Chemical reactions learning activities

In different places in the outlines of teachers reflective diaries there are statements indicating that students interest in learning about chemical reactions has increased in comparison to previous years. Teachers mentioned the increase of students interest in the context of all three main factors that are incorporated in the LON approach, i.e. (1) Eveiyday life situations as the foundation of the learning process. (2) The learning process involves many students activities. (3) Chemical reactions are consistently presented in all three types of representation. Consequently, we assnme that those three factors are the main reasons for the increased interest of students in learning about chemical reactions. Each of the listed factors is described in detail below ... 

The learning process involves many students"activities Students interest increased because they liked playing an active role in the learning process (e.g. hands on experiments, constraction of representations of chemical reactions with the use of models). Those who were not used to such an approach from earlier teaching also improved their experimental skills and gained experiences through the work with models. In the reflective diaries of all the teachers, statements to support this point could be found as follows ... 

Students interest in learning about chemical reactions increased, which is due to three main factors that ate incorporated in the LON approach (1) Everyday life situations ate the foundation of the learning process. (2) The learning process involves mat r students activities. (3) Chemical reactions are consistently presented in all three types of representation. 

When you place a piece of zinc metal into a solution of CuS04, you expect a chemical reaction because the more active zinc displaces the less active copper from its compound (Sec. 7.3). We learned in Chap. 13 that this is an oxidation-reduction reaction, involving transfer of electrons from the zinc to the copper. 

In this section, you learned that chemical reactions usually proceed as a series of steps called elementary reactions. You related the equations for elementary reactions to rate laws. You learned how the relative speed of the steps in a reaction mechanism help to predict the rate law of an overall reaction. Finally, you learned how a catalyst controls the rate of a chemical reaction hy providing a lower-energy reaction mechanism. In this chapter, you compared activation energies of forward and reverse reactions. In the next unit, you will study, in detail, reactions that proceed in both directions. 

One aspect of chemical behavior that we have not looked at in much detail is the relationship among the energies of reactants, products, and reactions. Near the end of Chapter 16, you read about activation energy and how reactants must meet or exceed that threshold value before a reaction can occur. In this chapter, we will look more closely at the energy interactions between chemical reactions and the surrounding environment. Although these interactions can be quite complex, there are some basic patterns that you can learn that will allow you to make accurate predictions about chemical behaviors. 

To learn more about states of matter, visit the Chemistry Web site at chemistrymc.com Activity Research chemical reactions in nature and list as many processes and their reactions as possible. Arrange your findings In a Venn diagram to show reactions in the gas phase, the liquid phase, and the solid phase, or that involve an Interaction between two or more phases. 

The notion of a primaeval (or prebiotic) soup implies that the early ocean was a "soup" of organic molecules. Within this melee chemical reactions took place, polymerized molecules formed and learned to self-replicate, finally to emerge as living cells. In reality, the ancient oceans probably had very active hydrothermal systems in which large volumes of water were circulated through the upper levels of the oceanic crust and so were unlikely to be an active meeting place for organic molecules (Nisbet Fowler, 2003). 

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions that take place in living systems. A catalyst is a molecule that speeds up a reaction but is not consumed by that reaction. Enzymes are particularly interesting because they often are quite specific, capable of catalyzing only one type of biochemical reaction. Learning about the structure of the active site is often a... 

In Chapter 14 we learned that the rate of any chemical reaction is controlled largely by a factor related to energy, namely, the activation energy of the reaction. 

In Chapter 14 we learned that the rate of any chemical reaction is controlled largely by a factor related to energy, namely, the activation energy of the reaction, caa (Section 14.5) In general, the lower the activation energy, the faster a reaction proceeds. In Chapter 15 we saw that chemical equihbrium is reached when a given reaction and its reverse reaction occur at the same rate, ooo (Section 15.1)... 

Generally speaking, there are two main problems in learning thermodynamics. One, of course, is to learn the details of the specialized procedures in one s disciphne, which in our case involves chemical reactions, activities, fugacities, equilibrium constants, and so on. The other, either more or less important depending on your point of view, is to understand thermodynamics as a whole - what is it, what do the variables mean, and how does it relate to other branches of science In this book, the first four chapters deal mostly with this latter problem, and the rest of the book with the details. 

Reactor Lab. The Reactor Lab software provides simulations of various chemical reactors. Students can actively learn about chemical reactions and reactors by performing experiments and analyzing data. The program can be downloaded free from www.SimzLah.com. 

In Chapter 20, we will discuss factors that influence the rate of a chemical reaction and learn that the rate of a reaction is strongly governed by the activation energy, E. ... 

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