SCH4U Unit 1: Structure & Properties of Matter
Lab Investigation: Determination of types of solids
Purpose: In small groups, you will be designing a lab procedure to determine what type of solids two
unknown samples are.
Notes: Please READ these before you start!
1. In designing your procedure, you can choose any of the lab materials available on the provided
sheet, make sure you list what you use in your write-up.
2. The procedure (and materials) must be approved by your teacher prior to doing the investigation.
3. Each group member is responsible for contributing to the lab – the actual investigation and the
subsequent write-up.
4. Although this is not a formal lab report, you should still include a table of observations
(qualitative and quantitative) as well as your conclusions about the solid type and the reasoning for
those conclusions.
5. Your group will also be presenting your results in front of the class (briefly – how you identified
your samples)
Submit the following as a group:
A. Pre-lab questions:
1. What types of solids are there and what are their properties (you could put this information into
a table)? Reference your sources of information for this in your write-up
2. What safety issues do you need to consider when you are testing your solids? And how will you
address these issues?
B. Procedure (rough) to be approved by teacher.
C. Observation tables
D. Interpretation of results:
1. Based on your observations, classify the types of solids for each unknown and explain your
reasoning.
2. Which test(s) was/were the most helpful in classifying the solids?
Submit the post-lab questions individually in class.
You will also be making a short (5-minute) group presentation to the class about the compounds you
had and how you identified them (test and interpretation of properties).
SCH4U Unit 1: Structure & Properties of Matter
SCH4U: Lab Investigation: Determination of types of solids
Please fill out the following table for your group and each member’s contribution (procedure design,
gathering of materials, recording of observations, typing out report, etc.):
Name of group member
Contribution of member
Evaluation: R- Resubmit, Level 1 (50-50%), Level 2 (60-69%), Level 3 (70-79%), Level 4 (80-100%
Expectation met
A1 - demonstrate scientific investigation skills
C2.6 conduct an inquiry to observe and analyse the physical properties of various
substances and to determine the type of chemical bonding present in each substance
C2.5 predict the type of solid formed by a given substance in a chemical reaction, and
describe the properties of that solid
C2.1 use appropriate terminology related to structure and properties of matter
Level achieved
SCH4U Unit 1: Structure & Properties of Matter
Lab Investigation: Determination of types of solids
Name:_____________________________
1) You classified solids into 4 groups. Which group or groups would:
A) Be soluble in water?
B) Conduct electricity ?
C) Be soluble in organic solvents?
D) Be slightly soluble in water and slightly conductive in that solution?
2) A solid is a white at room temperature. It melts at 80 0C and the melt has a slight
electrical conductivity. What would be its classification and why?
3) A white solid melts at 1000 0C and is insoluble in all solvents. The melt does not
conduct electricity. What would be its classification and why?
4) Classify each of the following species in one of the types of solids:
A) Potassium
B) Calcium carbonate
C) propane(C3H8)
D) diamond
5) List one test that did not seem to work well in this lab and propose a way to improve that
test.