States of Matter Labs

The first lab that we did was the pouring a gas lab.  Carbon dioxide is colorless and odorless that dose not support burning.  Carbon dioxide can be easily made using a mixture of baking soda and vinegar.  Heres what you have to do. First you must take a small candle, then you light it with a match use caution matches are dangerous.  Make sure the candle is standing upright in a small dish.  Second pour some vinegar into a glass. Then take a little baking soda and pour it into the glass with the vinegar.  Notice it will begin to bubble this is an example of a chemical change.  Then tip the glass slightly near the flame make sure no liquid touches the flame.  You should notice that the flame immediately go's out because the carbon dioxide cut off its supply of oxygen.  Without oxygen the fire was not able to burn.

The second lab that we did was the observing a candle lab.  We are trying to find out how physical and chemical properties can be distinguished.  The materials needed to do this lab are a small candle, matches, a metric ruler, a candle holder or empty food can, and sand. The procedure of this lab first is to create a data table on a seperate sheet of paper.  Then you must observe the candle and list the chemical and physical properties of it. You may have observed that the physical properties and chemical properties of the unlit candle were that it is white, soft, and waxy.  Some senses that may have been used during your observations of the unlit candle are touch, see, and smell   Then you may either place the candle in the candle holder or fill a food can with sand make sure that the candle is securely in position.  Now light the candle and observe it and at the same time list the chemical and physical properties of the lighted candle.  You may have observed that the lighted candle has gotten smaller in size and shiny.  A chemical property that was observed during this lab was the lighting of the candle.  The evidence of this chemical change are the flame and the smoke.  The difference between a physical property and chemical property is that a physical property you are able to tell with your five senses.  A chemical property however is doing something to an object to make it produce a chemical.  A physical property can be observed without changing the substance.  In my opinion a physical change is easier to discover then a chemical change because a physical change is just as easy as saying what the object is or what the object feels like.

The third lab that we did was the marshmallow fun lab.  Take a small marshmallow and observe it then take a large marshmallow and observe it.  You may have observed that the small marshmallow is soft, white, creamy, sweet, and delicous.  The large marshmallow probably has the same observations as the small marshmallow.  Take a small marsmallow and rip it in half you then just completed a physical change.  Once you eat your marshmallow you will taste sweetness and delicousness.  Take a bunsen burner and place the marshmallow over it.  After the marshmallow has been burned the black it probably tastes pretty bad and chalky and maybe even a little bit ashy too.  The type of change that was just performed is called a chemical change because we turned the marsmallow into two substances ash and marshmallow.  A marshmallow is a solid because the molecules are packed closely together.

The final lab that we did was the burning sugar lab.  The materials needed were four sugar cubes, a glass of water, a spoon, a mortar and pestle, a bunsen burner, a test tube, and tongs.  Now take one of the sugar cubes you will observe its size: small, shape: cube, color: white, taste: sweet, hardness: hard, texture: crystalline, and rough.  Then take two sugar cubes and crush them with the mortar and pestle.  The sugar changed by turning into a powder this is a physical change.  The sugar has not been chemically changed yet.  Then take the sugar and pour into the glass of water then stir it with a spoon.  As you will notice in the glass of water that the sugar is not still visible the sugar has changed physically.  However when you taste the glass of water the sugar is still present.  Another way that you could tell that the sugar is still present is to let it sit in the cup.  Then come back later then you will notice the sugar sitting on the bottom of the glass.  After that take two sugar cubes and place them into a test tube.  Then light the bunsen burner use caution when lighting.  Take the tongs to pick up the test tube with the tongs and place it carefully over the bunsen burner and let the sugar burn.  You will notice the sugar sticking to the sides of the glass when burning.  You will also see brown liquid bubbling that is the melting sugar.  Once it has stopped boiling you will notice the sugar turned into black crystals the crystals are know as carbon.  These were the most fun labs that I have ever done I really wish that we can do more of these in the future.