Lesson Plan

Using Dissolving to Identify an Unknown

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet

There is a solvent called aqua regis that can dissolve gold! After observing a solubility demonstration, groups receive four known crystals and one unknown. Based on the demo, they design an experiment to determine the identity of the unknown crystal. 

2 Collections 8 Views 8 Downloads
CCSS: Designed
NGSS: Designed
Additional Tags
Instructional Ideas
  • Tell classes you need their help, that someone last year a mouse ate off the label on one of your containers in the storeroom and you need their help identifying the unknown substance, or use another interesting hook, making this lab more relevant to their lives
  • Set timers for each section of the activity to keep groups on task and efficient
Classroom Considerations
  • Groups test five different crystals; remind them to label everything correctly they don't mix up the crystals
  • Part five in a series of nine
  • This resource is only available on an unencrypted HTTP website.It should be fine for general use, but don’t use it to share any personally identifiable information
Pros
  • Activity provides teacher reference materials, student activity sheets with a key, and video links
  • Good higher-order thinking questions scripted throughout the lesson for teachers 
Cons
  • None