemical Properties | High School
Lab: Using Qualitative Analysis to Identify Household Compounds
In this lab, students will be introduced to common laboratory techniques, safety procedures, lab reagents, and terminology, all while identifying unknown household substances. Students will learn how to use qualitative analysis techniques as a systematic way to identify unknown materials. As part of this process, they will practice careful observation and documentation, as well as identifying relevant physical and chemical properties and changes, including solubility, color change, gas formation, and precipitation of solids.
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Solubility, Ionic Bonding, Solubility Rules, Predicting Products | High School
Activity: Solubility Rules Dice Game
In this activity, students will use ion dice to form a number of different ionic compounds. Based on the resulting ionic compound, they will use a solubility chart to determine if it is soluble or insoluble. This game will allow students to become more familiar with ionic compounds and solubility rules.
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Solubility, Precipitate, Identifying an Unknown, Chemical Change, Net Ionic Equation, Balancing Equations, Chemical Change, Scientific Method, Solubility Rules, Experimental Design, Predicting Products | High School
Lab: Mislabeled Mess!
In this lab, students will identify 3 unknown acids by using the solubility rules. They will be given a list of materials and will design their own procedures for identifying the unknowns. For each combination of reactants, they will predict whether a product forms and, if it does, write complete and net ionic equations for those reactions.
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Solubility, Polymers, Polymers, Molecular Structure, Molecular Structure | High School
Activity: Ingenious: How Science Is Fixing Recycling's Grossest Problem Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, How Science is Fixing Recycling’s Grossest Problem, 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 stinky problems associated with polypropylene recycling. Current polypropylene recycling techniques are more down-cycling than re-cycling, but a new technique, called dissolution recycling, is changing all that.
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Solubility, Polymers, Polymers, Molecular Structure, Molecular Structure | High School
Video: Ingenious Video 4: How Science Is Fixing Recycling's Grossest Problem
Polypropylene recycling has a problem: It stinks. Food and other residues are almost impossible to remove entirely from polypropylene, a.k.a the number “5” plastic of grocery-store fame. Those residues – anything from yogurt to garlic, from fish oil to baby food – not only stick to polypropylene, they degrade there and start to smell even worse! Current polypropylene recycling techniques are more down-cycling than re-cycling. Unless you break down its molecules through a highly energy-intensive refining process, the material can only get a second life as a black trash can or an underground pipe – wherever its smell doesn’t matter. But a new technique, called dissolution recycling, is changing all that. Dissolution recycling uses a special hydrocarbon polymer solvent under finely controlled conditions of temperature and pressure to eliminate ALL of the contaminants embedded in the plastic.
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Observations, Physical Properties, Solubility, Identifying an Unknown, Polyatomic Ions, Chemical Change, Covalent Bonding, Ionic Bonding, Chemical Properties, Experimental Design | High School
Lab: Determining the Composition of Bridge Straw Stalactites
In this lab, students will investigate “straws” that hang from a local bridge, and then determine various tests that can help to determine their chemical composition. Evaluating both the test results, as well as given information students will then make a claim about the composition, while providing evidence and supporting it with reasoning.
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Solubility, Concentration, Conductivity, Stoichiometry, Equilibrium Constants | High School
Lab: Experimental Determination of the Solubility Product Constant for Calcium Hydroxide
In this lab, students will predict and measure the relationship between the conductivity of a solution of calcium hydroxide and the mass of substance added to it. From the relationship, students will determine solubility and Ksp of calcium hydroxide. Ksp will be calculated using the molar concentration of ions in the solution and the equilibrium expression for the dissociation of calcium hydroxide.
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Observations, Solubility, Physical Change, Solute & Solvent, Precipitate, Identifying an Unknown, Chemical Change, Mixtures, Graphing, Error Analysis | Middle School, High School
Lab: Chemicals, Chromatography, and Crime!
In this lab, students will test “evidence” that has been collected from a crime scene. In order to determine if the victim was poisoned, students will perform a solubility and crystallization test on an unknown powder. Then, students will attempt to identify the culprit by using paper chromatography to analyze the lipstick from the potential criminals.
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Solubility, Le Châtelier's Principle, Entropy, Gibb's Free Energy , Equilibrium Constants, Enthalpy | High School
Lesson Plan: Relationship Between Free Energy and the Equilibrium Constant
In this lesson, students will explore the relationships between solubility and Keq (specifically Ksp), as well as Keq and ΔG°. First, a guided inquiry activity will introduce the relationship between standard free energy and equilibrium constant with the equation ΔG° = -RTlnKeq. Then data collection regarding solubility of potassium nitrate at various temperatures will lead to the calculation of Ksp and ΔGo for the dissolution reaction at those temperatures. Students will manipulate the equations ΔG° = -RTlnKeq and ΔG° = ΔH° - TΔS° to derive a linear relationship between 1/T and lnKeq, which will then be graphed to determine values for ΔH° and ΔS°.
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Solubility, Intermolecular Forces, Molarity | High School
Activity: Solutions Escape Room
In this activity, students will review concepts covered in a solutions unit. They will complete problems in order to determine codes that will allow them to advance through stages of a Google Form, which is set up as an escape room. This activity is designed to be used at the end of a unit, or as an alternate to an exam, particularly in a virtual environment.
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Separating Mixtures, Mixtures, Solubility, Intermolecular Forces | High School
Lab: Using Paper Chromatography to Separate the Pigments Found in Ink
In this lab, students will separate the component pigments of a water-soluble black marker using paper chromatography.
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Physical Properties, Solubility, Covalent Bonding, Polarity, Intermolecular Forces, Molecular Geometry, Electronegativity | 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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Physical Properties, Solubility, Melting Point, Naming Compounds, Ionic Bonding, Molecular Formula, Ionic Radius, Ions | High School
Activity: My Name is Bond, Ionic Bond
In this lesson, students will demonstrate their knowledge of ionic bond strength using a “brackets” activity. Pairs of students start the activity playing a game of “Ionic Compound War” to build eight compounds. Then then transfer the compounds to a “bracket” and use their knowledge of ionic bonding, along with a solubility chart, to predict the strongest and weakest bond between four pairs of ionic substances.
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Physical Properties, Solubility, Melting Point, Naming Compounds, Ionic Bonding, Molecular Formula, Ionic Radius, Ions | High School
Activity: Ionic Bonding Brackets
In this lesson, students will demonstrate their knowledge of ionic bond strength and its relationship to the properties of melting point and solubility using a “brackets” activity. After analyzing the ionic charge and radius to predict the strongest and weakest bond between four pairs of ionic substances, they will then determine which will be the least soluble.
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Solubility, Solute & Solvent, Concentration | High School
Demonstration: Saturated Solutions: An Engagement Activity
In this demonstration, students will observe salt dissolving in water and participate in a think-pair-share activity using teacher-led questions. It is intended to be an introduction to solutions, particularly saturation.
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Solubility, Physical Change, Solute & Solvent | Elementary School
Demonstration: Crystallization of Sugar
In this demonstration, students will observe how to make rock candy in order to understand how sugar crystals form. They will be able to explain what a supersaturated solution is and how it is relevant to sugar crystallization.
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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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Solubility, Reaction Rate, Balancing Equations, Stoichiometry | High School
Lab: Analyzing the Reaction between Baking Soda and Citric Acid
In this lab, students will examine the reaction between citric acid and baking soda. They will analyze the chemical equation, balance it and calculate needed quantities of each reactant for a complete reaction. Based on their observations, students will determine if all reactants were completely used during the reaction.
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Solubility, Solute & Solvent, Intermolecular Forces, Molarity, Net Ionic Equation, Solubility Rules, Beer's Law | High School
Lesson Plan: Aqueous Solutions Unit Plan
The AACT high school classroom resource library and multimedia collection has everything you need to put together a unit plan for your classroom: lessons, activities, labs, projects, videos, simulations, and animations. We constructed a unit plan using AACT resources that is designed to teach Aqueous Solutions to your students.
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Solubility, Pressure, Solute & Solvent, Concentration, Temperature | High School
Demonstration: Exploring Gas Solubility
In this demonstration, students will explore how changes in pressure and temperature affect the solubility of a gas in an aqueous solution. In addition, students will have the opportunity in a post-demonstration reflection activity to practice using data (in this case their demonstration observations) to make evidence based claims.
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Solubility, Solute & Solvent, Intermolecular Forces | Middle School, High School
Activity: Advanced Modeling of the Dissolving Phenomenon
In this activity students build a model of sodium chloride based on their own knowledge of ionic compounds. Then they construct a model of the interactions between water and their salt model to develop an understanding of what caused the salt to dissolve. After refining their models based upon class discussions and critiques, students then construct a model of the interaction between salt and a different solvent, alcohol. Using their models, students make predictions as to which solvent (water or alcohol) would be better at dissolving the salt. Finally students design an experiment to test their prediction. As an extension, students are asked to use their solubility models to explain why calcium carbonate will not dissolve in water, even though it is also an ionic compound.
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Solubility, Solute & Solvent, Intermolecular Forces | Middle School, High School
Activity: Basic Modeling of the Dissolving Phenomenon
In this activity, students explore the process of salt dissolving in water using cut-outs of ions and water molecules to model interactions between them. They then use their model to make a prediction about the relative solubility of salt in isopropyl alcohol compared to the solubility in water and design an experiment to test their prediction.
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Density, Mixtures, Solubility | Middle School
Lab: Investigating Density within Lava Lamps
In this lab students will make a simple yet spectacular lava lamp while focusing on the density of the components.
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Solubility, Molecular Structure, Buffers | High School
Lab: Aspirin Tablets: Are they all the Same?
In this lab, students will design an experiment to test the time and completeness of dissolution of various types of aspirin in different pH environments.