Content:
For this project, we had to design a board game with rules, instructions, an overarching theme, and game pieces. Just in case that was too easy, we also had to incorporate different types of chemical reactions into our board game, opening up a whole world of possibilities in terms of our theme. It didn't take us long to come up with an idea that incorporated the fun and competitiveness of traditional family games, as well as the little bit of crazy that we all have in ourselves. Our board game, to provide an overview, was based on The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins. The main focus of the game was to basically stay alive for as long as possible, and to make things interesting, we threw in components of "Cornucopia Cards", which granted the owner certain perks, and "Action Cards", which allowed you to get others out (but could also get you out). Players would take turns rolling a die, moving their piece, and depending on whether they landed on a blue, red, or white space, they would have to draw a card or end their turn.
In terms of the actual chemistry behind the game, we needed to include a single displacement reaction, a double displacement reaction, a reaction that produced gas, and a reaction that would light an LED. To keep in theme with The Hunger Games, we also added a combustion reaction (where we set things on fire). For our single displacement reaction, we had a variety of ideas to begin with, but because of time and an issue with our first idea, we ended up using zinc and hydrochloric acid. To briefly go into the science, the free zinc would replace the hydrogen ions in the acid, resulting in the formation of zinc chloride and hydrogen gas. This is because zinc is higher on the activity series than hydrogen, meaning that it can displace hydrogen in an ionic solution. In the next reaction, a double displacement one, we used five different compounds: sodium hydroxide, copper (II) nitrate, potassium chromate, silver nitrate, and sodium acetate. Depending on which two compounds were mixed, the solutions would either produce two soluble solutions or a precipitate, which results in a change in color. The next reaction, a production of gas, was an acid-base reaction between sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and acetic acid (vinegar), generating large amounts of carbon dioxide, filling a balloon. Our fourth reaction was the lighting of an LED, which we accomplished by creating a circuit out of lemons, zinc nails, and copper pennies. The oxidation-reduction reaction that takes place in the lemons with the two metals is similar to that of an actual battery, and the resulting voltage allows the LED to light up. While it wasn't a traditional chemical reaction, it was a neat idea and interesting to learn about. Our final reaction, and my favorite one, was a combustion reaction, in which a hydrocarbon, which in our case was isopropyl alcohol, reacts with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, water, heat, and light. To add some flair, we added an ionic salt, strontium chloride, to our tube to produce a deep red flame that mimicked some of the flames in the Hunger Games movie.
Below is a copy of our game's instructions, rules, and safety protocols.
For this project, we had to design a board game with rules, instructions, an overarching theme, and game pieces. Just in case that was too easy, we also had to incorporate different types of chemical reactions into our board game, opening up a whole world of possibilities in terms of our theme. It didn't take us long to come up with an idea that incorporated the fun and competitiveness of traditional family games, as well as the little bit of crazy that we all have in ourselves. Our board game, to provide an overview, was based on The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins. The main focus of the game was to basically stay alive for as long as possible, and to make things interesting, we threw in components of "Cornucopia Cards", which granted the owner certain perks, and "Action Cards", which allowed you to get others out (but could also get you out). Players would take turns rolling a die, moving their piece, and depending on whether they landed on a blue, red, or white space, they would have to draw a card or end their turn.
In terms of the actual chemistry behind the game, we needed to include a single displacement reaction, a double displacement reaction, a reaction that produced gas, and a reaction that would light an LED. To keep in theme with The Hunger Games, we also added a combustion reaction (where we set things on fire). For our single displacement reaction, we had a variety of ideas to begin with, but because of time and an issue with our first idea, we ended up using zinc and hydrochloric acid. To briefly go into the science, the free zinc would replace the hydrogen ions in the acid, resulting in the formation of zinc chloride and hydrogen gas. This is because zinc is higher on the activity series than hydrogen, meaning that it can displace hydrogen in an ionic solution. In the next reaction, a double displacement one, we used five different compounds: sodium hydroxide, copper (II) nitrate, potassium chromate, silver nitrate, and sodium acetate. Depending on which two compounds were mixed, the solutions would either produce two soluble solutions or a precipitate, which results in a change in color. The next reaction, a production of gas, was an acid-base reaction between sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and acetic acid (vinegar), generating large amounts of carbon dioxide, filling a balloon. Our fourth reaction was the lighting of an LED, which we accomplished by creating a circuit out of lemons, zinc nails, and copper pennies. The oxidation-reduction reaction that takes place in the lemons with the two metals is similar to that of an actual battery, and the resulting voltage allows the LED to light up. While it wasn't a traditional chemical reaction, it was a neat idea and interesting to learn about. Our final reaction, and my favorite one, was a combustion reaction, in which a hydrocarbon, which in our case was isopropyl alcohol, reacts with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, water, heat, and light. To add some flair, we added an ionic salt, strontium chloride, to our tube to produce a deep red flame that mimicked some of the flames in the Hunger Games movie.
Below is a copy of our game's instructions, rules, and safety protocols.
Concepts:
Single Displacement Reaction: A reaction in which an element (eg. calcium) replaces its counterpart (copper) in a solution (copper chloride)
Double Displacement Reaction: A reaction where two aqueous solutions switch similar ions with each other, forming two new solutions
Precipitate: An insoluble solid formed in a double displacement reaction
Synthesis Reaction: A reaction in which two reactants combine to form one product
Decomposition Reaction: The opposite of synthesis, where one reactant separates into two products
Combustion Reaction: A reaction where a hydrocarbon and oxygen react to form carbon dioxide, water, heat, and light
Ions: Versions of an element that are not electrically neutral, meaning that they have a charge
Activity Series: The order of the reactivity of elements that allows us to predict whether a metal will displace the cation in a solution
Solubility Guidelines: Guidelines that allow us to predict whether two aqueous solutions will form a soluble solution or a precipitate
Chemical Change: A change in the chemical properties or composition of a material
Physical Change: A change in the shape, phase, or form of an object in which it retains its identity (composition, chemical formula, etc.)
Single Displacement Reaction: A reaction in which an element (eg. calcium) replaces its counterpart (copper) in a solution (copper chloride)
Double Displacement Reaction: A reaction where two aqueous solutions switch similar ions with each other, forming two new solutions
Precipitate: An insoluble solid formed in a double displacement reaction
Synthesis Reaction: A reaction in which two reactants combine to form one product
Decomposition Reaction: The opposite of synthesis, where one reactant separates into two products
Combustion Reaction: A reaction where a hydrocarbon and oxygen react to form carbon dioxide, water, heat, and light
Ions: Versions of an element that are not electrically neutral, meaning that they have a charge
Activity Series: The order of the reactivity of elements that allows us to predict whether a metal will displace the cation in a solution
Solubility Guidelines: Guidelines that allow us to predict whether two aqueous solutions will form a soluble solution or a precipitate
Chemical Change: A change in the chemical properties or composition of a material
Physical Change: A change in the shape, phase, or form of an object in which it retains its identity (composition, chemical formula, etc.)
Above is a montage of each of our reactions, but with no explanations or information.
For those more interested in the reactions and the science behind them, here's a video of our presentation.
Reflection:
This was one of the best projects that I've done since freshman year, to say the least. My group was great to work with, especially with the fact that people were willing to put in time outside of school to do work on the project, and the general feeling was amicable. No one was trying to take control of the entire project, which has happened in other classes before, and everyone was contributing to the final product, whether it was through ideas or finding things for the chemical reactions. However, that doesn't mean there were difficult moments throughout the course of the project. On the bright side, these pits had nothing to do with people, but rather, it had to do more with our reactions. The first pit came when we were working on the combustion reaction, and we couldn't really find a way to produce a large fire without engulfing the entire board, which was made out of wood, in flames. Luckily, there was another group in a different class trying to solve the same problem, so we were able to find solutions that fit the theme of both of our projects. Another pit, once again revolving around time constraints and reactions, was about our single replacement reaction. We initially had a plan to put calcium into water, which would produce hydrogen gas, calcium oxide, and a visually appealing reaction, and should have worked. However, the two didn't react and we had less than a day to figure out a suitable replacement that would not only be interesting but also stay consistent with the action card that was designed for the calcium reaction. There were multiple peaks, though, and the biggest one would have to be our group's work ethic. Our ability to work hard, combined with the way that we were able to split up the work, allowed us to cope with the time constraints and create something that we were all proud of. The second peak of our project was the presentation night itself, which went by as well as it could have. It was incredibly fun, and the best part of it was that it seemed like the players were genuinely enjoying the game, since I was a bit unsure whether the game would be as captivating as it ended up being. Overall, there isn't much that I would change in this project.
This was one of the best projects that I've done since freshman year, to say the least. My group was great to work with, especially with the fact that people were willing to put in time outside of school to do work on the project, and the general feeling was amicable. No one was trying to take control of the entire project, which has happened in other classes before, and everyone was contributing to the final product, whether it was through ideas or finding things for the chemical reactions. However, that doesn't mean there were difficult moments throughout the course of the project. On the bright side, these pits had nothing to do with people, but rather, it had to do more with our reactions. The first pit came when we were working on the combustion reaction, and we couldn't really find a way to produce a large fire without engulfing the entire board, which was made out of wood, in flames. Luckily, there was another group in a different class trying to solve the same problem, so we were able to find solutions that fit the theme of both of our projects. Another pit, once again revolving around time constraints and reactions, was about our single replacement reaction. We initially had a plan to put calcium into water, which would produce hydrogen gas, calcium oxide, and a visually appealing reaction, and should have worked. However, the two didn't react and we had less than a day to figure out a suitable replacement that would not only be interesting but also stay consistent with the action card that was designed for the calcium reaction. There were multiple peaks, though, and the biggest one would have to be our group's work ethic. Our ability to work hard, combined with the way that we were able to split up the work, allowed us to cope with the time constraints and create something that we were all proud of. The second peak of our project was the presentation night itself, which went by as well as it could have. It was incredibly fun, and the best part of it was that it seemed like the players were genuinely enjoying the game, since I was a bit unsure whether the game would be as captivating as it ended up being. Overall, there isn't much that I would change in this project.