U1 Activity: Exploring Properties of Water CER
Research Question: Can you use substances to determine which liquid is the correct antidote?
Solution B is the antidote to save the colleague. When salt was placed in both liquids, it only
dissolved in solution B. When gatorade was poured with both solutions, it became a homogenous
mixture with only solution B and separated in solution A. When wax paper was placed in both
solutions, it soaked up and became coated by solution A, but repelled solution B. When the paper
towel was was placed, it became coated by solution A but coated by solution B. Since salts are
ionic compounds, when they are placed in water, their bond breaks because both water and salt
are polar molecules. This means substance B is polar. When salt was placed in solution A, it
didn’t dissolve. Salts can’t dissolve in oil because oil has little to no charge which is required to
breaks up the salt. Polar substances can interact with other polar substances. The gatorade is
polar and didn’t mix with the substance A, inferring that substance A is non polar. The gatorade
created a homogeneous mixture with substance B. The wax paper repelled substance B and also
allowed it to bead up on the slice of paper. This meant that substance B had a high surface
tension and high cohesion. The cohesion forces for polar substances are much higher than those
of non polar substances such as oil. The wax paper had soaked up the oil telling us that the wax
was an oil and both non polar substances. The paper towel placed in both substances absorbed
both of them. This is due to capillary action because of high adhesion of water ithat allow it to
travel through the small pockets of the paper towel.