Phase Changes
Students will research properties of materials at a molecular level during phase change and use this information to design and build a container for extreme environments.
Overview
Students observe a beaker of ice and water, ask where the water on the outside comes from, then design and carry out procedures to test their hypotheses. In the exploration, they heat ice on a hotplate, record temperature every 30 seconds until the water boils, and graph the results. Videos on states of matter and phase diagrams connect the graph to molecular motion and the shape and volume of each phase, and a gallium video introduces melting points. Students then research gallium, iron, aluminum, steel, and copper to design, build, and test a container for returning samples from Mars. Teams present their containers to judges and the class.
Lesson Objectives
- Plan and conduct an investigation to test a hypothesis
- Collect and display data - a phase change diagram for ice
- Communicate molecular motion changes during phase changes
- Research properties of materials
- Design and build container for an extreme environment
- Test designs for success, analyze and communicate results
Standards
NGSS · 3
- MS-PS1-4Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
- MS-PS1-3Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
- MS-PS1-1Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
CCSS Math · 5
- MP2Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- MP4Model with mathematics.
- 6.RP.A.3Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems.
- 6.NS.C.5Understand that positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values (e.g., temperature above/below zero, elevation above/below sea level, credits/debits, positive/negative electric charge); use positive and negative numbers to represent quantities in real-world contexts, explaining the meaning of 0 in each situation.
- 8.EE.A.3Use numbers expressed in the form of a single digit times an integer power of 10 to estimate very large or very small quantities, and to express how many times as much one is than the other.
CCSS ELA · 3
- RST.6-8.1Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions
- RST.6-8.7Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).
- WHST.6-8.8Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.