Day

Modeling Chemical Equations with Pop Cubes 🔬

📅 Due Date: Today (End of Class)
📌 Extra Practice: Available in Google Classroom for students who finish early

In this hands-on activity, you will use pop cubes to build and balance chemical equations. This will help you visualize how atoms rearrange during chemical reactions while ensuring that mass is conserved in a reaction.

What You’ll Do:

1️⃣ Build Chemical Reactions with Pop Cubes

• Use different colored cubes to represent atoms of elements like oxygen (O), hydrogen (H), carbon (C), and iron (Fe).

• Construct models of reactants (starting substances) and products (new substances formed) in each reaction.

2️⃣ Write & Balance Chemical Equations

• Represent reactions using word equations and chemical formulas (e.g., C + O₂ → CO₂).

• Count atoms on both sides to ensure they are equal (Law of Conservation of Mass).

• Use coefficients to balance equations if needed.

3️⃣ Analyze and Compare Reactions

• Compare physical models with written equations to understand how molecules break apart and form new ones.

• Recognize different types of reactions (e.g., synthesis, decomposition, and replacement reactions).

Key Takeaways:

✅ Atoms are not created or destroyed in a chemical reaction—they just rearrange!
✅ Balancing equations ensures that mass is conserved (the same number of atoms exist before and after the reaction).
✅ Visualizing reactions with models helps understand real-world chemical changes, like combustion, rusting, and digestion.

💡 Reminder: Your completed activity is due today at the end of class. If you finish early, extra practice is available in Google Classroom! 🎯💡