Get The Lesson
Learn about solutions, concentration, and solubility through this lesson.
Get this lesson: You can download the full packet here or read a condensed version of this unit below.
Worksheet: Download just the worksheet or there’s a copy included in the packet.
Overview:
There are three foundational concepts that are useful to understand when thinking about chemistry. These concepts explain how substances either mix together to form a new substance, or dissolve in one another creating a mixture.
Solution: a special type of homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is a substance dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent.
Concentration: the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. E.g the amount of salt in a water solution.
Solubility: a property referring to the ability for a given substance, the solute, to dissolve in a solvent, such as water.
The solubility of a majority of solid substances increases as temperature increases. In the suggested research project, students can see how you can dissolve more salt in water as you heat up the water.
Video resources:
Frogsicles: Frozen but still alive – a video lesson about how the wood frog makes its own “antifreeze”.
Overview on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – a short explanation of the geography of the area.
Sample Research Project:
Create a super saturated solution: use water and common table salt to understand the concentration of solutions. When a solvent is heated, it can dissolve more of a solute than when it is cool.
Methods and materials: This article describes how to do the experiment.
- Water
- Table salt
- Heat source
- Pan
- Spoon
- Heat proof container
Sample Research Questions:
- Does more solute dissolve when the solute is hot or cold?
- Does a super saturated solution appear different than a saturated or unsaturated solution?
- How can I test to know that a solution is super saturated?
NGSS Standards:
This unit provides foundational knowledge for working with standard HS-PS1-5
SEPs: Analyzing and interpreting data
Systems and system models
CC: Cause and effect
Stability and change
Patterns
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