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Changes in States of Matter Virtual Lab

In this lab, you will fill out a foldable on the three primary states of matter. Then you will watch a video showing ice melting from a solid to a liquid and boiling from a liquid to a gas. After watching the video you will graph a heating curve for water. To finish the lab you will answer questions about the experiment you observed and the ideal heating curve for water.

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will use data to generate a heating curve graph.
  • Observe the temperature at each phase change.

 


Students: You will receive a foldable from your teacher. Together with your class, you will assemble this foldable. Next, watch the following video, “Change of State: Foldable Walk Through” and complete the inside and back of this foldable. 

Complete the foldable while watching the following video.



After completing the foldable, you will watch a video with a computer-generated heating curve as the ice melts in a flask. Observe the temperature changes in degrees Celsius over time as the ice melts and the water boils. 

Students, it’s your turn to try graphing the data collected during the experiment you just watched. The questions below will guide you through your next steps.

Link to Questions as a Google Doc:

 Questions:

  1. Using the Student Data, complete the Heating Curve for Water Graph on the Jam Board.
  2. Be sure to title the graph and label the x-axis and y-axis to include units.
  3. What is the boiling point for water on this graph?
  4. Why is the boiling point not 100 degrees Celsius?

Students, now that you have graphed a heating curve on the Jam Board, you should view the following video to check your work. Then continue answering questions #5-17.

 

Continue answering questions #5-17: 

  1. Given a drawing of an ideal heating curve for water on a second Jam Board, label: solid, melting, liquid, boiling and gas.
  2. What is the correct temperature for the melting point of pure water in degrees Celsius?
  3. What is the correct temperature for the boiling point of pure water in degrees Celsius?
  4. Put an appropriate title on the graph.
  5. Label the y-axis.
  6. Label the x-axis.
  7. Put the temperature for the melting point of water on the y-axis.
  8. Put the temperature for the boiling point of water on the y-axis.
  9. What is/are improvement/s that could be made to this experiment to get a realistic temperature for solid water? For the melting point?
  10. Why do you think there was a stopper on the flask?
  11. Why do you think the stopper came off of the flask?
  12. What could be done differently to speed up this experiment?
  13. What in the experiment surprised you about the change in temperature over time?

 

This lab was created with support from the Ren Research group at Purdue University with funding from the National Science Foundation grant NSF CHE 2102049.

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