Posts Tagged ‘Christian Kids Explore Chemistry’

#9 Acids and Bases

Monday, September 29th, 2014

acids-and-bases

This post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

Today we are talking about acids and bases, and we will be doing an experiment to show what happens when you combine an acid and a base. We are using Christian Kids Explore Chemistry by Bright Ideas Press to study elementary-level chemistry this year with my younger two kids.

First we went through the house opening cupboards, trying to find acids and bases. The book gives some examples of chemical names for acids and bases, and you can see if you can find those chemicals by looking at the list of ingredients for household cleaning products and food.

Here are some of the items we came up with:

Acids

  • Vitamin C–ascorbic acid
  • Tomato Sauce–citric acid
  • Face Cleaning Product–salicylic acid
  • Bubble Bath–citric acid
  • Soft drinks–phosphoric acid

Bases

  • Ammonia–ammonium hydroxide
  • Oven Cleaner–sodium hydroxide
  • Baking Soda–sodium bicarbonate

Acids and Bases Experiment

Now we are going to conduct a simple experiment that shows what will happen when you combine an acid and a base:

If you want to see this fun explosion in blue and red, check out these posts:

 

acid-base-reaction

Don’t combine just any acid with any base, or you could create toxic fumes that could kill you.

So what is the difference between an acid and a base? Acids are chemical compounds that donate or give away a proton (hydrogen ion) during a chemical reaction. Bases receive a proton (hydrogen ion) during a chemical reaction. So when you see this reaction with the vinegar and baking soda fizzing, the acid (the vinegar) is giving away a proton, and the base (the baking soda) is receiving the proton. Isn’t that cool?

#8 Breaking Covalent Bonds

Monday, September 22nd, 2014

breaking-covalent-bondsThis post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

First I am going to explain what covalent bonds are, and then we will be breaking covalent bonds in a fun experiment. We are using Christian Kids Explore Chemistry by Bright Ideas Press to learn about ionic and covalent bonds. I explain the difference between these two bonds in the video at the bottom of this blog post. I use candy to explain the bonds.

covalent-bond-candy

You can make the candy Oxygen atoms by attaching 6 green gumdrops and 6 red gumdrops to represent the protons and neutrons in each atom. You will need 6 yellow electron gumdrops as well. Attach them to the pipe-cleaner circles, which are made by twisting two pipe cleaners together.

Now make sure that each Oxygen atom is sharing two of its electrons with the Oxygen next to it. You will see a total of two covalent bonds (4 electrons are being shared altogether, because each atom is sharing 2 electrons). Covalent means sharing. The atoms are sharing electrons.

alka-seltzerSo how do we break this sharing? How to we break a covalent bond?

We can do this easily by plopping two Alka Seltzer tablets into a glass of water. The water causes the covalent bonds to be broken apart, and the result is that carbon dioxide is produced in the form of bubbles.

alka-seltzer-explanationTake a look at how we performed this experiment involving breaking covalent bonds:

#7 Building Molecular Models

Monday, September 15th, 2014

building-molecular-modelsThis post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

My kids enjoyed building molecular models to understand the structure of molecules in chemistry. We have been using Christian Kids Explore Chemistry by Bright Ideas Press to study elementary-level chemistry, and this is one of the hands-on activities in the book.

First you will want to purchase some styrofoam balls. These are available at craft supply stores. You will also need toothpicks and acrylic paint in various colors. If you want to label the atoms in the molecule, you can use a black marker, but we preferred to use alphabet stickers. Because of the texture of the styrofoam, it’s difficult to write on the styrofoam. If you’re using stickers, choose a contrasting color for the letters. I had some red stickers, but they would not have been visible on the red Hydrogen atoms.

Now go ahead and stab each of two small red styrofoam balls into a larger blue styrofoam ball using a toothpick. It’s easier to label the atoms with stickers after you have stabbed them with the toothpicks, because you will know where the front of the molecule is. The larger blue ball is an Oxygen atom, and the smaller two balls are Hydrogen atoms. This is a water molecule, in case you didn’t know.

building-molecular-models-2Another molecular model you can make is an Oxygen molecule. This molecule is composed of two Oxygen atoms with a double covalent bond. This means the two atoms are sharing a total of 4 electrons, because each covalent bond shares an electron with the Oxygen atom next to it. My daughter is holding up this Oxygen molecule. You can see that the two toothpicks are stabbed into the balls parallel to each other.

You can continue building molecular models. If you have bazillions of painted styrofoam balls, you can look up different common molecules and try to produce a model of them. In the following video, we show you how to make these simple molecular models. We also show you how our sugar molecule turned out!

#6 Atomic Cookies

Monday, September 8th, 2014

atomic-cookiesThis post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

Let’s bake some atomic cookies to learn about the parts of an atom! We are using Christian Kids Explore Chemistry by Bright Ideas Press. The book recommends making the cookies 4 inches across so that the electrons fit on your cookie. You can bake the M&M’s into the cookie, or you can do what we did, which is to frost the cookie and then decorate it with the M&M’s to represent the protons, neutrons, and electrons.

baking-with-childrenBegin by mixing together your favorite cookie dough recipe. You can buy pre-made sugar cookie dough if you want to skip this step. Then place wax paper on the counter, and plop the cookie dough down onto the wax paper. Place another piece of wax paper on top.

Grab the rolling pin and roll out the cookie dough until it is flat. Now remove the wax paper. My daughter shows you how to do this in the video at the bottom of this blog post.

cookie-doughUse a lid or small bowl as a cookie cutter. Make sure the diameter is at least 4 inches, but also keep in mind that the cookies expand a little bit in the oven. Bake the cookies and let them cool.

sorting-m&msWhile you are waiting for the cookies to cool, sort the M&M’s into three bowls:

  • red for protons
  • blue for neutrons
  • brown for electrons

Go ahead and eat the other colors, since you won’t need them anyway.

Now frost the atomic cookies with white icing, smoothing it down with a table knife.

frosting-cookiesIt’s time to decorate the atomic cookies. For the carbon atom, you will want 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons. Place the red protons and blue neutrons in the center of the atomic cookie. Grab some black icing gel and draw 2 rings around the nucleus. These are electron shells. Place 2 brown electrons on the inner shell, and 4 brown electrons on the outer shell. Your atomic cookie is now complete.

atomic-cookieTake a look at how we made these atomic cookies: