States of Matter!

States of Matter!

Today we explored the changes that occur between the different forms, or states of matter. Matter can transition between states by adding or removing heat (energy).  Most of us are familiar with the liquid, solid, and gas states of matter but there are others that we are less familiar with, like plasma.  Plasma is matter that makes up the stars of our universe and can be found in lightning and even in plasma TVs.  The students enjoyed investigating with our plasma sphere, which generates thin filaments of plasma that dance around inside the globe.

We also investigated the changes that occur when matter transitions from one state to another.   We all know that when a liquid transitions to a gas, it is called vaporization (or evaporation), and changes between solids and liquids are referred to as melting and freezing, but some of the change terms were new, such as deposition (gas to solid).  Through demonstrations with dry ice (the solid state of carbon dioxide), the students were able to observe one particularly exciting transition in action: sublimation (solid to gas).

We studied sublimation by adding dry ice to water. The warmth of the water causes the dry ice to sublimate rapidly, releasing clouds of white vapor (carbon dioxide gas) that quickly sinks and dissipates. This was great fun to investigate and allowed the students to see all three states of matter (solid, liquid and gas) in a single cup.

Additional Information:

Check out this video on how to make dry ice bubbles!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76CNkxizQuc

 

¡Estados de la Materia!

Hoy exploramos los cambios que ocurren entre las distintos estados de la materia. La materia puede cambiar de estado al agregar o quitar calor (energía). La mayoría de nosotros conoce los estados de la materia líquido, sólido y gaseoso, pero también existen otros estados de materia menos conocidos como el plasma. El plasma es un tipo de materia que conforma las estrellas de nuestro universo, pero también se puede encontrar en los relámpagos e incluso en los aparatos de televisión de plasma. Los estudiantes disfrutaron experimentando con nuestra esfera de plasma, la cual genera pequeños filamentos de plasma que “bailan” al interior de ella.

Durante la clase también investigamos que es lo que sucede cuando la materia cambia de un estado a otro. El cambio de líquido a gaseoso se llama evaporación, y los cambios entre sólido y líquido se conocen como fusión y solidificación. Por otra parte, el cambio de gas a sólido se llama deposición. Utilizando hielo seco (el estado sólido del dióxido de carbono), los estudiantes pudieron observar uno de los cambios de estados de materia más impresionantes: la sublimación, que es el cambio de sólido a gas.

Estudiamos la sublimación al introducir hielo seco en agua. El calor del agua hace que el hielo seco sublime rápidamente, liberando así nubes de vapor blanco (dióxido de carbono gaseoso) las cuales disipan prontamente. Esta actividad fue muy entretenida y permitió que los alumnos observarán distintos estados de la materia (sólido, líquido y gas), ¡usando sólo una taza!

Información adicional:

Revisa este video sobre cómo hacer burbujas de hielo seco.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76CNkxizQuc

Author

Lauren Koppel

Lauren earned a Bachelor’s degree with a double major of Biology and Psychology from Clark University, and a Master of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. During her undergraduate years, she worked in a evolutionary neurobiology lab that studied the neural development of annelids (marine worms), with a focus on the sox family of genes. Lauren loves learning about how the world works (including everything from biology to chemistry to engineering), and is passionate about sharing that knowledge and enthusiasm with others. In the past, she has interned at the Museum of Science, where she educated learners of all ages through hands-on activities, games, and experiments. Other science education organizations with which Lauren has worked include The People’s Science, EurekaFest, and Eureka! of Girls Inc. of Worcester. Currently she lives in Boston, where devotes her free time to playing Quidditch, reading sci-fi novels, playing her ukulele, and enjoying all the culinary delights the city has to offer.

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