Kiersten Caine

Chemistry Activity 1: Scientific Method and States of Matter
We will begin our exploration of chemistry by conducting some simple experiments. The purpose of the experiments is to provide an opportunity for us to gain practical experience with the scientific process. Along with these experiments, we will then explore the states of matter for water and the chemical make-up and characteristics of water. Before completing this activity, I suggest you read the Content Slides: Intro to Chemistry on D2L.
To complete this activity each student it to design, conduct, and report on an experiment and answer the following questions. There is no set procedure for this. This activity is designed for students to think about and create an experiment.

Here are three questions to answer:

Does hot water or cold water freeze faster?

Hot water freeze faster

Also known as the Mpemba effect

Does hot water or cold water boil faster?

Hot water boils faster

Does salt water freeze faster or slower than regular water?

Regular water freeze faster

 1.      Pictures of experiment

 <----salt water and regular water

<------hot water and cold water

<-----In the freezer

<------- After they were in the freezer and now frozen

2. Your hypothesis to the questions posed.

Cold water freezes faster than cold water.

Hot water boils faster than cold water.

Salt water freezes faster than regular water.

3.      Data in the form of a graph or table

a.       Does hot water or cold water freeze faster?

Amount of water	Time in freezer in minutes	Hot water in degrees	Cold water in degrees
3 Tablespoons	0	160, 160, 160= 160	40, 40, 40= 40
3 Tablespoons	10	75, 70, 69=71.33	50, 56, 48=51.33
3 Tablespoons	20	50, 53, 51=51.33	42,46, 40=42.66
3 Tablespoons	30	28, 28, 25=27	29, 28, 26=29
3 Tablespoons	40	29, 27, 30=28.66	31, 30, 33=31.33

b.      Does hot water or cold water boil faster?

Amount of water	Time in microwave in minutes	Hot water in degrees	Cold water in degrees
1 cup	0	153, 153, 153= 153	60, 60, 60=60
1 cup	1:27, 1:20, 1:35=1.273	Started to boil
1 cup	4:47, 4:59, 4:39=4.483		Started to boil

c.       Does salt water freeze faster or slower than regular water?

Amount of water	Time in freezer in minutes	Salt water in degrees	Regular water in degrees
3 Tablespoons	0	96, 96, 96 =96	96, 96 ,96= 96
3 Tablespoons	10	62, 60, 64 =62	63, 65, 61=63
3 Tablespoons	20	48, 47, 45= 46.67	50, 49, 50= 49.67
3 Tablespoons	30	23,25, 27=25	31,30,27=29.3
3 Tablespoons	40	27, 30, 32=29.67	31, 28, 27= 28.67

4.      Show data of experiment repeated three times.

Does hot water or cold water freeze faster? Hot water

Does hot water or cold water boil faster? Hot water

Does salt water freeze faster or slower than regular water? slower

5.      List your controlled variables for your experiment

a.       Freezer temperature

b.      Type of heat sources

c.       Type of water

d.      Amount of water

e.       Type of tools used to heat or cool the water

f.       Room temperature

g.      Temperature of hot and cold water to start

h.      Time in freezer or heat

i.        Type of salt

j.        Depth of water or pan

6.      Formulate a theory that answers the questions posed.

a.       In my experiment the salt water froze faster than the regular water, but it has been proven that regular water will freeze faster than the salt water.

7.      Image of the atoms that make up water molecules.

a.       http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1536&bih=724&tbm=isch&tbnid=Q7lopDUrOZQmoM:&imgrefurl=http://alevelnotes.com/%3Fid%3D135&docid=CnFZELF1OXLaZM&imgurl=http://alevelnotes.com/content_images/i49_water_molecules_con_c_la_784.jpg&w=557&h=382&ei=fJDbUMf_CoTGrQGfj4CwBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=416&vpy=129&dur=1679&hovh=186&hovw=271&tx=115&ty=134&sig=101995391072901593706&page=1&tbnh=137&tbnw=200&start=0&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:94

8.      Video or animation that shows how water molecules are arranged in the three states of matter for water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bDLwsAwnTw

9.      Describe the scientific method/process and how each step correlates to your own experiments.

a.       The scientific method/process refers to the steps taken in thinking of, developing, and completing an experiment.

Observation reported: I observed water in two different states. One in a cold environment and another in hot. In the cold environment were hot water, cold water, salt water, and regular water. In the hot environment was hot water and cold water. I watched the freezer items become colder at different times. The same happening with the hot environment only becoming boiling not frozen. 

Hypothesis: I had a different Hypothesis for each experiment. For the first one I thought that cold water would freeze faster than hot. Second one I thought that hot water would boil faster, and the third one I thought that salt water would freeze faster than regular water. 

Design of experiment: the design of this experiment was to see if my hypothesis would be proven correct or false. 

Experiments support/do not support hypothesis: this experiment did support and did not support my hypothesis. The ones that it did support was the salt water freezing faster than regular water, and hot water boiling faster than cold water. The one hypothesis that I was wrong on was that hot water froze faster than cold rather than the cold water freezing first. 

Hypothesis rejected: Cold water will freeze faster than hot water

New hypothesis: Hot water will freeze faster than cold water. 

New experiment attempted: used the same cups and amount of water, but I put less salt in the water and waited for it to dissolve before putting it into the freezer. 

New experiment supports new hypothesis: this new experiment does support my new hypothesis. 

Experiments repeated and results are the same: My new experiment did not repeat the results as it did the first time that I tried it. 

Theory formulated: It has been proven that regular water freezer faster than salt water. 

10.      Talk about the repeatability of experiment? What are the average values?

a.       The repeatability of these experiments is that it is very easy to set up the complete the experiment again if needed. All you need is water, salt, cups, a hot environment, and a cold environment. I did this experiment three times and the results were in the same range for all. Except for the salt water and regular water. As you can see in the charts above the temps changed once trying the experiment for the second and third time. The second time conducted the experiment the regular water froze faster than the salt. This could have changed because of all the independent variables. Such as how much salt, what the temp of the water starts at. The average values are in chart. 

11.

Write a three paragraph statement about your experiment and connections to a real-world application. First paragrah: Intro of the science concepts. Second paragraph describe your experiment, data and conclusions. Third paragraph: Apply your science concepts and knowledge to a real-world application. After reading these paragraphs, a person should realize why these science concepts are important while gaining knowledge related to the topic.

I conducted three experiments for this project. One was testing if hot water would boil faster than cold water. Next was seeing is salt water would freeze faster than regular water, and the last was testing if hot water will freeze faster than cold. For the cold environment, I put 3 tablespoons of water into a small dish. See photos above. I had three different hypotheses for each experiment as well. My hypothesis for Does hot water freeze faster than cold water was that I thought cold water would freeze faster.  Does hot water boil faster than cold, I said hot water would boil faster. For the last question Does regular water or salt water freeze faster, I thought regular water would.

In the experiment I put the 3 tablespoons of salt water, cold water, hot water, and regular water into the freezer each in their own dish all on a cookie sheet. I checked the temp. every ten minutes until there was a layer of ice on top of the water. That way I know that it was frozen. I also knew that it was frozen because the temps were below 32 degrees at the time of checking it at 40 mins. For my hot and cold water to see what one would boil faster, I put one cup of water into two different cups. The cups were the same size. I put both cups into the microwave and watched then until one started to boil. I stopped it, recorded the number onto my graph, and started it up again until the cold water started to boil.  My conclusions were that in the hot environment, the hot water started to boil well before the cold water. In the cold environment the salt was frozen before the regular well water, and the hot water froze before the cold water.

The way that one could relate this to a real life experiment is when people put ice on the roads in the winter time to stop the roads from freezing. For cooking when you want to boil water faster, you could start off by putting hot water in the cup rather than cold water. It is important to know these things in life, because it can help you if you are on a time limit when cooking, and saving yourself from slipping off the road in the winter.