Chemical Dominoes
Project Description
For this project, teams were required to build a Rube-Goldberg like mechanism that completed a test. Since this is chemistry, there was a catch: each step of the machine had to be chemistry related. For example, if you wanted to release a ball from a cup and down a track, the step would have to modified to the likes of a machine that first used acid to burn away the cup, allowing the ball to roll down the track.
My group for this project was Austin, Scottie, Jonathan, and me. We set about this project by brainstorming, and we came up with a couple ideas that we hoped to incorporate into our chemical dominoes. First, we decided that we wanted the goal of the machine to be the explosion of a volcano. Then, we opted to use a couple fo chemical reactions to get there, and we produced the final result that you can see below.
For this project, teams were required to build a Rube-Goldberg like mechanism that completed a test. Since this is chemistry, there was a catch: each step of the machine had to be chemistry related. For example, if you wanted to release a ball from a cup and down a track, the step would have to modified to the likes of a machine that first used acid to burn away the cup, allowing the ball to roll down the track.
My group for this project was Austin, Scottie, Jonathan, and me. We set about this project by brainstorming, and we came up with a couple ideas that we hoped to incorporate into our chemical dominoes. First, we decided that we wanted the goal of the machine to be the explosion of a volcano. Then, we opted to use a couple fo chemical reactions to get there, and we produced the final result that you can see below.
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This is a video of our reactions. It took a couple of trails and a couple of tweeks to get it where we wanted it, but by the end the finished product was running smoothly. |
Steps
Step 1:
The first step of our equation was to lift a lever. To accomplish this, we blew up a balloon using a single replacement reaction, zinc plus hydrochloric acid turns into hydrogen plus zincchloride. This creates a gas, which blows up the balloon, and, in turn causes the level to raise up.
Equation of the single replacement hydrochloric acid and zinc: Zn(s) + 2HCl(aq) = H2(g) + ZnCl2(aq)
Step 2
The second step is to spill copper chloride into a bowl of aluminum foil. Building off step 1 and the lever, when one side of the level raises, the other lowers. The other side has a string that is attatched to a cup of copper chloride. The tension on the string keeps the cup from falling. When the lever lowers, it causes the string to burn in a bunsen burner, whose flame origninally could not reach the string. The string catches fire and the cup falls. This causes the cup of copper chloride to fall, and it lands into a bowl made of aluminum foil.
Equation of the single-replacement copper chloride and aluminum reaction: 2Al(s) + 3CuCl2(aq) 3Cu(s) + 2AlCl3(aq)
Step 3
The final step in our project was for the volcano to go off. After the marble rolls down the track, it runs into a line of dominoes. The last domino has a string that is attached to a stopper containing hydrogen peroxide. When this domino falls off the counter top, it causes the stopper to come lose and the hydrogen peroxide to leak into a funnel. The funnel directs the hydrogen peroxide into the crater of a our model volcano. Inside the crater is a mixture of water, yeast, red food coloring and dish soap. When the hydrogen peroxide meets the rest of the solution, it decomposes, becoming water and oxygen. This creates the bubbly foam that acted as our lava frothing out of the mountain.
Equation of the decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide turning into water and oxygen: 2H2O2(aq) --› 2H2O(s) + O2(g)
Step 1:
The first step of our equation was to lift a lever. To accomplish this, we blew up a balloon using a single replacement reaction, zinc plus hydrochloric acid turns into hydrogen plus zincchloride. This creates a gas, which blows up the balloon, and, in turn causes the level to raise up.
Equation of the single replacement hydrochloric acid and zinc: Zn(s) + 2HCl(aq) = H2(g) + ZnCl2(aq)
Step 2
The second step is to spill copper chloride into a bowl of aluminum foil. Building off step 1 and the lever, when one side of the level raises, the other lowers. The other side has a string that is attatched to a cup of copper chloride. The tension on the string keeps the cup from falling. When the lever lowers, it causes the string to burn in a bunsen burner, whose flame origninally could not reach the string. The string catches fire and the cup falls. This causes the cup of copper chloride to fall, and it lands into a bowl made of aluminum foil.
Equation of the single-replacement copper chloride and aluminum reaction: 2Al(s) + 3CuCl2(aq) 3Cu(s) + 2AlCl3(aq)
Step 3
The final step in our project was for the volcano to go off. After the marble rolls down the track, it runs into a line of dominoes. The last domino has a string that is attached to a stopper containing hydrogen peroxide. When this domino falls off the counter top, it causes the stopper to come lose and the hydrogen peroxide to leak into a funnel. The funnel directs the hydrogen peroxide into the crater of a our model volcano. Inside the crater is a mixture of water, yeast, red food coloring and dish soap. When the hydrogen peroxide meets the rest of the solution, it decomposes, becoming water and oxygen. This creates the bubbly foam that acted as our lava frothing out of the mountain.
Equation of the decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide turning into water and oxygen: 2H2O2(aq) --› 2H2O(s) + O2(g)
Refelction
In this project, we were instructed to incorporate the destruction of a metal and two other chemical reactions. I learned alot about these different reactions, and also about figuring out how important trial and error is. We found the types of reactions of each reaction, and formulated an approximate equation for each. To be sure, we doubled-checked the equations online. As for figuring out each specific step, there was no easy double-check like the internet. Every step we did was tested multiple times until we were sure that it would work properly. Ideas were tossed out, tested, and then either incorporated or scraped. In the end, I was very happy with the results. Getting each reaction to work properly was awesome, because we spent so much time adjusting and perfecting them. It was nice to see the project run out and work as well as it did.