Create polymers in deference of Chemistry Week.
The third week of Oct is Federal Chemistry Week. The cause of this week is to memorize augmented approximately the sure role chemistry plays in our lives, expressly as it relates to medicine, hygiene and nutrition. Hold this week with some chemistry-themed games and activities you can accomplish with your children or students.
Periodic Table Bingo
Hang a poster of the periodic table of elements, or ante up Everyone Undergraduate -- or duo of students -- a draw up of it. Hold them fold a parcel of general volume paper in half four times, then unfold it. This Testament accord them a portion of paper with 16 Identical squares. Command them to select 16 elements randomly and copy one in Everyone square. They should dash off the symbol, not the term. Announce the names of the elements aloud, put in writing them on the board or draft them on index cards prior to the entertainment. Shuffle them, provided potential, and dominance them up, one at a generation. This Testament ice you choose the elements at randomly. As you authority up Everyone card, students should acquisition the symbol of the Component and aim it off on their paper. The first off male, or couple, to receive four in a row wins.
Polymer Fun
Occupation a contest to gape who can build the slimiest slime. This Testament instance the image of polymers, which are molecules that chain well-organized rather than bind. Polymers have properties of both liquids and solids. Divide the students into groups and walk them through the process of making slime. Fill a small paper cup with tap water. Fill remainder of the bottle with vegetable oil. Wait for the two to separate. Then, drop an Alka-Seltzer tablet into the bottle. As the gas rises from the tablet, it will bond to drops of the colored water, taking the water with it through the oil to the top of the bottle, creating an effect much like a lava lamp. You can also add a couple drops of food coloring for colorful slime. Then, add 1 tbsp. of the Borax solution from the other cup to the glue cup. Stir and let it rest for about 30 seconds. Then, vote on whose slime is the slimiest.
Clean Pennies
Give each student a penny -- the dirtier the better -- and a tissue. Tell them that they have 30 seconds To cleanse it. Carry on of the 30 seconds, see who has the cleanest penny. As a prize, have the winning student come up and help you with remainder of the activity. Tell the students that you are going to make their dirty pennies very shiny without having to scrub at them at all. Chemistry can clean their pennies. Fill a non-metal bowl -- clear plastic works best -- with 1/4 cup distilled vinegar and 1 tsp. salt. Drop a few of the students' pennies into the mixture. Count aloud to 10 with the class, and remove the pennies. Dry them off and show the class how clean they are. Explain that the acid in the vinegar reacts with the salt to eat away at the copper oxide on the pennies, making them sparkling clean.
Gassy Lava Lamp
Ask the students if they think they can stir oil and water up together. Combine a cup of vegetable oil and a cup of water in a bowl. Ask for volunteers to come stir it up. Then, watch the bowl. The students will quickly see that the oil and water will soon separate. Tell them that oil and water molecules don't bond to each other, so it's impossible to mix them together. But, water molecules will bond with gas. Demonstrate by adding a 3/4-cup of colored water to a clean 1 liter soda bottle. Add a spoonful of Borax, which is available in most laundry detergent aisles at the supermarket, and stir it up. Set it aside. Fill a second cup with 1 inch of white liquid glue. Add 3 tbsp. of water to the glue and stir.
