Catalysis and Engineering
Class: 8th grade
Unit: Science, Chemistry
Teachers: J. Prichard, K. Seyedmadani
Vocabulary: activation energy, Biomimicry, Catalyst, Chemistry, Chemical Equation, Conservation of
Mass, Elephant toothpaste, Engineering Grand Challenge, Observation, Photosynthesis, Solar Energy,
Objective:
In this quarter students are introduced to chemistry and chemical reactions; our goal is to introduce
students to the phenomenon of catalytics via real world application of catalyst in the Engineering Grand
Challenge involving solar energy utilizing inquiry based experiments.
The following are the goals of this lesson
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Applications of catalysts in new technology and research
Making Solar Energy Economical (EGC)
Biomimicry and application of synthetic photosynthesis using catalysts
Review of heat of reactions and activation energy as well as chemical balances
Introducing students to catalysis
Inquiry observation and data analysis
Arizona Educational Science Standard
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Strand 1, Concept 1, PO 2 and 3
Strand 1, Concept 2, PO 4 and 5
Strand 1, Concept 3, PO 4,5 and 8
Strand 1, Concept 4, PO 3
Strand 1, Concept 1, PO 2 and 3
Strand 2, Concept 1, PO 2
Strand 3, Concept 1, PO 2
Strand 3, Concept 2, PO 1
Strand 5, Concept 1, PO 2, 6 and 7
Duration of Lesson:
This lesson was design to take three class periods or three days.
Day
Description
Day 1
Introduction, Review and interactive inquiry chemical reaction
Day 2
Data analysis, review and making conclusion on experiment
Day 3
Grand Challenge and educated prediction based on observations
Day 1 (Tuesday):
Objective:
The students will be introduced to the concept of catalysis and its application in synthetic photosynthesis.
The class will divide in groups for an observation and experimentation.
Anticipatory Set: (Warm-UP)
a) The students will read the article titled “Artificial Leaf”. The article describes solar cell technology
developed at MIT that uses a catalyst to harness solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen
Students will highlight and text code the article as they read. * = key vocabulary; ! = important or
interesting; ? = confusing or something I have a question about; = = this reminds me of...
b) Then conduct a class discussion. Students share the results of their text coding. What vocabulary did
you text code? What do those terms or concepts mean? Pull out vocabulary - photosynthesis,
biomimicry, biomimetics, catalyst, energy, photovoltaics. What does photosynthesis do? How is this
technology like plants that use photosynthesis? Discuss potential applications of this technology.
c) Show the students the Engineering Grand Challenges website. They are all very familiar with these.
Ask the students “Which Grand Challenge is this technology aimed at solving?”
(10 min)
Introducing the challenge:
Students will be configured in groups of 3. They will be presented with a challenge; each group
represents a company. They have three ways of developing synthetic oxygen (O2 ) for NASA to simulate
an environment for human survival on the surface of Mars. The goal of their company is to determine the
most efficient way to make O2 from the chemical catalysts they have. The material they will produce is a
foam, which contains O2. In this experiment, students will conduct a decomposition reaction with
hydrogen peroxide using four different catalysts, activated yeast, potassium Iodide (KI), potassium sulfate
(K2SO4), and manganese dioxide (MnO2). (5 min)
Each team will have three sets of chemicals and the highest rate of oxygen production will be evaluated
via measuring the mass of the foam they develop in grams using triple beam balances.
They will also measure time and temperature of each reaction. (40 min)
Procedure:
The students were divided in two sets of Groups A and B which will determine which catalysts they are
provided. In each group one student is in charge of material, one is in charge of recording and one is in
charge of processing data.
The data recorded for each system is in the following:
· The mass of empty plates (measuring cup)
· The total time of the reactions
· The temperature of reaction every 10 sec
· The total mass of material in the end
Group A students will receive:
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3 empty measuring cups (or graduate cylinder)
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1 teaspoon (1 gr) of KI
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1 te spoon (1 gr) of MnO2
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3 Ml of H2O2
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1 spoon of soap
1 pipette
Group B students will receive:
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3 empty measuring cups (or graduate cylinder)
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1 teaspoon (1 g) of yeast
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1 teaspoon (1 g) of K2SO4
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3 Ml of H2O2
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1 spoonful of soap
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1 pipette
Each group will use three measuring cups; each measuring cup will contain 1 ml of H2O2. In the first cup
(the control cup) they will add 1 drop of soap and follow the following steps.
Step 1: They will measure temperature every 10 sec for three minutes.
Step 2: In the end they will record the mass of the material left in the cup after three minutes.
Step 3: Student record time of reaction in the control case is 3 min.
Cup #2 will set up with 1 ml of H2O2 and 1 g of catalyst add 1 drop of soap and add a 1 gr catalysts they
re-due steps 1- 3.
Cup # 3 will set up with 1 ml of H2O2 and 1 g of catalyst add 1 drop of soap and add a 1 gr of second
catalysts they re-due steps 1- 3.
Discussion and conclusion
Day 2: The lesson will follow up in day 2, students are required to follow this procedure by
graphing the following data.
1. Students will provide a copy of each graph for each catalyst they tested.
2. Group A students will compare the graphs of KI and MnO2. Group B students will compare the
data for yeast and K2SO4.
3. Group A and Group B must decide which of the two catalysts they tested is the most efficient
based on the data collected. Group A should choose KI. Group B should choose yeast.
4. Each group will also calculate the average results for time of reaction, maximum temperature of
reaction, and mass or volume of product collected.
5. Next, a Group A team will pair up with a Group B team and share their analysis of the data and
the averages they calculated up this point.
6. Each student will record class averages on his/her copy of the class data table.
7. Then, each group will return to their station or table and plot the averages for time of reaction,
maximum temperature of reaction, and mass or volume of product collected. Each student on the
team will create one of the following graphs.
● Graph 1: Based on catalyst and temperature
● Graph 2: Based on catalyst and Mass or volume
● Graph 3: Based on catalyst and total time of reactions
Day 3:
8. Warm-up: Students record the vocabulary in their notebooks.
● Activation energy (PS page 205)
● Biochemistry (look it up)
● Biomimicry (look it up)
● Catalyst (PS page 209)
● Chemistry (PS page 184)
● Chemical Equation (PS page 195)
● Conservation of Mass (PS page 196)
● Engineering Grand Challenge (look it up)
● Photosynthesis (LS page 87)
● Photosynthesis Equation (LS page 90)
9. What is the chemical equation for this experiment? Is the catalyst used up in the reaction?
● According to
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistrydemonstrations/a/elephanttooth.htm
● The overall equation for this reaction is:
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2 H2O2(aq) --> 2 H2O(l) + O2(g)
However, the decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen is catalzyed by the
iodide ion.
H2O2(aq) + I-(aq) --> OI-(aq) + H2O(l)
H2O2(aq) + OI-(aq) --> I-(aq) + H2O(l) + O2(g)
The dishwashing detergent captures the oxygen as bubbles. Food coloring can color the foam.
The heat from this exothermic reaction is such that the foam may steam. If the demonstration is
performed using a plastic bottle, you can expect slight distortion of the bottle from the heat.
Discuss that the equation shows that the catalyst does not get “used up” in the reaction.
10. Review the challenge - NASA needs the best method to produce oxygen for a base on Mars.
11. Which of these two catalysts, KI or yeast, is the most efficient catalyst to use for this purpose?
Why? Discuss in your team for 5 minutes. Then write your answer in the notebook.
12. Choose a spokesperson from the team to explain the results and tell the NASA representative why
your catalyst should be used.
13. Reread the Artificial Leaf article. Review Grand Challenge of Making Solar Energy More
Economical. How does this relate to what you did in the lab? What role do catalysts play in each
situation? Why do we want to make solar more widely used? Why not continue using fossil
fuels? What does economical mean? What does efficient mean?