Moles and Stoichiometry Problems

 Here is the slideshow with mole and Stoichiometry problem sets I plan to use with my Co-op Chemistry class on Tuesday.  Hope this helps.

Family Science: Let it Snow!

 It’s snowing outside here.  Did you know there is a National Snow and Ice Data Center?  Take a look at some of the articles, such as Snow Characteristics.  Read about ‘water melon snow’.  We Are Teachers has 24 Winter Experiments.  Try making Snow Candy—doesn’t snow candy remind you of The Little House on the Prairie?  Here is how to capture snow flakes to study under the microscope.  Here  is a Snow Volcano!  We have to try this! If your area is warm, just play with Instant Snow instead.

Things You Never Knew You Needed: Magnet Levitation Kit

 Good Will online has a listing for a Magnet Levitation kit for the same price as the same kit on eBay.  Here are the instructions to build your own kit.  Years ago a student made her own maglev train as a project.  I think the kit would be cheaper than buying the materials to make your own.  The image below is from the DIY Maglev site.

Apologia Chemistry: Module 6 Stoichiometry

 Module Six is Stoichiometry.  My Co-op chemistry class is making precipitates: sodium carbonate and magnesium sulfate, calcium chloride and baking soda, and copper II sulfate and ammonia.  Here are notes with the equations for the precipitates, the balanced equation between copper II sulfate and ammonium hydroxide, and the balanced equation between magnesium sulfate and sodium carbonate.  HST has   copper II sulfate and sodium carbonate.  Household ammonia is ammonium hydroxide.  Magnesium sulfate is Epsom salts.  Driveway Heat is calcium chloride; HST sells these chemicals, too.  The Co-op class will be doing Flinn Scientific’s Can You Make 2 Grams? lab.  Many of these compounds are hydrates.  Here are twelve precipitate reactions with the formulas of the hydrates, products formed, and balanced equations.  I will be posting Moore about these lessons and labs.

Hands-on Mole Quiz: Pennies

 The mole quizzes are trickling in from the kids in my Co-op Chemistry class.  One quiz was to weigh a quantity of pennies and determine the number of moles.  Pennies minted after 1982 are 97.5% zinc; pennies minted before 1982 are 97.5% copper.  The kids must weigh several pennies of either copper or zinc and determine the number of moles of pennies, assuming 100% copper or zinc.  So far so good.  All of the kids are using different numbers of zinc pennies—just as you would do in a live class.   Take a look.

Apologia Chemistry: Experiment 5.1 Calculations

My Co-op Chemistry class is working through a series of mole labs and activities, including Experiment 5.1.  Here is the slideshow I put together with the calculations.  I’m working with student individually to help them understand the calculations.  After a Zoom meeting, the kids go back over all of the calculations and redo them in their own in a summary page.  BTW the whole point to Experiment 5.1 is to convert the mass of sodium stearate into moles, then molecules.  Below is one student’s answers.

ACS Remote Learning

 ACS is one of the best resources for Chemistry.  The Middle School Remote Learning assignments have a number of lessons useful for high school Chemistry.  The resources are designed for Google Forms in order for teachers to load the assignments to Google Classroom or Canvas.  When opened, the documents are saved and open in Google Drive.  I put a few screen shots of the assignments below.  Take a look.

Historical Chemical Landmark Lessons

 ACS has a trove of lessons for Chemistry.  My Chemistry Co-op class is using The Poisoner’s Handbook, which has case studies for forensics based on historical cases.  The Landmark Lessons are readings with questions, similar to Chemmatters’ articles.  If your teen likes to read, try a few articles. When I taught in high schools, the Chemmatters magazines and questions were my emergency substitute plans.  Here is subscription information, including class sets with 30 copies.

Hands-on Mole Quizzes

 My kids are completing three hands-on mole quizzes.  Here is the slideshow with instructions.  Below are three quiz examples.  I loaded one of my student’s images to Jamboard along with the calculations.  I hope these pix convey the idea behind the mole quizzes.

Microscope Slides

Good Will online has several listings for prepared microscope slides.  HST sells prepared slides dedicated to Apologia Biology.  I think kids should be able to focus and sketch a variety of microscope slides for different phyla of animals, plants, fungi, protists, etc.  I use sets of 25-50 prepared slides for my Biology and Anatomy classes, not the slides specified for the Apologia courses.  

Remote Chemistry

My Co-op class is still remote and likely to remain virtual for the indefinite future.  What a challenge!  Right now, we are in the midst of moles—which is challenging under ordinary conditions.  I took a photo of my instructional station for you.  I can jot notes to follow up with students, consult the periodic table in the textbook, and make quick calculations.  I use a TI 83 calculator for class because I lent used TI 83s to the kids.  I can tell them the key strokes to enter numbers. Can you tell I am solution oriented?

Edible Chemistry

I’m bogged down with moles; it seems to sap all my imagination drumming the concept into the kids’ heads.  I ran across  Edible Experiments from the Royal Society of Chemistry.  One example is Blowing Hot and Cold with chili sauce and menthol to try.  RSC is for UK educators; however some of the resources are available to download.  

Flinn Scientific Mole Lab

My Co-op class will be working through mole activities for the next two weeks—at least.   Here is a Mole Lab from Flinn Scientific which has kids weigh moles of different chemicals and convert the mass to moles and number of molecules, compounds, or atoms.  Scroll down for a worksheet and grading rubric.

Hands-on Mole Quiz #3: Aluminum Foil

 My kids are doing a series of hands-on mole quizzes: #1 and #2.  For this quiz, the kids must weigh a piece of aluminum foil.  If you have a group of teens, use different masses of aluminum foil for each student.  I recommend using different sized aluminum cans and different numbers of pennies, too, for the quizzes.  Below is a photo with a mass of aluminum foil.  How many moles are in this piece of aluminum foil?  In each quiz, the kids are converting grams to moles.  Here is a tutorial.  Here is the slideshow of quizzes I plan to share with the Co-op class tomorrow.

Nature Education Kit

Good Will online has a new g listing, Nature Education Kit. It’s a collection of leaves, activities, and the Tree finder book.  There are four nature kits from The Young Naturalist Company: Leaf, Seed, Crop, and Tree Growth.  These types of collections are great for Botany and Biology classes.  Here are ideas to make your own kit.  You could also buy a used copy of the Tree Finder book, collect, and laminate leaves for your own collection.

Rocks and Minerals Identification

A friend of mine is teaching a small Co-op Earth Science class.  The used geology Labpaq kit I bought does not have a lab manual: the kits are customized for online classes.  Usually, the labs instructions are online, too.  Here is a Virtual Rock Box.  There are loads of rocks and minerals identified.  Rocks and Minerals for Engineers is another excellent guidebook.  The guide has Moh’s hardness scale, reactivity, absorption, etc. Start with these two sites.

eScience Labs

Good Will has this EScience lab kit  listing.  This kit is not a great deal—there aren’t many lab materials.  However, the EScience lab kits at Good Will are usually the best kits to cannibalizes for lab equipment.  So, be on the lookout for similar EScience kits at Good Will.  Students who take online college science classes frequently are assigned similar kits.  Often, the student manages to complete the course without doing any of the labs.  The kits are subsequently donated to Good Will.  The Biology and Chemistry kits are usually the best deals.

Limiting Reactant and Stoichiometry Cookies

 One of the best ways to teach limiting reactants is with a cookie recipe.  I’m using the Quaker Oats raisin cookie recipe, my husband, Rob’s favorite for his birthday on Sunday.  Okay, I made bars and halved the recipe; Rob is the only one in our little household who likes oatmeal raisin cookies.  The way to teach limiting reactants is to limit one ingredient, such as one egg.  If one standard recipe makes four dozen cookies, how many cookies can you make with one egg?  Let your kid explain that all of the ingredients would need to be halved.  Ignore comments such as one recipe NEVER provide four dozen cookies.  How many cookies can you make if you have four eggs and only  one cup of brown sugar—the other ingredients are in excess: a bag of flour, five pounds of white sugar, three ounces of vanilla, etc.  These types of measures underlying the limiting reactant and Stoichiometry concepts.   Here is the slideshow I’m using to introduce Stoichiometry with cookies.

Weigh Moles

The Chemistry Co-op lab photos are still trickling in for Weigh a Mole.  The two photos below have the calculations for zinc pennies and table salt, NaCl.  The instructions for this lab were to weigh a measure of NaCl, zinc pennies, baking soda, etc and determine the number of moles.  It’s gratifying to have a student who listens.

Moles of Cookies

 Moles are a key concept for chemistry—but a tough concept to master.  I want to try combining moles with cookies.  Here is a recipe requiring moles of cookie ingredients which must be converted to grams.  Another idea is here, using a cookie recipe to introduce limiting reactants.  Here is a Stoichiometry cookie recipe with answers.  We will see how well cookies work to help the kids master moles.

Weigh a Mole

 My Co-op Chemistry is tacking moles.  I asked the kids to weigh five different moles—much as Dr. Wile has pictured in Module 5.  The photos have been trickling in.  Take a look at one mole of copper pennies, iron nails, baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, and aluminum foil.  The last picture is pink salt.

Apologia Chemistry: Module 5 Experiment 5.1 Measure the Width of a Molecule

 Update: It’s important for kids to understand the purpose of Experiment 5.1.  No, the purpose is NOT busy work.  The purpose is to understand the relationships among the volume and mass of a drop of dish soap and mass, moles, and molecules.    Because the dish soap is so diluted, the density of the drop is 1.0 g/mL; the volume of a drop equals its mass.  The mass of one drop is between 0.6-0.2 g of dish soap.  Only 0.0125% of dish soap is sodium stearate; the sodium stearate molecules are spread in the circle of pepper.  Once you calculate the mass of sodium stearate, convert the mass into moles, then into molecules.  Divide the area of the circle by the number of molecules to determine the area of a single molecule of sodium stearate.  The square root of the area is the width of a molecule.  None of these calculations or relationships are intuitive.

My kids are working through  Experiment 5.1.  I’m scheduling extra Zoom chats to explain the lab and work through the math.  After the kids work through the math, they go back and summarize their calculations on one sheet of paper, largely to help the kids see how we arrived at the width of a molecule.  Below is a lab photo and a set of summary calculations.  Yes, all of this work on behalf of the students and me is worth it.

Moles, moles, and more moles....

 My Co-op Chemistry class is in the trenches working on Moles.  All of this work is key to understanding the mole concept.  First, be sure your teen understands what a mole is.  Try Texas Gateway.  Here is a lecture, study guide, Molar Mass, and Mole Conversions.  Don’t forget to use Khan Academy for more help.  The more hands-on labs, conversions, and problem sets your teen tackles the better.  Take your time and work through Experiment 5.1, which is almost like a series of proofs.  

Host of Online Lab Resources for Remote Labs

 I belong to several online forums on social media.  Today, a member posted Online Resources for Science Labs.  The link is a google spreadsheet with a host of simulations, and virtual labs.  I checked several random links to make sure they are ‘live’ not broken.  The lab simulations are top quality.  I saved the document to Drive as a reference.

Edible Physical Science

From time to time I teach Physical Science.  Apologia’s Physical Science  textbook has quite a few Earth Science topics.  (Here is a good plate tectonics lesson.). Usually the kids taking Physical Science are young enough to like edible science labs: Layers of the Earth Pudding Cups, Edible Earth, Edible Plate Tectonics, and Edible Rocks.  123Homeschool has assembled Edible Experiments for Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Earth Science.  Below is a photo from our Edible Aquifer activity—which is another Earth Science idea to try in Physical Science.

Kiwi Science Kits

 Good Will online has a lot of 13 Kiwi Science kits listed. Be sure to look at the shipping before you bid.  It’s $50 to my house.   But, if you like Kiwi kits, here’s your opportunity to have a large lot.

Solar System Model

 Are you teaching Astronomy or a unit of Earth Science?  Good Will online has a new listing, a Hubbard Solar System Model.  You can paint your own model, too.  Once in a while I teach Earth Science, too.  Instead of making models of solar systems, my kids create a model of the relative distance of the planets from the sun, Paper Tape Solar System.  Amazon sells adding machine paper tape.  Check the local Staples or Office Max for adding machine tape, too.  By all means, have the kids research the distances of each planet from the sun.  

Apologia Chemistry: Moles

 Module 5 introduces the mole concept, one of the toughest topics in chemistry.  Texas Gateways has some great mole, molar mass, conversions, and mole video—all online resources.  These worksheets all have answer keys—which are usually well edited.  My Co-op Chemistry class will be doing mole activities, calculations, and labs for the next two weeks.  I schedule extra tutorial sessions to explain calculations and conversions.  I made up a slideshow with the links, labs, worksheets, and quizzes.  Moles wring me dry—appropriate for a cold day in January.

OSMO

Did you get a bunch of ads for  OSMO in your social media feed?  If you thought it might be an interesting sciency toy for your kids, Good Will has this listing for an OSMO starter kit.  Do a search on Good Will online.  There are several listings.  I buy used sets of interesting kits from Good Will frequently, such as a Britannica VR Science Kit.  I have a few of these kits in my basement.  We’ve just been too busy juggling home-school, guitar lessons, Art, etc to field test many kits.  Below are five of the kits in the queue.  Paul and my husband, Rob, like the Neo/Sci kits; we’re working through those first. Good Will is my default for bargains like the OSMO kits—which we are NOT buying.  Our little household loathes tangrams.

Apologia Chemistry: Mole of Money

 Money is always an interesting topic and can help kids understand the mole concept.  Here is a problem (and answer) asking, ‘How much money, dollars, does one mole of pennies represent?”  Coins are alloys.  Here are coin specifications from the U.S. Mint if you want to extend the mole concept to the percent composition.  Here are the exact amounts of moles of zinc and copper in a post 1982 penny.  Your kids can do the same calculations for any coin.  Here is an article from Chemmatters, “ The Captivating Chemistry of Cash”, to round out your lesson.  These types of calculations make great quizzes.  Each teen in your Co-op can have a different coin. Yes, my class is going to do this quiz as soon as they have a better grasp of moles.

Apologia Chemistry: Mole Quiz #2

 My kids are are learning remotely.  I quiz them fairly frequently and had an idea for hands-on Mole Quiz. In the second quiz, the kids will determine the number of moles in the 30.0 g sample of new or zinc pennies below.  This is one way to reduce cheating.  In fact, each kid can receive a different mass of new, zinc pennies for the quiz.  

Used Graphing Calculators

 I buy used graphing calculators for our math and science Co-op classes—usually from Good Will.  I bid on calculators which operate.  Below are images of calculators to avoid: weird blotches, faint lines, etc.  the first shot has a dark screen.  This one is fine.  You can toggle to adjust the screen brightness.  Before you bid, watch out for damage.

Apologia Chemistry: Hydrate Lab

My kids are going to to a hydrate lab, or percent composition.  Hydrates are compounds with water loosely bound in the compound.  If you gently heat a hydrate, water is removed.  Scroll down this web page for the Quick Lab, Percent Composition, a hydrate lab, for the lab I use.  There are teacher notes with sample data next to the lab instructions.  (Here is a virtual lab.). For the hydrate lab, kids put a few grams of one hydrate in a test tube and gently heat the salt.  A tea candle works to heat the hydrate.  Remind the child to keep his face away from the steam emitted. Move the test tube back and forth as it is heated.   Calcium chloride and copper II sulfate are good hydrates to use for this lab.  Weigh the test tube, too.  Sometimes it can be hard to remove the salt from the test tube after heating the salt.  I made a slideshow with the instructions, sample data, calculations, and a video.

Apologia Chemistry: Hands-on Mole Quiz #1

Module 5 is all about the mole.  Okay, there is some information about types of reactions, too.  Here is an idea for a hands-on mole quiz.  How many moles are in an empty soda can?  The kids need to weigh the empty can, determine the element, aluminum, its atomic weight, and convert the mass of one empty can into moles.  You could do this quiz with a sample of NaCl, too.  Here is the slideshow I plan to share with my kids tomorrow.

 

Science Bingo!

Once in awhile it’s fun to insert a game into science, especially if you have a group.  My Chemistry Co-op class makes elements cards which is also a game. I have commercial chemistry games I received as gifts, pictured below.  The easiest game to make and play is Bingo.  Here is a bingo card generator.  Here is an example of Elements Bingo, complete with cards.  You can use Bingo for vocabulary review.  Give the kids a list of terms to write on their blank bingo cards.  Remind them to write them in different places on the card—or everyone will yell Bingo! at the same time.  Ask me how I know.  There are loads of bingo patterns.  I usually play cover-all, four corners, or postage stamp to enliven the game.  Yes, you need prizes, such as candy, or snack packets.  Bingo is a fun way to review.

Apologia Chemistry: Weigh a Mole

 My Chemistry Co-op class is weighing moles.  I asked them to weigh water, baking soda, table salt, Epsom salts, aluminum foil, and nails.  The kids need the chemical formulas and molar mass.  This lab is similar.  Want more ideas?  Weigh a mole of pennies.  Pennies older than 1982 are copper and those newer than 1982 are zinc.  Below are examples.