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Chemistry is the study of the structure of matter and the changes or
transformations that take place in it. Learning about the makeup of
substances gives us knowledge about how things go together and how
they can be taken apart. Learning about changes or transformations
in substances is important for several reasons: changes can be
controlled to produce new materials; changes can be used to give
off energy to run machines.
The Mixtures and Solutions module consists of four activities that
introduce students to these fundamental ideas in chemistry. In
activity 1, Separating Mixtures, they learn about
the makeup of substances by making mixtures of gravel and salt and
water, and diatomaceous earth and water. They use screens, filters,
and evaporation to separate the mixtures. Finally they
engineer a way to separate a mixture of three dry materials.
In activity 2, Reaching Saturation, the students add
solid material to water until the solutions are saturated. They
determine the amounts of two different materials required to saturate
a volume of water and compare the results.
In activity 3, Concentration, students work first with
Kool-Aid and then with table salt to learn about concentration of
solutions. They use an operational definition to determine the
relative concentrations of several solutions.
In activity 4, Fizz Quiz, the students learn about
changes in substances by mixing solutions to observe chemical reactions.
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