A Collaborative Effort
Title: Production and Effects
Class: Environmental Botany
Grade: 11-12
Timeframe: 1-2 days
Knowledge Gap Topic
of Acid Rain
Human production of energy contributes to stream degradation
pH is an important factor in stream health
Subject Matter/
Key Vocabulary
Bituminous coal, sulfur dioxide, acid, base, indicator, calcium carbonate,
acid rain
Essential Question/
Over-Arching Concept/
Key Understanding
Curriculum Connections
 OGT standards
 Local standards
Essential Question 2: How human activities influence stream?
Instructional Objectives
Materials
Additional Documents
Introduction
 focus event
 varies with teacher
Development
 major parts of unit/
lesson
Physical Science 9-10: B
Explain how atoms react with each other to form other substances and
how molecules react with each other or other atoms to form even different
substances.
Earth Science 9-10: D
Describe the finite nature of Earth's resources and those human activities
that can conserve or deplete Earth's resources.
O1) Students comprehend that burning fossil fuel coal causes acid rain,
which can affect lakes and streams many miles away from power plants.
O2) Students assess that acid rain is formed from burning high sulfur coal
and then how that mixed with water produces acid rain.
O3) Students infer that acid rain can not only affect life, but can affect
building materials, etc.
Demo: sulfur, manganese dioxide, hydrogen peroxide, flask (500 ml or
larger) with delivery tube, pneumatic trough (or facsimile) and collection
bottles for oxygen, bromothymol blue, wooden splints,
Lab: Cat’s eyes or other calcium carbonate shells, vinegar, petri dishes,
bromothymol blue, distilled water
Conduct a demonstration that shows chemical change.
1) React H2O2 with MnO2 in flask, collect 4-5 bottles of oxygen by water
displacement, keeping a small amount of water in each.
2) Demo test for oxygen (glowing splint bursts into flame)
3) Burn sulfur in oxygen producing SO2 and shake/mix with water
4) Test normal water and SO2 water with indicator (bromothymol blue)
showing change to acid
5) Allow students to smell SO2 (demo correct way)
6) Show students composition reaction for adding sulfur and oxygen, and
then adding sulfur dioxide to water
Conduct a laboratory experience
1) Diagram the reaction of an acid with CaCO3, showing how CO2 is
produced
2) Have students measure 4 Cat’s Eyes/shells for diameter and thickness
and record
3) Put 2 in distilled or normal water, put 2 in vinegar
4) Have students observe for a few minutes … ask them to hypothesize
Designing Watershed-based Education and Extension Efforts through a Mental Models Research Approach
USDA-CSREES National Integrated Water Quality Program
Rigor/Relevance Quadrant(s)
 link to rigor/relevance
document
Product/Artifacts/Student
Evidence of Understanding
why the shells in the vinegar move and what the bubbles might be
5) Let sit for 24-48 hours and re-measure.
A: Must use terms correctly … acid rain, pollutant, sulfur dioxide, carbon
dioxide, calcium carbonate,
B: Simulate acid rain reacting with calcium carbonate in buildings via using
Cat’s eyes or other CaCO3 shells, graph results collected in an experiment
C: Come up with correct composition reactions for making SO2 and for
making acid rain
D: Brainstorm ways that acid rain might affect human and/or wildlife
Students write out reactions for production of SO2 and for acid rain
Students measure and then graphically show differences between shells
placed in acid rain and in normal water
Students produce brainstorm lists of how acid rain may affect environment
Accommodations
 plan B
 differentiated instruction
Actually, this hands on activity has many facets and most students can
find one or two parts that they do well and can learn from … not much
need to differentiate, as it already reaches several learning styles.
Formative
Assessment/Feedback
 measure of progress
Use questions during demo to assess understanding
Have students demonstrate technique in measuring shells
Pop quiz (formative only) on writing the equations form forming sulfur
dioxide and combining sulfur dioxide with rain to form sulfurous acid
Have students describe how bromothymol blue works as an indicator of
pH
Students do an open ended essay, describing why burning high sulfur coal
may be bad for streams. Ask them to include a chemical equation and a
discussion of pH to help them make their case.
Students should complete the Cat’s Eye Lab questions, using an equation
to describe why shells move around Petri dish and why the shells
decrease in size.
Final Evaluation
 project rubric
 oral or paper quiz/test
 portfolio
Teacher Reflection
 complete after lesson
Kids loved the “bubbling” and movement of the Cats Eye shell. Most
understood and demonstrated the acid dissolving the calcium carbonate
shell and related it to acid rain.
They also love the demo making acid rain …. Especially learning the tests
for oxygen, burning the mg in the oxygen, and smelling the SO2. Over the
years, this is one of student favorite demos in all classes.
Designers/Email: Fred Donelson (fdonelson@gjps.org)
Additional Comments: A fun demo and hands-on activity to help students understand how acid rain is produced,
as well as how to test for it and to see its effects on calcium carbonate items. It should be used in conjunction
with some pictures from acid lakes in Canada and/or the Adirondack mountains to relate Ohio coal burning plants
to effects several hundred miles away.
Designing Watershed-based Education and Extension Efforts through a Mental Models Research Approach
USDA-CSREES National Integrated Water Quality Program
Designing Watershed-based Education and Extension Efforts through a Mental Models Research Approach
USDA-CSREES National Integrated Water Quality Program