Chemical Reactions Movie

Overview

To obtain a better understanding of the different chemical reactions and how they work, we were tasked with making a short film using chemical reactions as the special effects (for example, using baking soda and vinegar to create a reaction and then portraying it as a volcano in the movie). However, because it was a larger project, we were put into groups of four so the reactions could be delegated, lightening the work load, but because we were not in class, we had to be creative in our ways. In order to include all four people in the project, each person would create their own scenes for the movie and they were all edited together to create a cohesive film for presentation night.

1. Invisible Ink - the invisible ink reaction was simply a mixture of water, H20, and lemon juice, C6H8O7, to create glucaric acid, or C6H10O8. When heated, the glucaric acid darkened on paper, from clear to a light brown, because the heat caused the compound to change colors.

2. Mini explosion - to create the mini explosion, we used the mini poppers you can get at Dollar Tree or any other store that sells party supplies. Inside of the paper wrapping, the poppers contain sand and silver fulminate. When the little poppers hit a surface or are put under a lot of force, the silver rubs against the sand and combusts. This creates a tiny explosion with a disproportionately bigger popping noise.

3. Larger explosion - for our larger explosion, aluminum foil and drain cleaner, made of sodium hydroxide were mixed and shaken in a closed water bottle. The mixture created aluminum chloride and produced hydrogen gas. When shake, this reaction intensified, creating a lot of gas, filling up the closed water bottle and causing it to burst open with smoke, i.e our explosion.

4. Poison - in order to create our poison, ammonia was put into a cup and a dirty, copper penny was placed inside. The copper oxide layer on the outside of the penny dissolves into the ammonia, creating bubbles and turning the yellow ammonia blue.

Context

• Chemical Reactions - a change in molecular or ionic structure of a substance, these four reactions were used to help us specify our reactions and show our understanding for the chemistry behind them

  • Single Replacement - one element replaces another in a simple compound A + BC -> AB + C

  • Double Replacement - the ions of two compounds exchange places in an aqueous solution to form two new compounds AB + CD -> AC + BD

  • Synthesis - two or more compounds combine to form one A+B -> AB

  • Decomposition - a single compound produces two or more simpler substances AB -> A+B

• Oxide - when any element is combined with oxygen

• The Law of Conservation of Mass - atoms can neither be created or destroyed, very important to remember when balancing equations the number of reactant atoms has to be the same as the number or product atoms

Reflection

This was the first and only group project I have done at all this school year, including my other classes, so I had no expectations for how it would work out. However, considering I could not work with my partners in person, it went exceptionally well. I took on the role of the "leader" and established the plot of the movie. We then brainstormed ideas for special effects like explosions and gun shots and a whole bunch of other things, but we had to narrow it down to things that we were capable of in our own homes. We then delegated the reactions to each person and filmed our own parts individually. I think the reason it was so easy was because we all took responsibility for our own portion of the project and were able to trust that our fellow partners would do the same, which they did. Some group members took a little longer to submit their portion of the work, but I was persistent with reminding them of the deadline and the work was eventually turned in and very well done. Most members were also very prepared for the virtual presentation and I believe that the project was an overall success. This project relied on heavy cooperation but in a different way; rather than directly working, writing, and filming together as we would in class setting, it was more of a bringing together of ideas and everyone having an equivalent workload. Though I did play the leadership role, everyone wrote and filmed their scenes on their own so everyone was able to really have their own creativity shown in their scene, yet it was still able to be put into a cohesive movie, which I found very interesting.