Chemistry ReACTION! Video

In the Chemistry ReACTION! project, groups had to work together to create a movie with at least four chemical reactions in it as special effects. Below is my group's video.

My group made our video remotely, so we each filmed one reaction at home. Our reactions were:

  1. A fizzing lake (Lava lamp experiment) - Bailey

  2. A volcano (Baking soda and vinegar volcano experiment) - Faith

  3. Fire (Flame test experiment) - Me

  4. Smoke (Dry ice experiment) - Syrah

Each reaction is explained and demonstrated in our video to display our understanding of the way that each of these reactions functions on a molecular level.

Key Concepts From The Unit

  • Chemical Reaction: A reaction in which the arrangement of elements or atoms is changed, typically changing the chemical properties of the substance

    • Synthesis Reaction: A chemical reaction in which two or more elements or compounds combine to make one compound

    • Decomposition Reaction: A chemical reaction in which one compound splits into two or more elements or compounds

    • Single Replacement Reaction: A chemical reaction in which one element in a compound is traded for another, resulting in the creation of a new compound

    • Double Replacement Reaction: A chemical reaction in which two elements in ionic compounds switch with each other in order to create two new compounds

    • Endothermic Reaction: A chemical reaction in which heat is absorbed, creating a cool environment

    • Exothermic Reaction: A chemical reaction in which heat is expelled in the process, creating a warm environment

    • Combustion Reaction: A chemical reaction in which a substance reacts with oxygen gas and releases energy in the form of heat and/or light

Copy of Dino Script

Here, to the left, is our script for our chemical reaction video. Our video was about the extinction of the dinosaurs and we used our reactions to demonstrate the effects of the meteor hitting the earth, including a volcano erupting, a lake boiling, smoke, and fire.

Reflection

This project was very fun, but was challenging because we did it all remotely. We were originally worried that it would look weird if each of our scenes was filmed in a completely different place, but it ended up being fine, and I am happy with our final movie. The final product was definitely a peak in our movie. I would also say that the reactions themselves were a peak. Everybody got good footage and our completed video was very coherent. A pit for this project would be our time management and our communication. We were good about communicating in some parts, and we had a group chat, but there were also times when it just fell apart. As for time management, I personally think that I just committed to a lot at once. I agreed to make stop motions for filler for our video, but stop motion animation takes a lot of time, and I have been having trouble with the app I use to make stop motions. That ended up taking a lot longer then I had planned on. After that I did my reaction fairly quickly but had a hard time explaining it which also delayed the completion of my director's cut piece. Overall, this project was awesome, and all of the videos that I saw were very cool.


I think that this video helped me expand on my communication, even though we did have a hard time with it at some points. Since we were working separately on one video, we were dependent on each other's parts to create our own and to put the whole video together. This project definitely required a lot of communication with the group in order to work effectively.

This project also focused me on critical thinking. I think that the online platform makes it more difficult to grasp the content as easily as I may have in person, so I think it was important to be driven and work toward building a concrete understanding of the unit material.

Here are the links to my team mates' websites: