Chemical Dominoes

For this project we were tasked with creating an easy to play board game that would showcase our advanced skills about a variety of different chemical reactions such as single replacement, double displacement, production of a gas, and lighting if an LED. To do this we did a simple step by step progression game with the steps to pass different obstacles to make your way to an oil barons house and set the LED alight causing the house to catch on fire ending the game.

Direct Action the Board game:

This game revolves around "Saving the Polar Bears" (no polar bears included). To do this you have to cross a dangerous fracking site which is pumping out oil and polluting and damaging the icy environment our board is taken place at.

Chemical reaction #One

The first reaction you have to complete is when your board pieces cross a lake filled with hydrochloric acid. To get past this lake you have to "freeze the lake" by forming a precipitate, to do this you dump the bucket full of silver nitrate being held by the crane over head. this forming a precipitate of silver chloride and an aqueous solution of hydrogen nitrate.

Path 1

In order to pass, you must destroy the evil excavator that has been digging up polar bear homes. In order to do this, pick between two chemicals to melt the magnesium metal in the machine. One chemical is hydrochloric acid, a “very strong” acid that can break material down. The other is sodium chloride, a neutral substance that is commonly found.

Path 2

here lays a red acid lake in front of you on the second path, this due to the fracking, ruining the environment, and releasing deadly pollutants to the polar bears. To make the lake crossable you have to pour one of two chemicals into the lake making it safe. Choose between sodium hydroxide (NaOH) which has a very basic level of about 14 pH. Or choose “MORE RED ACID” which is acidic (5).

Path 3

The third path is a hot air balloon ride over a lava lake, in this arctic tundra. To cross this lake you’ll need to get your balloon up and running by mixing one of the two chemicals. In the flask already is a solution of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCo3). Choose the balloon marked with “X” to mix in vinegar also known as acetic acid (NaHc03). Choose the balloon marked in “O” to mix in warm water to see which one reacts and gets your hot air balloon up and running. Remember, an acid will often yield a gas when mixed with stuff, and gas is required to run your balloon.

Path 4

The fourth path lies in front of you, but there are no obstacles. But at the end is a circuit board that can trigger an explosion that will take down the baron’s house. However, you must be wary of traps, so move forward slowly and wait for your friends to complete their tasks before you place your special piece on the board. Once your companions have completed their own journeys, take your game piece and push it onto the copper tape on the board and hold it there. If you did this correctly, a button will be pushed to your left and the torch will be lit.


Once the LED has been lit the board game is over and the brave players have successfully saved the lives of many cuddly polar bears and ends the game.

In depth behind the board game:

single displacement reaction:

Definition: When the cation element replaces the cation element in another molecule creating a new molecule and leaving a cation not bonded.

Our example: Magnesium + Hydro-chloric acid yielding Magnesium Chloride and Hydrogen gas.

Double displacement reaction

Definition: when two ionic compounds react and the cations in both compounds replace one another creating two new molecules

Our examples:

  1. Hydro chloric acid + silver nitrate yielding silver chloride and Hydrogen Nitrate

  2. Hydro chloric acid + Sodium Hydroxide yielding Sodium Chloride + water

  3. Sodium bicarbonate + acetic acid (vinegar in our example) yielding sodium acetate + carbonic acid.

Production of a gas:

Definition: when two molecules form a chemical reaction when mixed and a gas is produced as a product of such reaction.

Our example: sodium bicarbonate + acetic acid yielding sodium acetate + water + carbon dioxide.

Lighting an LED:

One of the requirements for our project was to light an led through incorporating some form of chemical reaction. to do this we decided to create a glowing light by burning a piece of magnesium by an electronically lit sparker connected to copper tape which is activated when the playing piece is placed on said copper tape. once the sparker is set off it catches alight the bunsen burner set below and within a minute the magnesium is burning bright white light. This white light is then caught by a light sensor which sends signals telling the Arduino below to turn on the LED which then successfully ends the board game.

Reflection

My two peaks in this project was my improvement in, critical thinking via thinking up new mechanical and chemical ways to create chemical reactions for our project. I also did well in conscientious learning via using my learning from the class and expanding off that to find new chemicals which can create needed chemical reactions in our project and also using skills in the maker space to build real life projects which can use physics principles from other classes to drop chemicals and create real mechanically working objects for our board game.

My two pits were in communicator and character. Communicator due to lacking in communication skills with my group by not really trying to lead the group or give out instructions but by communicating little and just trying to get work done. My other pit was in character as I felt like this project relied heavily on lighting the LED and my lacking character and weakness in electronics really brought me down not allowing me to help with the programming or fix bugs in the arduino.