H20 OLYMPICS
Name___________________________________
Partner__________________________________
Objective: To examine the properties of the compound water and relate these properties to
the importance of water to living organisms.
Properties of Water:
1. Adhesion- _________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Cohesion- _________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Surface Tension-__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Dissolving -__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
a. Solvent - ______________________________________________________________________________
b. Solute - ________________________________________________________________________________
5. Polarity- __________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Hydrogen Bonding- ______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notes on pH of a substance:
1. When a water molecule splits, what ions does it form?
2. What is the pH scale used for?
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3. What is the difference between an acid and a base?
4. What is a neutral substance?
5. Draw a pH scale labeling the strongest acid, the strongest base and the neutral zone.
6. Tomatoes have a pH of approximately 4. Are they acidic or basic? ____________________ Label tomatoes
on your pH scale above.
7. Household cleaners that contain ammonia have a pH of approximately 11. Are they acidic or basic?
__________________ Label household cleaners on your pH scale above.
8. How do you find the pH of a liquid?
Pre-lab Questions:
1. Draw a water molecule. Label each element, show the covalent bonding of the electrons,
and indicate the charge on each part of the molecule.
2. Describe what we mean when we call water a polar molecule.
3. What is hydrogen bonding?
4. Draw 2 water molecules connected by a hydrogen bond
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EVENT ONE: The Balance Beam – A Penny for your Thoughts!
Materials: eyedropper, penny, water, towels
Goal: To get as many drops of water on a penny as you can!!!
Procedure:
1. Predict how many drops you can get on a penny, before it runs over. Record you
prediction.
Prediction _________________# of drops.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Holding the dropper straight up and down, close to, but not touching the penny.
Count as you place FULL drops on the penny.
Stop when the water spills.
Record the number of drops on your score sheet at the end of this lab for both you and your
partner. Determine the winner by the person who had more drops.
6. Wipe up area, dry the penny, leave station like you found it!!
7. What property of water was demonstrated with this activity? Explain why.
EVENT TWO: Backstroke – Clipping Along!
Materials: cups, water, paper clips, plastic forks
Goal: To float as many paper clips on a water surface as possible.
Procedure:
1. YOU MUST USE A DRY PAPER CLIP AND THE WATER IN THE CUP MUST BE STILL FOR THIS
EVENT TO WORK.
2. If it’s not done already, fill the plastic cup with water to within 0.5 inch of the top.
3. Use a plastic fork to place a paper clip horizontally on the surface of the water in the
plastic cup without the paper clip sinking to the bottom.
4. Repeat for as many paper clips as you can have floating at the same time.
5. Record your total number of floating paper clips on the score sheet at the end of this lab for
both you and your partner. The winner is the person with the most floating paper clips.
6. Dry the paper clips and put them back in the container.
7. What property of water is demonstrated in this activity? Explain why.
8. Explain how certain living organisms use this property to their advantage.
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EVENT THREE: Parallel bars (or sometimes known as pH bars!!)
Materials: beakers containing clear liquids, pH strips
Goal: To determine if a liquid is water by testing the pH.
Procedure:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Tear 1 strip of pH paper in half.
Using the forceps, place the pH paper in 1of the liquids.
Allow the pH strip to dry for a second or two.
Determine the pH of the liquid by using the scale provided on the pH paper bottle
Use the other half of the pH strip for the next liquid
Put the used pH strips in the plastic “trash” container at this station
Record your results:
Liquid A _________________
Liquid C _____________________
Liquid B __________________
Liquid D_____________________
a. Which liquid is water? __________ How do you know (and not by smell)? ___________
________________________________________________________________________________
b. Which liquids were acids? _____________________________________________________
c. Which liquids were bases? ____________________________________________________
EVENT FOUR: High Dive – Float or sink?
Materials: beaker of water, forks, paperclips, dropper of detergent, plastic bowl
Goal: Observe how detergent changes the property of surface tension in water.
Procedure:
1. Do this event with your partner as a group. Use 1 Styrofoam cup for the two of you.
2. Fill a clean Styrofoam cup half way with water.
3. Just like you did in the second event, you are going to use the fork to float a paper clip
horizontally on top of the water. REMEMBER, THE PAPER CLIP MUST BE DRY AND THE
WATER MUST BE STILL.
4. While the paper clip is floating on the surface and the fork has been removed, add one
small drop of soap to the water and observe the results.
5. Clean up your area by stacking your cup by the sink, rinse and dry the paper clip and
fork and return these items to the container.
6. What happened to the paper clip when you added the drop of soap? Explain why in
terms of either adhesion, cohesion, or surface tension.
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EVENT FIVE: slalom – Weaving In and Out!
Materials: 2 brands of paper towels in strips, tall beakers, ruler, colored water.
Goal: Observe the absorbency of paper towels.
Procedure:
1. Both you and your partner should each fill a beaker to approximately 50mL of colored
water.
2. Hold 1 end of the Brand A paper towel strip and place the other end into the beaker,
allowing the paper towel to just touch the surface of the water.
3. Let the towel absorb water until it stops rising.
4. Remove towel and measure the distance the water moved up the paper towel in
centimeters.
5. Record the distance the water traveled on your score sheet for both you and your partner.
The winner is the person whose water traveled up the paper towel the farthest
6. Repeat steps 1-5 with Brand B paper towel.
7. Clean up area by throwing away towels and wiping up any spills.
8. What property of water was demonstrated in this activity? Explain why.
EVENT SIX: Synchronized Swimming – Solve and Dissolve
Materials: water in beakers, salt, sand, stirrers
Goal: To understand how substances dissolve in water.
Procedure:
1. Do this event with your partner as a group.
2. Pour approximately 100 mL of water into both beakers.
3. Place 2.5 grams of Substance A into one cup and stir for at least 15 seconds.
4. Place 8-10 grams of Substance B into the other cup of water and stir for at least 15 seconds.
5. Clean up your area by rinsing both beakers in the bucket of water provided. DO NOT
PUT ANY OF THESE SUBSTANCES DOWN THE SINK DRAIN. Dry both beakers and stirrers
and return them to the table.
6. Explain what happened in both beakers in terms of dissolving.
Substance A: _____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Substance B:_____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7. Was water the solute or solvent in this event? ____________________
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EVENT SEVEN: Long Jump – Go for the Distance!!
Materials: Two cups, water, ruler, string, meter stick, tape
Goal: To observe water traveling along a string for a certain distance.
Procedure:
1. DO THIS EVENT OVER THE BUCKET. CLEAN UP ANY WATER YOU SPILL!
2. Place string 1 (the shortest one) into the water so that it is completely wet and then remove
it from the water.
3. Fill one cup half full with water.
4. Place one end of the string in the water.
5. Place the other end of the string above the empty cup.
6. You have to keep the string tight between the two cups or this event will not work.
7. Pour the water down the string into the cup. The water will “travel” down the string into
the other cup. The water can no longer be spilling and at the same time traveling the entire
distance down the string.
8. Continue to the next sizes of string until time runs out.
9. Measure (in cm) the distance of string that you successfully had water travel down. Record
this information in the data table for both you and your partner. The winner for this event is
the person with the longest string length of water travel.
10. Clean up area by wiping any spills and throw towels in trash.
11. What 2 properties of water are demonstrated in this activity? Explain why.
SCOREBOARD
Event 1
(# of drops)
Event 2
(# of clips)
Event 5
(Height in cm)
A
Your Score
Event 7
(Length in cm)
B
Your
Partner’s
Score
Name of event
winner
Who was the overall winner for the water Olympics lab? ___________________________________
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Name___________________
Water Olympics Conclusion Questions
Answer the following questions in complete sentences that rephrase the question. Failure to
answer questions properly will result in re-writing the ENTIRE lab.
1. Choose one event in which you witnessed surface tension. Explain in detail what happened
in this event. Use words like hydrogen bonding, cohesion, adhesion, and surface tension in
your answer.
2. In the slalom event, what factors might have caused the differences in the distance the
water traveled between the two brands of paper towels? Use words like hydrogen
bonding, charge, and adhesion in your answer.
3. Why is water able to dissolve some substances and not others?
4. Which property of water do you find most interesting and why? First explain the property
and then provide explanation for your choice.
5. What would life be like without water? Give 3 examples to support your answer.
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