Next Gen Storyline: Why Do Some Things Get Colder (or Hotter) When They React?

Next Gen Storylines: Why Do Some Things Get Colder (or Hotter) When They React? [v1.0]

Most of the materials for this storyline are linked below at the Next Generation Science Storylines website. They are the original creators on this storyline. This document provides their summary of the storyline to help teachers decide if this storyline would be a good resource to investigate further for their classroom. For more details use the link(s) below.

WEBSITE: http://www.nextgenstorylines.org/why-do-some-things-get-colder-or-hotter

SKELETON

FULL STORYLINE

TEACHER GUIDE

MATERIAL & SUPPLY LIST

STUDENT ACTIVITY SHEETS


SYNOPSIS:

In this high school physical sciences unit, students investigate why some substances absorb heat when they react, while others release it. Students first solve the mystery of where the energy goes in endothermic reactions by examining salt dissolution and using magnets as models for bonds.  They then expand their investigations to look into where the energy comes from in exothermic reactions.  The model they continue to develop using magnets, helps them account for why breaking bonds absorbs energy from the surroundings and forming bonds releases energy back into the surroundings.   The end of the unit naturally motivates a new question to pursue in future units, “Why are some types of particles more attracted to one another than others?"


WHAT STUDENTS FIGURE OUT:

By the end of the unit, students develop ideas about the structure and properties of matter, chemical reactions, and the relationship between energy and forces.  These ideas include:  

  • A stable molecule has less energy than the same set of atoms separated; one must provide at least this energy in order to take the molecule apart.
  • When two objects interacting through a field change relative position, the energy stored in the field is changed.
  • Whether or not energy is stored or released in a chemical process, can be understood in terms of the collisions of molecules and the rearrangements of atoms into new molecules, with consequent changes in the sum of all bond energies in the set of molecules that are matched by changes in kinetic energy.


nextgenstorylines.org
These materials were developed with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to Northwestern University and from the NGSX Project at Clark University, Tidemark Institute, and Northwestern University. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 1
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