Taking action about Reaction – A Chemistry Project

Although they can happen on a scale so small we sometimes can’t see them, chemical reactions can have big consequences. In our latest unit, we learned all about different chemical reactions, how they work, and what the consequences of their occurrence may be.


What is a Chemical Reaction? – What we Learned

A chemical reaction is when the molecules in a compound (either Covalent or Ionic), are rearranged and create new new compounds or elements. They occur when enough activation energy is provided to reactive substances (substances that want to become more stable) and can produce a variety of products such as heat, light, water, or gas just to name a few. There are 6 different types:

Chemical reactions can be displayed in something known as a chemical equation. To write one, you start off with a skeleton equation:

This particular one is for Methane Combustion, which is an exothermic reaction. This means that more energy is released from the reactants than is stored in the products. If it were the opposite way around, it would be known as a endothermic reaction. This skeleton equation is a great place to start, but it does not represent the conservation of mass, or the law that:

The law of the conservation of mass means that in a closed system (a system that mass cannot escape from, but energy can) the mass must stay constant throughout the reaction, and must be represented in the chemical equation. To fix this, we must balance the chemical equation by writing it as:


Our Project – Chemical Reactions in our World

Chemical reactions don’t just occur in the lab; they are happening all around us. Plants use the endothermic process of photosynthesis in which they absorb the sun’s light to create sugar, and animals use the exothermic process of cellular respiration to turn this stored energy into heat and fuel. There are also many man made chemical reactions that we see on a daily basis, such as the combustion reactions used to fuel vehicles and create electricity. Unfortunately, these reactions create the harmful product of greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming. Our project aimed to answer the question of:

You can watch our presentation video below:


The Experiment

In our video, we outline that the main way we came to our conclusion was through an experiment in which we simulated the greenhouse effect in a controlled environment. We got this idea from the Myth Busters episode below:

In our video, we go into greater detail about the process of our experiment, but I have outlined the basic scientific method we went through to conduct it:


Reflection

Our project included many of the curricular competencies, but focused around these main four (click the tabs to read more):


Our project was centred around the question of how is humanities' use of combustion reactions effecting our natural world, and we continuously returned to it during our presentation as we discovered more and more evidence. We also came up with some more questions as we were researching our main one, such as why didn't the fossil fuels which we use today combust during the millions of years they were in the ground? Many of these questions we ended up addressing and answering in our project, even though we had never intended to consider them before hand.
Personally, this was also an area of improvement for me in this unit in general, as I put a lot of thought into the concepts we were learning, and found a lot of fascinating questions. I feel this didn't only make the unit a lot more interesting as there was always more to learn, but opened up some inquiry topics for future projects such as what happens in a nuclear reaction.


The first part of our driving question is focused around the concept of the methods in which humans create fuel causing environmental issues. We start off by looking at the dangers of these methods, and then delve into how these methods work in the first place. We also didn't just assume that these environmental issues were associated with these methods, but worked to provide sufficient evidence that this was actually true
.
To not repeat what has already been mentioned about the other competencies, I'm going to focus more on the inquiry aspect of this one. Our project is set up like an investigation, which means that we do not just give a definitive answer and talk about it, but rather use an inquiry process to discover evidence that could lead to a conclusion. We demonstrate this by posing our hypothesis, and then examining what we already know about chemistry and reactions. We then ask how this relates to the burning of fossil fuels, and investigate further into that. We final use all of our knowledge to not come to a set in stone conclusion, but show which hypothesis is the most plausible based on our evidence.

This competency if reflected in the second part our driving question as we ask how we can help limit the damage from this issue. We start off with examining the problem and learning about how chemistry relates to the release of greenhouse gases. We then explore how humanity is utilizing this chemistry and how this is only making the problem worse, but then also examine what exactly it is we are doing that is causing the damage. Then finally, with all of the information we pitch some ideas that people even in our own community can start working on to help reduce the damage.

My Project End Mind Map 

Due to a reset of MindNode, I no longer have access to my unit start Mind Map, but I have summarized my learning in the Unit End Mind Map below:

My Personal Learning

I’m always talking about how PLP projects provide such good learning experiences, but I really mean it with this one. Like I said earlier, chemistry isn’t always intuitive, which can be a challenge for me. I typically learn by going off and figuring stuff out on my own, and sure that works in humanities and other classes, but I can’t do that as much in science. I need to accept help, and not just in answers to the questions I ask, but in things that I may not always reach out about. I now realize that this project was a good opportunity for me to improve upon this because the labs forced me to consider the methods of others. I needed to bring my learning to a more interdependent level, and I actually did better at this as the project went on. I didn’t realize it at the time, but by doing this I was also improving upon the competency of Collaboratively and individually planning selecting and using appropriate investigation methods, including lab experiments.

Between the labs, the explosions, and the fascinating research, I have to say this has been one of the funnest science units I’ve ever done, and I can’t wait to see what we are doing next.

 

 

2 thoughts on “Taking action about Reaction – A Chemistry Project

  1. Hello Emily, on the post of World War 11 in Canada, l have with a lot of interest read how Canada was part of the war. this was a detailed work. Whereas Kenya at that time was not at war, but as a British colony, Kenyans went to fight for the British in far countries as Burma, India, in the army, as cooks, drivers and so on.

    1. Hello Thomas,

      Thank you for your comment! I am glad that you enjoyed my post, and it’s interesting to hear about the effect of the war in other countries.

      Emily J

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *