Wizardry and Chemistry
Students create sparklers and explore the chemistry involvedCopyright 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved.
Students learn how common pop culture references (Harry Potter books) can relate to chemistry. While making and demonstrating their own low-intensity sparklers (muggle-versions of magic wands), students learn and come to appreciate the chemistry involved (reaction rates, Gibb's free energy, process chemistry and metallurgy). The fun part is that all wands are personalized and depend on how well students conduct the lab. Students end the activity with a class duel—a face-off between wands of two different chemical compositions. This lab serves as a fun, engaging review for stoichiometry, thermodynamics, redox and kinetics, as well as advanced placement course review.
Pyrotechnics has been a part of human society for thousands of years—from signal flares to the most amazing starburst chemistry. The scientific concepts embedded in this activity— reaction rates, Gibb's free energy, process chemistry and metallurgy —are used by chemical, metallurgical, mechanical, and explosives engineers in the development of many materials, some of which become the ingredients in what we see as the "magic" of pyrotechnics. (See the Introduction/Motivation section for details.)
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Identify reaction products from a reaction description.
- Calculate and determine whether a reaction is spontaneous using standard thermodynamic data.
- Infer reaction spontaneity by applying definitions of enthalpy, entropy, and Gibb's free energy.
- Understand what is meant by spontaneous reaction and how this relates to reactivity when multiple elements are involved.
- Determine the difference between kinetics and thermodynamics.
- Manipulate chemical reactions and conduct stoichiometric calculations.
- Identify the importance of oxidizers and reducers in high-intensity reactions.