Classroom Resources: States of Matter

1 – 14 of 14 Classroom Resources

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  Mixtures, Melting Point, Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Freezing Point Depression | Middle School, High School

  Lab: How does Salt "Melt" Ice?

  In this lab, students will consider why salt is used to aide in snow clearing and to help keep icy roads safe. They will investigate how salt ‘melts’ ice and determine the best type of salt to do so. Additionally, students will explore the advantages and disadvantages of the various different types of salt.

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  Mixtures, Freezing Point, Phase Changes | Elementary School

  Lab: Coffee Creamer Ice Cream

  In this lab, students will investigate how dissolving salt (sodium chloride) in water changes the freezing point of the solution. While investigating this, they will make ice cream from small coffee creamer cups.

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  Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Freezing Point Depression | Middle School, High School

  Lab: Freezing Ice Cream

  In this lab, students will investigate changing states of matter, chemical reactions, and the properties of ice and salt while creating their own ice cream.

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  Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Physical Change, Temperature | Middle School

  Lab: Lemon Ice

  This activity explores the interaction between salt and water (ice) as a way to further investigate their impact on the state of matter of a substance. Students will use salt and ice to create a slushy lemonade drink without the use of a freezer. They will learn through this hands-on experiment how salt and ice can rapidly cool a liquid.

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  Melting Point, Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Molecular Motion, Heat, Specific Heat, Temperature, Intermolecular Forces, Heating Curve, Boiling Point, Heat of Vaporization , Heat of Fusion | Middle School, High School

  Activity: Simulation Activity: Heating Curve of Water

  In this simulation, students will investigate qualitatively and quantitatively what happens as water changes states.

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  Melting Point, Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Physical Change, Heat, Temperature, Exothermic & Endothermic, Intermolecular Forces, Heating Curve, Graphing | High School

  Lab: Heating & Cooling Curve

  In this lab, students will create a phase change graph by adding and removing heat to observe and record data during actual phase changes.

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  Melting Point, Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Physical Change, Acids & Bases | Middle School

  Lesson Plan: Stearic Acid

  In this lesson, students investigate how stearic acid undergoes a phase change from solid to liquid and back from liquid to solid. Temperature readings will be collected at one-minute intervals once the acid melts, the heat escapes, and the acid cools. Students are introduced to the idea that energy loss does not always result in a continuous temperature drop.

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  Density, Physical Properties, Mixtures, Solubility, Freezing Point, Polarity, Phase Changes, Intermolecular Forces, Colligative Properties, Intermolecular Forces, Freezing Point Depression, Mixtures | High School

  Lesson Plan: Fuel Line Antifreeze

  In this lesson students will explore the role of a gasoline additive, fuel line antifreeze (generally methanol or 2‑propanol), in reducing the potential of water to block fuel lines in freezing weather. Students will prepare test tube models of water-contaminated fuel tanks and explore the effect of adding different types of fuel line antifreeze. This lesson can be used to bolster concepts about miscibility, density, intermolecular forces, phase changes (freezing), and colligative properties (freezing point depression).

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  Physical Properties, Solubility, Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Physical Change, Solute & Solvent, Freezing Point Depression, Freezing Point | Elementary School

  Lesson Plan: Salting Roads in Winter

  In this lesson, students investigate how the freezing point of water changes when salt is added.

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  Freezing Point, Physical Change, Temperature, Exothermic & Endothermic, Boiling Point | Middle School, High School

  Demonstration: Energy

  In this demonstration, students will observe the exothermic and endothermic properties of state changes of substances with different freezing and boiling points.

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  Density, Physical Properties, Melting Point, Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Physical Change, Molecular Motion, Freezing | Elementary School

  Lesson Plan: Pothole Science

  In this lesson, students investigate how the density and therefore the volume, of water changes when it freezes.

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  Physical Properties, Mixtures, Solubility, Melting Point, Intermolecular Forces, Freezing Point, Polarity, Molecular Structure, Solute & Solvent, Intermolecular Forces, Boiling Point, Intramolecular Forces, Graphing, Mixtures, Lewis Structures | High School

  Lab: Physical Properties (High School)

  In this lesson, students investigate how intermolecular forces effect physical properties by investigating substances’ melting points as well as solubility.

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  Melting Point, Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Molecular Motion, Heat, Temperature, Heating Curve, Graphing | Middle School, High School

  Lesson Plan: Modeling the Melting of Ice

  In this lesson, students will create a particulate model of matter that explains energy changes and transfer during a phase change.

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  Melting Point, Freezing Point, Phase Changes, Molecular Motion, Heat, Specific Heat, Temperature, Intermolecular Forces, Heating Curve, Boiling Point, Heat of Vaporization , Heat of Fusion | Middle School, High School

  Simulation: Heating Curve of Water

  In the May 2015 issue, students explore the heating curve for water from a qualitative and quantitative perspective. Students compare illustrations of each physical state depicted on the curve and calculate the energy required to transition from one state to another.