stem Chem: Chemical Dominoes Project
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Chemical Dominoes
Similar to what we did in freshmen year with the Rube Goldberg machines, we are building basically a mini Rube Goldberg but the chain reactions are triggered by chemical reactions. Our end goal is to have a LED light turn on. The whole setup itself wasn't as big as we expected but the chemical reactions took time to react and trigger the next step. Our project included a range of reactions from black powder igniting, to copper chloride melting through aluminum. Our project video is ready to view and all of our individual steps are fully explained and listed below.
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Above is the overall layout of our project. Similar to our Rube Goldberg from freshmen year, this project setup completes a various amount of steps triggered by chemical reactions to ultimately turn on a LED light bulb. The process begins with a reaction between Potassium Permanganate and Glycerin, which creates heat energy that ignites a fuse soaked in rubbing alcohol. The fuse travels up to a controlled release of gas to ignite a bunsen burner. The burner heats the bottom of a flask filled with sodium chloride, when heated it releases the gas CO2(carbon dioxide), which inflates a balloon. The ballon is under a lever, the lever lifts u and is tied to a small cup containing copper chloride. The cup spills and the copper chloride makes contact with the aluminum. Copper chloride melts through the aluminum to allow the circuit to break and therefore lighting the LED light.
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Reactions:Reaction 1: Combustion
C3H8O3(s) + KMnO4 -> H2O + CO2 ^ ^ ^ ^ Glycerin Black powder Water Carbon dioxide - This combustion reaction ignited the fuse to start our chain of chemical reactions. Any combustion reaction yields water and carbon dioxide. Reaction 2: Decomposition CaCO3(s) -> CaO(s) + CO2 ^ ^ ^ Sodium Calcium Carbon carbonate monoxide dioxide - The product of this reaction creates a carbon dioxide gas, therefore inflating the balloon. Reaction 3: Single replacement Cu(II)C12 + 2Al(s) -> 3Cu(s) + 2AlCl3 ^ ^ ^ ^ Copper Aluminum Copper Aluminum chloride chloride - The copper chloride solution makes contact with the aluminum foil and single replacement occurs, breaking the aluminum foil, breaking the circuit and completing the step by lighting the LED light bulb. |
reflection:I am very happy with the out come from this project. My group and I worked very well in this unit. We started this unit back in the first semester before our winter break. After the break, we started building the project itself. We used a limited amount of materials to build this; along with various testings, our project was completed within the first 2 weeks. I like our group because whenever we would encounter a problem, we would find a way around it and continue in our building process. I like this project because its very hands-on, that type of working works for me because I like to learn as I go. One thing I thought we could improve on would be our communication. Sometimes there would be a missunderstanding and that would lead to a false start towards our project. Overall I loved working on this project and I look forward to participating in more experiences like it.
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