Good tech lab assignment, online work or on your own work. Self sustained module for teaching climate change.
might be good as a homework follow up for the differential heating lab
good summary of how we get paleoclimate data
Being a chemistry teacher as well I though I'd share a little demo we
do with the kids for colloids, mixtures, and solutions. For an
astronomy twist you could use this to show extinction of light as it
passes through the interstellar medium. Its always a crowd pleaser
with the kids.
Make a 10% Sodium thiosulfate solution by mixing 100 g into enough
water to make a 1 liter solution. You will also need a dropper bottle
with about 0.5 M HCl acid.
You will also need:
Overhead projector
Deep petri-dish (or beaker)
I place the empty beaker on the overhead and turn it on. I then
usually pour about a half of a beaker's worth of the sodion
thiosulfate solution and then start my discussion. I will add about
10-15 drops of acid to the solution and stir well. Then just wait.
Have the kids focus on the projected light on the screen (and not the
beaker on the overhead.)
You will see the light slowly redden and then progress to black. In
the beaker the solution will get slowly more milky over time. What
happens is the H+ reacts with the thiosulfate ions to produce
collodial sulfur. Over time the sulfur particles grow and will block
out longer wavelengths of light causing the light through solution the
first lack blues then move to the red end of the spectrum.
This demo has so many uses and is so versatile. If you have concerns
about the chemicals and solutions just go ask your chemistry teacher,
they should be a great resource. Plus they will know what to do with
the solutions when you are done.
As with any demo... try it out first! :-)