Gases

Bottles of soda are sealed under high pressures of CO₂, or P_CO2. This causes a substantial amount of CO₂ to dissolve into the beverage, giving the drink its fizziness. But what exactly is the pressure inside a bottle of soda?

A Flame Tube, also known as a Ruben’s Tube, is a classic physics experiment that provides a spectacular visual demonstration of sound waves.¹ To make a Ruben’s Tube, a bunch of tiny holes are drilled in a line about 1 cm apart along one side of a steel pipe (Figure 1).

Along my teaching journey, I started to incorporate more inquiry and modeling activities into my classroom at the expense of practice problems “drilling” concepts. Based on student survey feedback, I learned my students missed these drilling activities. They were craving practice they needed to master and get comfortable with the content.

“What are we doing to help students achieve?” I have always struggled as a teacher to find a good limiting reagents lab and activity that can be put into the hands of my students. Thanks to Dr. Bruce Mattson, I think I have found a winner I would like to share.

What are we doing to help kids achieve?

In a previous post on exploring new ways to incorporate authentic assessments, I referenced how a wonderful activity centered around the application of gas laws could help investigate the Deflategate controversy that consumed NFL news throughout the 2014-15 sea

With Earth Day approaching, you might want to try out the experiment published in the Journal of Chemical Education.¹ It outlines a fantastic way to demonstrate the warming influence that atmospheric CO₂ has on our planet. I followed the procedure and offer a video of the results.²

What are we doing to help kids achieve? It is always helpful to have a lab that can be adapted to meet the needs of students. The "Magnesium Lab" is one of these experiments.