The Chemical Dominoes project was technically our second project, however, this was the first we had actually done construction on. Our task was to build a functioning board game based around chemistry. It needed to have a theme, instructions, rules, and an overall goal.
How our game works:
Players choose a color and roll to see who goes first. The object is to collect five marbles by answering questions correctly while moving about the board. The first to five wins and sets off a chain reaction demonstrating different ways chemical interact. Simple!
Vocabulary
Single Replacement reaction: When one element replaces one ion of another like element to form a new compound.
Ex. A+BC-->AB+C
Double Replacement: When two elements exchange ions of another element to form new ionic compounds.
Ex. AB+CD-->AC+BD
Reactions in the Project:
SIngle Replacement- Aluminum metal and Copper chloride react to form Aluminum chloride and copper metal
(2Al + 3CuCl₂ → 3Cu + 2Al(Cl)₃)
Double Replacement- Hydrogen Chloride and Sodium Hydroxide react to form Sodium Chloride and Water
(HCl + NaOH → NaCl + H₂O)
Production of a Gas- Acetate and Sodium Bicarbonate react to form Sodium Acetate, Water, and Carbon Dioxide. This is commonly known as a baking soda and vinegar reaction, and it produces carbon dioxide into a balloon in our chain reaction.
(C₂H₄O₂ + NaHCO₃ → NaC₂H₃O₂ + H₂O + CO₂)
Video Of Reactions
How our game works:
Players choose a color and roll to see who goes first. The object is to collect five marbles by answering questions correctly while moving about the board. The first to five wins and sets off a chain reaction demonstrating different ways chemical interact. Simple!
Vocabulary
Single Replacement reaction: When one element replaces one ion of another like element to form a new compound.
Ex. A+BC-->AB+C
Double Replacement: When two elements exchange ions of another element to form new ionic compounds.
Ex. AB+CD-->AC+BD
Reactions in the Project:
SIngle Replacement- Aluminum metal and Copper chloride react to form Aluminum chloride and copper metal
(2Al + 3CuCl₂ → 3Cu + 2Al(Cl)₃)
Double Replacement- Hydrogen Chloride and Sodium Hydroxide react to form Sodium Chloride and Water
(HCl + NaOH → NaCl + H₂O)
Production of a Gas- Acetate and Sodium Bicarbonate react to form Sodium Acetate, Water, and Carbon Dioxide. This is commonly known as a baking soda and vinegar reaction, and it produces carbon dioxide into a balloon in our chain reaction.
(C₂H₄O₂ + NaHCO₃ → NaC₂H₃O₂ + H₂O + CO₂)
Video Of Reactions
I apologize for the lack of success in this video, however the end result was completed and we did have success in later runs.
Reflection
This project was quite fun due to our ability to "play" with chemicals. It was a little hard trying to come up with a brand new board game idea right off the bat, and we did become crunched for time near the end (our faults). Besides the crunch and slow movement in the beginning, project turned out well and I was quite happy with it. Another part of this project that I liked quite a bit was creating a Rube Goldberg-like contraption that also incorporated chemistry. I believe a project devoted solely to building a Rube Goldberg machine that involved chemicals would be quite a success and kids would enjoy being thrown back to the days of conceptual physics. But I digress, in the end the project ended well, while we could have done better in the assembly process, the plans were straightforward and well executed.
Reflection
This project was quite fun due to our ability to "play" with chemicals. It was a little hard trying to come up with a brand new board game idea right off the bat, and we did become crunched for time near the end (our faults). Besides the crunch and slow movement in the beginning, project turned out well and I was quite happy with it. Another part of this project that I liked quite a bit was creating a Rube Goldberg-like contraption that also incorporated chemistry. I believe a project devoted solely to building a Rube Goldberg machine that involved chemicals would be quite a success and kids would enjoy being thrown back to the days of conceptual physics. But I digress, in the end the project ended well, while we could have done better in the assembly process, the plans were straightforward and well executed.