How can we make something new that was not there before?
UNIT OVERVIEW
This unit explores the fascinating world of chemical reactions starting with a simple bath bomb in water. Students create models to understand what happens to the dissolved matter and what causes gas bubbles to form. This sparks broader questions like: How can we create something entirely new?
At key points, students connect their learnings to other phenomena, like Elephant’s Toothpaste and the Taj Mahal’s marble surface crumbling.
Key Learning Activities
Through these investigations, students will:
• Plan and Conduct Investigations: Determine if the gas produced was originally part of the matter in the bath bomb and water.
• Analyze Data: Use properties like density, melting/boiling point, solubility, and flammability to identify potential substances in the gas bubbles.
• Develop and Use Models: Describe the atomic composition of molecules and extended structures to explain transformations.
• Interpret Data on Matter Properties: Assess changes in water before and after adding energy to argue if a chemical reaction has occurred.
• Construct Explanations for Mass Conservation: Explain why the total atom count, and therefore mass, is unchanged in a chemical reaction.