Name: Landen Moore Date: 12/8/2020

Chemical Changes
Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.
Vocabulary: acid, base, catalyst, chemical change, coefficient, conservation of matter, decomposition,
dissolve, double replacement, endothermic, exothermic, indicator, ion, physical change, product, reactant,
single replacement, subscript, synthesis
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
1. A student mixes baking soda and vinegar in a glass. The results are shown at
left. Do you think any new substances are being created in this mixture? If so,
how do you know?

yes because it is making bubbles.

2. Suppose this was done on top of a balance. Do you think the mass would
change as the reaction proceeded?

No it wouldn’t

3. What do you think would happen to the mass if the reaction took place inside a sealed plastic bag?

It would have exploded.

Gizmo Warm-up
A chemical change, (or chemical reaction) occurs when one or more
substances, called reactants, are transformed into different substances, or
products. In the Chemical Changes Gizmo, you will look for evidence of
chemical changes by looking at changes you can see, touch, or smell.
To begin, check that Reactant 1 is Sodium and Reactant 2 is Water.
Sodium is a metal so soft you can cut it with a knife.

1. Click Play ( ). What do you observe?

it changed colors to a more gray color

2. Do you think a chemical reaction has taken place? Explain.

yes because it changed colors which is a signal for it.

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 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:
● Click Reset ( ). Check that the reactants are still
Observing Sodium and Water.
chemical changes ● Turn on the Label reactants checkbox.

Introduction: It is important to distinguish chemical changes, in which new substances are formed, from
physical changes, which do not create new substances. In this activity, you will look at many kinds of
evidence that chemists use to see if a chemical change has taken place.
Question: What kinds of evidence indicate a chemical change has taken place?
1. Observe: Some chemical reactions release heat, and others absorb heat. In an exothermic reaction, heat
is released and the temperature of the system rises. In an endothermic reaction, heat is absorbed and the
temperature of the system decreases.

In the Gizmo, drag the Thermometer into the flask of water.

A. What is the starting temperature? 21

B. Click Play, and wait for the reaction to end. What is the final temperature? 59

C. Was this reaction exothermic or endothermic? exothermic

2. Observe: Two families of chemicals are acids and bases. Acids and bases can be detected by an
indicator, which is a substance that changes color in the presence of an acid or a base. Phenol red is an
indicator that is yellow in an acid, orange in a neutral solution, and pink in a base.

A. Click Reset. Drag the Phenol red next to the flask of water. What does the indicator show?

pH: neutral

B. Click Play, and wait for the reaction to end. What does the indicator show now?

Basic pH level

3. Observe: Click Reset. Select the Gas collection setup. Chemists use this apparatus to collect any gases
produced in the reaction. From the reaction flask, gases travel through a long tube and into a cylinder of
water. As gases bubble into the cylinder, the water is displaced (removed) until the cylinder is filled with
gas.

Click Play and observe the cylinder. Was any gas produced in the reaction?

yes there was no gas produced

How do you know?

because the water left the tube

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4. Analyze: 1. One way to test what kind of gas is in the cylinder is to use a splint test. A glowing splint is a
wooden stick that has been lit on fire and then blown out, resulting in a glowing, red-hot tip. A burning splint
is a splint that has a burning tip. The table shows how a splint reacts to some common gases:

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Gas Oxygen (O2) Hydrogen (H2)
or ammonia (NH3)
Glowing splint Goes out Ignites (burns) Does not ignite

Small explosion and

Burning splint Goes out Continues to burn
“pop” sound

A. Drag the glowing splint next to the cylinder, and observe. What do you see?

it doesn’t ignite

B. Click Reset and click Play, and then bring the burning splint to the cylinder. What happens
now?

Causes a small explosion

C. Based on the table above, what gas do you think was produced in this reaction?

Hydrogen

5. Interpret: Turn on Show chemical equation. A chemical equation is a shorthand way to describe a
chemical reaction. Symbols represent the elements: H for hydrogen, O for oxygen, and Na for sodium. The
reactants are to the left of the arrow, and the products are to the right. For example, the equation H2 + O2
→ H2O shows that the reactants hydrogen and oxygen combine to form the product H2O, or water.

A. Look at the reaction shown in the Gizmo. What are the reactants in this reaction?

Na + H20 ---> NaOH + H2

B. What are the products in this reaction?

Hydrogen

These symbols represent sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. Sodium hydroxide is a strong base.
(Chemicals that contain the hydroxide ion (OH–) are bases.)

C. How do the products of the reaction relate to the phenol red test and the splint test?

it shows if it makes a gas or not

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 Activity B: Get the Gizmo ready:

Conservation of ● Click Reset. Select Hydrogen peroxide for

matter Reactant 1 and Potassium iodide for Reactant 2.

Goal: How does the mass change (or not change) during a chemical reaction?
1. Review: In this reaction, hydrogen peroxide is added to a potassium iodide solution. Click Play and
observe the reaction.

A. What do you observe?

Changes color and fizzes for a bit then goes back to normal

B. What evidence do you see that a chemical reaction is taking place?

it is changing the way a certain chemical is by color and form

C. Replay the reaction and use the available tools (Thermometer, Phenol red, Glowing
splint, Burning splint.) What do these tools indicate? (Note: You will need to switch to the
Gas collection setup to use the splint.)

Thermometer: Shows the degree of heat that it is at.

Phenol red: Shows the pH level

Glowing splint: shows one part of an chemical with forms for if it burns or doesn’t

Burning splint: shows one part of an chemical with forms for if it burns or explode

2. Record: Click Reset, and change back to the Normal setup. Notice the mass shown on the electronic
balance.
A. What is the starting mass for this reaction? 336.6g

B. Click Play. What is the mass when the reaction has finished? 335.2g

C. How does the mass change in this reaction? because there is a

chemical reaction where it
fizzes and losses
substance

3. Record: Click Reset, and select the Gas collection setup. Notice that this setup is heavier than the normal
setup, but the amount of reactants is the same.

A. What is the starting mass for this 2386.6 g

reaction?

B. How do you think the mass will change during the reaction?

from the water evaporating

C. Click Play. What is the mass when 2386.6 g

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 the reaction has finished?

4. Explain: Why do you think that mass was lost when the reaction was done in the normal setup, but stayed
the same when the reaction was done in the gas collection setup?

Because there was gas created that is the same amount of weight as the water that made
the gas that evaporated.

A fundamental law of chemistry is conservation of matter. This law states that, in a chemical
reaction, matter can neither be created nor destroyed. That means that, as long as nothing escapes
from the system, the total mass measured at the start of the reaction will be the same as the total
mass at the end of the reaction.

5. Compare: Turn on Show chemical equation. The small numbers, called subscripts, show how many of
each atom there are in the molecule. For example, the molecule H2O contains two hydrogen atoms and
one oxygen atom. (Notice that, in this reaction, the potassium iodide (KI) acts as a catalyst. A catalyst is a
substance that helps a reaction happen but does not change during the reaction.)

Count the total number of hydrogen and oxygen atoms on the left and right sides of the equation:

Left side: H 2 O 2 Right side: H 2 O 3

What do you notice?

there is another element in the equation now.

6. Turn on Show balanced equation. A balanced equation shows how many molecules of each substance
take part in the reaction. The coefficients are the big numbers that tell you how many molecules there are.
For example, “2H2O” means there are two water molecules and a total of four hydrogen and two oxygen
atoms.

Carefully count the total number of hydrogen and oxygen atoms on the left and right sides of the balanced
equation:

Left side: H 2 O 2 Right side: H 2 O 3

A. What do you notice?

there are now 2 in front of the hydrogen part of the equation

B. How does the balanced equation relate to the law of conservation of matter?
it is the same from both sides because nothing can be created or
destroyed in this theory.

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