Chemical Wonders: Materials and States of Matter
Students examine chemcial wondersCopyright https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Laboratory_glassware#/media/File:Lab_glassware.jpg
Students are introduced to chemical engineering and learn about its many different applications. They are provided with a basic introduction to matter and its different properties and states. An associated hands-on activity gives students a chance to test their knowledge of the states of matter and how to make observations using their five senses: touch, smell, sound, sight and taste.
Chemical engineers are involved in many different fields, from fuel manufacturing to candy and chocolate production! Chemical engineers work with chemical elements to design a process or an item. They understand that different materials have different characteristics and properties, and choose materials for specific applications based on their properties. These properties depend on what the materials are made of, as well as their state: solid, liquid or gas.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Give examples of three things that chemical engineers create.
- Identify the three states of matter (solid, liquid and gas) and give examples of each.
- Explain that solids have a fixed shape and volume, liquids take the shape of their container and gases expand to fill the space available.