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Matter, and Physical and Chemical Changes
Farmersville Elementary
School, Academic Year 2009-2010
Grade 5 |
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In this program, we learned what matter is made of and how it can change. We all knew that matter could be solid (like our desks), liquid (like milk), or gas (like the air). And, we even knew that water could be solid, liquid or gas, depending on how hot or cold it is. The Earth is just the right distance from the sun so that the water on Earth is mostly liquid. When matter changes in these ways, we call it a "physical change." We talked about physical changes first, and later we learned about "chemical changes."
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We learned that matter is made up of tiny objects called atoms. Atoms are so small that it took scientists thousands of years to even figure out that they existed. When the temperature is lower, the atoms move more slowly. So in a solid, such as ice, the atoms move slowly and stick tightly together. If you take an ice cube out of the freezer and let it warm up, the atoms begin to move more quickly. They are still close together, but now they can move enough to roll over one another, and we have a liquid. So, when you jump into a swimming pool (in the summer!), the water moves out of your way. Also, it can be poured and it takes the shape of the container you pour it into. If you place the water in a pan on the stove and make it real hot, the atoms become unstuck and zip all around the kitchen. Now, you have steam, which is a gas.
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Atoms are held together by electric forces. These are the same forces that hold a balloon on the wall. Sometimes we call this static electricity.
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We learned that the air contains oxygen and nitrogen. We need oxygen to breathe. The air is mostly nitrogen. If we make nitrogen very cold, the atoms are pulled closer together by the electric forces, and it becomes a liquid. Liquid nitrogen is often used to make things very cold. If you dip a rubber band into liquid nitrogen, it becomes hard and brittle. We all got to dip rubber bands into liquid nitrogen, after we put on safety goggles and learned how to be careful. The liquid nitrogen is 300 degrees below zero!
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Here are some pictures of us dipping our rubber bands in liquid nitrogen and breaking them. Our teachers and visiting student-teachers helped us. The picture just below on the left is actually a video of one of us breaking a rubber band. Click the play button on the picture to see the video.
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Dr. DeLeo took us outside, and dipped a racket ball into liquid nitrogen, cooling it to 300 degrees below zero. It was flexible and bouncy before he froze it. After he froze it, he threw it at the brick wall, and it shattered into pieces! We got to keep the pieces. Click the play button on the video on the left to see the ball shatter.
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Dr. DeLeo told us about a kind of matter that has very special properties when it is made very cold. And, one way to make things cold is to dip them in liquid nitrogen. The material has a long name - yttrium barium copper oxide. It is a ceramic, like pottery. But, when you make it very cold, it becomes a "superconductor." That means it conducts electricity perfectly. Another property of a superconductor is that a magnet will float in the air above it. Dr. DeLeo said that one day we may be riding on trains that float in the air using magnets and superconductors. Click the play button on the picture on the right to see a video.
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After we finished our activities with physical changes, we went on to "chemical changes." When a chemical change takes place, the material is no longer the same. This is different than the physical change that occurs when we freeze water into ice. Ice is still water, only frozen. It can be easily melted to give us ice again. In a chemical change, the atoms are rearranged into new kinds of matter. And, it is difficult to change the matter back again.
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| In order to demonstrate a chemical reaction, Dr. DeLeo gave each of us a baggie and poured a liquid and solid pellets into it. The liquid changed color, and the bag got hot - it gave off energy! Then he added another solid and it changed color again, puffed full of a gas, and got freezing cold! |
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 Atoms can be put together in many different ways. When a few atoms are connected together, we call this a molecule. When we put hydrogen and oxygen together, we get water. A water molecule has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. It kind of looks like Mickey Mouse. We discovered that a little bit of static electricity will bend a stream of water. We can use stronger electric forces by putting electricity into the water to pull the water molecules apart.
Before we did this, Dr. DeLeo talked to us about safety issues. He said that electricity and water are a dangerous combination. We should never take something that's plugged-in into water with us. We could get killed. Dr. DeLeo put electricity into water in a very controlled way, and we helped him by watching to make sure that his hands weren’t by the water when the electricity was turned on.
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 When the electricity was on, bubbles rose in the water-filled test tubes. Dr. DeLeo told us that this wasn’t the water boiling. The bubbles going into one tube were hydrogen, which is a gas. The bubbles going into the other tube were oxygen, which is also a gas. Dr. DeLeo had us ask him to prove that the gases were hydrogen and oxygen. He proved that the one tube contained hydrogen by holding a match by it. It went “POP!!" as the hydrogen exploded. The oxygen was trickier since it doesn’t burn. However, things don’t burn without it. That is why we “stop, drop, and roll” if we catch on fire – to smother the fire by cutting off its oxygen. Dr. DeLeo lit a thin piece of wood on fire, and then blew it out so it was only glowing red. When he placed the glowing wood into the pure oxygen in the test tube, it burst back into flames, over and over again. In pure oxygen, things burn better.
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| On the far left is a picture showing the hydrogen bubbling up in the left test tube and the oxygen in the right test tube. Notice that there is twice as much hydrogen. That's because water is H - TWO! - O. In the picture just to the left, Dr. DeLeo showed us how a piece of wood burns better in the pure oxygen that he made. |
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| Even everyday matter, like water and air, can be amazing if you think about it. Dr. DeLeo gave us each a placemat showing all the different types of atoms in what he called the “periodic table.” This was a really fun day! |
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I hope you have enjoyed this web presentation as much as we enjoyed sharing the actual learning experience with your son or daughter. Although we have endeavored to exclude photographs where permission has been denied, it is possible for errors to occur. If you would like us to remove a photograph of your son or daughter for any reason, please send me an e-mail message at lgd0@lehigh.edu or call me at 610-758-3413, and we will remove it promptly. Please note that we will never associate a child's full or last name with a photograph except in circumstances where special permission was explicitly provided. Thank you. Gary DeLeo. |
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