Target Student Performance
Students record data about changes in mass and BTB when ethanol burns and reach consensus about patterns in their data.
Resources You Provide
- BTB, blue (less than 1 cup per group)
- (optional) BTB, yellow (less than 1 cup per group)
- Digital balance (1 per group of four students)
- Ethanol, 95% (10-15 ml per group)
- Large plastic container with aluminum foil taped inside to protect the bottom from the ethanol flame (1 per group of four students)
- Lighter (1 per group of four students)
- Petri dish, glass (1 per group of four students)
- Petri dish, plastic (1 per group of four students)
- Safety glasses (1 per student)
- (Optional) Molecular modeling kits
- (From previous activity) 4.1 Predictions and Planning Tool for Ethanol Burning with student answers
NOTE: Some classrooms have access to CO2 probes. We designed this investigation with BTB because it is less expensive than probes, but if you have them available, they are more sensitive than BTB and show changes more quickly.
Resources Provided
- 4.2 Ethanol Burning Class Results 11 x 17 Poster (or spreadsheet) (1 per class)
- 4.2 Observing Ethanol Burning Worksheet (1 per student)
- 4.2 Grading the Observing Ethanol Burning Worksheet (1 per group)
- 4.2 Observing Ethanol Burning PPT (1 per class)
Recurring Resources
- (Optional) BTB Color Handout
- (Optional) BTB Information and Instructions Handout
- Three Questions Handout (Color Version)
- Three Questions Handout (BW Version)
- Burning Ethanol Video
Setup
Prepare the BTB, Petri dishes, ethanol, lighter, digital balances, plastic containers, aluminum foil, and safety glasses for students to retrieve for their groups. If you plan to use the poster to record student data, print one copy of the poster before class and post it on the wall. Print one copy of 4.2 Observing Ethanol Burning Worksheet for each pair of students. Prepare a computer with an overhead projector to display the PPT and video. You may want to print copies of the BTB Information and Instructions Handout for each group, or print a few color copies of the BTB Color Handout for students.