Why do cell phone batteries sometimes overheat?
Students will be able to understand how voltaic cells work to generate electric energy used in force nonspontaneous chemical reactions and apply REDOX reactions to exploding cell phone batteries.
Overview
Students use the question of why cell phone batteries sometimes overheat or explode to study electrochemistry over seven days. They watch videos of overcharging phones, compare conduction in a fresh potato and a potato chip, and draw an initial battery model. Students read about smartphone batteries, complete a penny battery lab, and revise their models. Direct instruction on oxidation-reduction reactions leads to a poster project and gallery walk, and a fruit battery lab tests how the type of metal affects voltage. Groups finish with a seven-minute video presentation explaining overheating and exploring porous silicon as a solution, followed by written peer feedback.
Lesson Objectives
- SWBAT understand how voltaic cells work to generate electric energy that is used to force nonspontaneous chemical reactions. SWBAT explain oxidation reduction reactions and apply their new understanding to explain why cell phone batteries sometimes explode.
Standards
NGSS · 2
- HS-PS1-2Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties. Science and Engineering Practice: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions.
- Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, and peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
CCSS Math · 2
- HSN-Q.A.1Use units as a way to understand problems and to guide the solution of multi-step problems; choose and interpret units consistently in formulas; choose and interpret the scale and the origin in graphs and data displays.
- HSN-Q.A.3Choose a level of accuracy appropriate to limitations on measurement when reporting quantities.
CCSS ELA · 2
- WHST.9-12.2Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
- WHST.9-12.5Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.