When we left the classroom yesterday we knew we were looking for a mysterious mixture of two white powders, one grainy and one powdery, that react when mixed with water.

Today we narrowed that down to nine white substances that are common household chemicals: sugar, salt, citric acid, ascorbic acid, epsom salt, baking soda, washing soda, and chalk. But that still leaves 72 combinations of chemicals, far too many to have students test this week. So today students tried to narrow down their list simply by observing.

Simply through the process of observation, the first and most basic method of Chemical ID, students were able to rule out some compounds and also come up with a list of pairs that they would like to investigate further. Tomorrow we will break out the goggles, pipettes, and beakers once again to figure out which pairs of chemicals produce a reaction and hopefully identify the Mystery Mix.

October 8 – Mystery Mix Day 2 (pg205)
October 8 – Periodic Table (pg206)

*Tonight’s homework can be found on the back of Page 205.