Virtual Lab - Balancing Chemical Equations
Learning Intentions
- To learn how to balance a chemical equation
Notes
Go to the PhET Balancing Chemical Equation webpage. Click on "Introduction".
As a class, we will balance the chemical equations for making ammonia, separating water, and combusting methane.
If you are having difficulties, you can add one of the tools by clicking the menu in the top-right corner.
Questions
- Working alone, click on the "Game" button at the bottom of the screen. Choose the level that you think is appropriate for you, and answer all 5 questions.
- Click the "Continue" button.
- Take a screenshot of your stars, indicating which level you attempted.
- The theory of conservation of mass states that the mass of a closed system will stay the same over time. How does this lab provide evidence that mass is conserved in a chemical reaction?
Assessment
- Required Parts
- Screenshot
- Analysis question
- Analysis Question
- Does your answer show that you understand the idea of conservation of mass, as applied to chemical reactions?
| Required Parts |
Analysis Question |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1. Beginning | Most |
Simple |
| 2. Developing | - |
|
| 3. Applying | ✓ | ✓ |
Extra Notes
Fritz Haber is the chemist who discovered the process for removing nitrogen from the air, and combining it with hydrogen to form ammonia. This process is known as "nitrogen fixing", because nitrogen is converted from a gas into a liquid/solid that is "fixed".
Fritz Haber: Great Minds (9:40)