Unit 15 Module 1: Intermediate Chemistry C1000 v2.0

Split the water molecule, fire copper ions across a solution, capture oxide gases, create a magnesium battery, and more with this lesson in chemistry.

You’ll also be able to identify the elements in different chemical substances with dazzling colors in flame tests. With this lesson, you will begin to build a strong foundation in chemistry with exposure to a broad range of chemical phenomena and hands-on laboratory experience. Here’s what you can expect to learn about by the end of the lesson:

In this unit, you will learn how to build your own home chemistry lab safely under the direction of professionals. We'll show you how to do real chemistry experiments, provide chemical storage information, give guidelines on proper chemical disposal when you're finished, highlight lab tips and tricks, and warn you about things to watch out for. This is real chemistry for real kids.

How do I use this information? You have two options, depending on your comfort level and ultimate educational goals. You can just watch the videos and talk about what's going on with your child, or you can watch the videos and then perform the experiment with your child.

This unit includes the instructional videos for Chemistry, and is meant to be used in conjunction with the experiments in the Thames and Cosmos C1000 and/orC3000 chemistry lab kits. The manual included in the C1000 and 3000 has complete safety information and many more experiments for you to complete after you finish this unit.

All experiments presented here at AT YOUR OWN RISK. You are fully responsible for your own safety and those around you. (No building nuclear reactors in your garage.)

To put it simply, don’t eat anything in your chemistry lab, keep children and pets away from your lab, lock up your chemicals safely, learn how to store your chemicals safely, and don’t create large quantities of anything explosive, corrosive, or toxic. Always wear safety equipment and do your experiments in a spot that has plenty of air for ventilation, water and a drain, and a phone.

In all seriousness, be safe, have fun, play with the kids, and if you run across anything that boggles the mind, let us know and we'll try to help you out.

Scientific Concepts:

Acids react with metals and can burn your skin. They register between 1 and 7 on the pH scale.
Bases are slippery and can also burn your skin. They measure between 7 and 14 on the pH scale.
pH stands for “power of hydrogen” and is a measure of how acidic a substance is.
An acid-base reaction deals with reactions that involve hydrogen (protons).
Atoms are made of a core group of neutrons and protons, with an electron cloud circling the nucleus.
Elements A substance made up of only one particular kind of atom is called a chemical element, and you can find a whole slew of these on the periodic table. The number assigned to the chemical element refers to the number of protons in the nucleus.
A molecule is the smallest unit of a compound that still has the compound’s properties attached to it. Molecules are made up of two or more atoms held together by covalent bonds.
The electrons in the outermost shell are the ones that form bonds with other atoms.
When one atom accepts or donates an electron to another atom, an ionic bond is formed.
When the atoms share the electron(s), a covalent bond is formed.
When atoms have an unequal attraction for electrons, the sharing is unequal. This special type of covalent bond is called a polar covalent bond.
Endothermic reactions are reactions that absorb heat when they react (like a cold compresses).
Exothermic reactions release energy in the form of heat, light, and sound (think fireworks).
Different factors affect the rate of reaction, or speed of the chemical reaction, including temperature, pressure, surface area, catalysts, and more. The main idea is that the more collisions between particles, the faster the reaction will take place.

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	Litmus Solutions Litmus is from a plant, so it will have a limited shelf life (you’ll notice a different, more earthy smell to it). The amount of dry powder provided in the kit is enough for three solutions, more than enough for our experiments. If you notice particles and sludge at the bottom of your container, it’s … Continue reading "Litmus Solutions"
	Limewater You’ll find carbon dioxide everywhere: when you exhale, the bubbles in your soda, in Venus’ atmosphere… The next set of experiments bounce around a little within the manual that came with your set of chemicals. We put all of them together here because it makes the most sense – watch and you’ll see! It’s hard … Continue reading "Limewater"
	Ammonium Iron Sulfate Water is measured in inches or centimetres when it’s in a test tube. We’re going to make a solution that we will be keeping for not only today’s but also future experiments as well. The solution is hazardous to aquatic life, so make sure you watch all the disposal instructions near the end of the … Continue reading "Ammonium Iron Sulfate"
	Test Papers This experiment is in two parts. We’re going to use chemistry to separate mixtures. We’re going to use a mixture we prepared in the previous experiment. Also, please make sure you displose of the copper sulfate correctly, you can’t simply just throw it in the trash or down the drain.
	Carbon Dioxide This is a neat set of experiments, and the trick works because carbon dioxide is heavier than air so it really can be “poured” just like a liquid. The problem is that most people mis-judge the “pour”, so if you want to practice first, capture the smoke from an extinguished candle first (get an adult … Continue reading "Carbon Dioxide"
	Burning We’re going to learn about the properties of combustion by doing a simple set of experiments. Because this involves FIRE, please make sure you have an adult handy with you while you do your experiments. We’re going to learn how to detect the presence of carbon dioxide by looking for a “precipitate” – tiny little … Continue reading "Burning"
	Copper Solutions We’re going to look at how iron reacts with an acid and detect the iron bits with an indicator. We’re going to do several experiments that will need a bit more time, like overnight, so be sure to store this experiment out of reach of small kids while you are waiting for it to progress.
	Sodium Carbonate Sodium chloride, ammonium chloride, sodium carbonate, and many others have tiny charged particles (positive and negative) called “salts”. When a “salt” is dissolved in water, it will separate into the two particles (plus and minus), which means that if you pass a current through the solution, the positive particles (positive ions) become attracted to the … Continue reading "Sodium Carbonate"
	Saturated Solutions We’re going to learn about saturated solutions today! A solution with solute (the powder added in) that dissolves until it leaves bits at the bottom (indicating that it cannot dissolve anymore). An unsaturated solution is the solution before the bits start showing up at the bottom, meaning that there’s enough solvent to hold all the … Continue reading "Saturated Solutions"
	The Water Molecule We’re going to do experiments on the water molecule to discover more about water! We’ll need the lime water solution from a previous experiment. Water is a chemical compound and a polar molecule, and it’s a liquid at atmospheric temperature and pressure. The solid state is known as “ice” and the gaseous form is “water … Continue reading "The Water Molecule"
	Surfactants Surfactants are compounds that decrease the surface tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. You’ll find surfactants acting as detergents (in laundry soaps), emulsifiers (like egg yolks and soy lecithin), foaming agents (like in foaming soaps, shampoos, and toothpaste), and dispersants (usually added to prevent clumping, like … Continue reading "Surfactants"
	Black charcoal We’re going to investigate the properties of charcoal! You’ll need ash, like the ground-up remainders from burning matches or sticks, which means you’ll need an ADULT to handle the fire elements of this experiment.
	Sugars We’re going to look at the properties of sugar. We’re going to combine sugar in different solutions to explore the interesting properties it has, including how even though sugar is sweet, something like apple juice, which has a lot of sugar in it, is actually acidic! It’s important that you DO NOT EAT ANYTHING in … Continue reading "Sugars"
	Proteins Proteins are organic compounds that contain both nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and carbon. We’re going to do a few chemistry experiments to look at some of the interesting properties of proteins.
	Calcium Calcium is an element that is softer than aluminum but harder than sodium, and it’s less chemically reactive than alkaline metals. Have you ever looked inside of a water pipe? The hard, white crust you see is probably calcium or magnesium deposits (especially if you have “hard” water). When calcium comes in contact with air, … Continue reading "Calcium"
	Tannins Tannins are everywhere in nature: in wood, bark, leaves, and fruit of plants like walnut, cranberry, cacao, grapes, and oak trees. Tannins are how plants make themselves unappetizing to animals, so they won’t eat the fruit before it’s ripe. Have you ever eaten an unripe pear or plum? That’s the tannin you’re tasting! People have … Continue reading "Tannins"
	Noble & Ignoble Metals We’re using the solution from the last experiment (the iron in what used to be a copper sulfate solution) for part of this experiment. This experiment is tricky to see a color change, which is why we’re going to look at the paper towel for the telltale blue that will indicate the presence of iron.

Scientific Concepts:

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