Chemistry experiments can be pretty daunting. Some of the basic chemistry experiments students do either in high school or undergraduate studies either use harmful chemicals or produce them. The point of a green chemistry lab is to reduce and/or eliminate the use of chemicals that are harmful to the environment or to humans. The green chemistry lab activities that I do, could also be classified as kitchen chemistry experiments. A kitchen chemistry experiment is one that can usually be completed with things you already have in your kitchen. While these green chemistry experiments are great for your kitchen at home, they are also great for your classroom. Here are my top ten green chemistry labs!
Some reasons you may want to pursue a green chemistry lab:
- you’re not interested exposing yourself or your students to harmful chemicals (not all chemicals are harmful!)
- you’re not interested in the sometimes detailed disposal of harmful chemicals
- you are looking for home school chemistry experiments
- your science budget isn’t what you wished it was, and you are looking for some less expensive alternatives
- you don’t have a full-blown chemistry lab for you and your students to work in (this was my experience my first years of teaching)
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Oobleck Chemistry Lab Activity
My matter and energy unit comes in the middle of the year as we transition from microchemistry to macrochemistry. Oobleck is a mixture of cornstarch and water (and food coloring in my classroom). The name “Oobleck” was made famous by the Dr. Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Essential, oobleck is this goo, (technically a non-Newtonian fluid) that I use to get my students to learn the effect of pressure on phase of matter. When this mixture is allowed to run or is poured (low pressure situations) it will act as if it is a liquid. As soon as pressure is applied, the oobleck begins to act like a solid. It can be rolled in your hands, but as soon as the rolling action stops, the oobleck will run like liquid through your fingers.
Most students already know that temperature can affect the phase of a sample of matter, but few know about the effects of pressure. I use this activity to get them to realize that liquids are (mildly) compressible, which leads us to the discussion on how pressure can also be used to change between the phases.
Atomic Theory Green Chemistry Lab
This Rutherford Model of the Atom lab has been a crowd favorite since I was still working on my Master’s (my pre-teaching days). You and your students model Rutherford’s Gold Foil Experiment. Essentially you have students throw ping-pong balls which represent alpha particles, toward your Rutherford model. The model is constructed from a hula-hoop, and a ball dangling in the center which represents the nucleus. Depending on how advanced your curriculum or standards are, you can talk about the nucleus to atom size ratio and the validity of models in science. You can read more about that experiment here.
Spectral Lines Chemistry Lab
Now depending on how you look at this, this may or may not be a green chemistry lab. For me, it is. This lab is not something I would have been able to do in my lab-less situation during my early years of teaching, so I understand the argument – trust me. This lab technically does not produce chemicals that are harmful to you or the environment, and as long as you have the proper equipment it’s super simple. It’s essentially a point and shoot. Turn off the lights, draw the shades and let the kids read their hand-held spectroscopes and determine the identify of the gas in the tube. Most of these tubes get pretty toasty, so be careful!
Factors that Affect Solubility Lab
This lab is only for the solubility of solids and the factors that help them dissolve. Here, students are working with sugar and water and they test three different variables for solubility of solids: surface area, agitation and temperature. My students go crazy for this lab simply because so few of them have ever seen a sugar cube in real life. I mean who even uses them anymore? I sometimes have a hard time finding them in the store, but I can usually find them on the very bottom shelf at my grocery store. You can read more about this specific lab here.
Effects of Intermolecular Forces
Intermolecular forces are really tough to demonstrate, but their effects are super easy to see! Surface tension is one of my favorite effects of intermolecular forces, simply due to the relation to real life. In this lab, you’d take a penny (simply because they are smaller, so data is quicker to collect) and count the number of drops of different substances that fit on its surface. You can do this plain water, salt water and soapy water, or you can use different oils, like baby oil or vegetable oil. Just make sure to clean the penny in between each trial.
Intro to Stoichiometry Lab
This lab is for basic gram and mole conversions. Students find the mass of a few basic things in your classroom and convert those masses to moles. This lab gets students prepared for some of the bigger “math of chemistry” and stoichiometry skills that will be coming their way. My favorite part of this lab is when students write their names on the board and find out how many moles of chalk it takes to do it. Many of them write the sweetest messages, or draw silly pictures.
Like Dissolves Like Lab Activity
Depending on how you take this lab, this could be a green chemistry lab. In this lab, students mix different solutions with water to check its molecular polarity. I’ve made homemade Aqua Sand that I mix into the lab to make it super engaging for my students. This requires sand to be sprayed with some waterproofing camping spray – so maybe this isn’t entirely green. If you ditch the Aqua Sand, it totally is though! If you’re not happy with this being a part of the list, I’ve added a bonus green chemistry lab at the end of this post for you! You can read more about this specific activity and the hydrophobic sand, check out this blog post.
Acid-Base Kitchen Chemistry Lab
Did you know that cabbage juice is an acid-base indicator? So cool, right?! Well this is a great introduction lab for standards and stock solutions. My students boil some red cabbage to get the juice. But you can do this at home the night before. Or even just let the cabbage soak in water for a bit. The darker the purple color the better! Then in a spot plate, put a few drops of solutions with known pH values and create an indicator color chart.
In order to keep this “authentically green chemistry” then you would use regular household items, like lemon juice, and soaps. There are plenty of household items to test! Maybe, even have your students bring in a sample of something they are interested in testing! You can also give the students a few unknowns to test, to compare to the knowns. If you wanted to be “super sciencey” with this, you can then move the unknown solutions into a titration to be totally sure of the pH value.
Kinetics Green Chemistry Lab
This lab requires a trip to the beauty supply store. You’ll need to get some liquid developer, which is really a hydrogen peroxide solution. This is stronger than hydrogen peroxide from the drugstore for cuts). Mix this with some liquid dish soap and swirl it around. I let my students add food coloring to make this a bit more interesting. You will need to add this solution to the “reaction vessel” which for me is an Erlenmeyer. I like to leave these directly on my lab bench and squeegee the mess into the sink. If you don’t have that option, I suggest placing the Erlenmeyer in a disposable aluminum baking pan.
In a beaker, mix some warm water with some instant yeast. If you don’t have instant yeast, give this solution a few minutes to “activate.” Five or ten minutes will do. The yeast is your catalyst for ripping the oxygen off the peroxide. Pour the yeast mixture into the reaction vessel and BOOM! you have kinetics! This same reaction would not happen without the yeast (you can of course have your students try it). This leads to a great discussion on activation energy and the use of catalysts. This lab is one of my favorites because it reminds me of when my childhood friend Emily and I would mix vinegar and baking soda on the curb and let it run down the street. What can I say, I’ve been a science nerd forever.
Organic Chemistry Green Chemistry Lab
If you have a child aged 5-18 during the years 2014-2017 you lived through the “Slime Era” of the internet. Fortunately for you, I started my teaching career during this time and I used that to my advantage! Technically, making slime out of glue is a polymerization, meaning when the kids make the slime, they are actually completing a chemical reaction! There are a million recipes out there, but we use a simple, cheap and easy recipe.
You’ll need some glue, and a box of Borax and some disposable or preferably reusable bowls and spoons. That box of Borax will last forever, trust me. Mix equal amounts of glue and water in a bowl. Gently mix (whisking motions) until thoroughly combined. Add in food coloring and glitter if desired. I make a “master solution” of the polymerizer. I take around 2 tablespoons of Borax per liter of water and distribute it to the kids in cups. They then mix the solution with their glue until they get a polymer. When you think the mixture needs “just a little bit more” solution, it is time to massage the slime by hand. If the slime is “over-polymerized” you can add some water until it softens up. My students get to bring their slime home in sandwich bags. It is such a fun time!
Bonus: Solutions Green Chemistry Lab
The holy grail of chemistry labs – making ice cream by the science of freezing point depression. I have my students bring in toppings, salt and bowls. I bring the milk. We have an ice machine in the school, so I bring a cooler and have a few kids go pick it up and haul the cooler to my room. Here’s the steps:
- Fill a gallon bag about halfway with ice and pour a generous amount of rock/coarse/Kosher salt.
- Inside a sandwich sized bag, add 1 cup of milk, half a cup of sugar. Or less – I have the students stick their finger in the bag for a taste test). And ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract. For chocolate icecream I have the kids do 1 cup of milk with ⅓ to ½ a cup of Nesquik for the flavor. (Cocoa powder is too bitter for most kids).
- Put the sandwich bag inside the gallon bag, and maneuver so that the sandwich bag is surrounded.
- Shake until milk is firm.
Obviously this only works with the salt in the bag because the salt, drops the freezing point of the ice. Viola! You have ice cream and a Colligative Properties Lab Activity! You can read more about my ice cream lab here!
I hope that these green chemistry labs help you to make environmentally conscious changes in your classroom that both you and your students will love and remember for years to come! You can read more about how my students write lab reports here.
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