TEACHING RESOURCES INFORMATION
TITLE OF TEACHING RESOURCE
Soluções Aquosas de Elétrolitos Fortes (Aqueous Solutions of Strong Electrolytes)
NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
Carla Morais, João Paiva, Maria das Dores Silva, Carolina Alves, Ilídio Martins
NAME OF PRODUCER
Casa das Ciências
TYPE OF PRODUCT
Online course
LEVEL OF CHEMISTRY KNOWLEDGE
Medium, Advanced
PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH
Experiential learning
SUBJECT AREA
Fundamental Chemistry
TARGET GROUP LEVEL
Lower Secondary School, Upper Secondary School
LANGUAGE/S OF TEACHING RESOURCES
Portuguese
DESCRIPTION
This digital resource is provided by Casa das Ciências, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
In this resource we can view the preparation of solutions and calculate the correspondent concentration. More specifically, it simulates the preparation of an aqueous solution of a strong electrolyte (sodium chloride, copper sulphate pentahydrate, potassium permanganate or sodium sulphate) by mixing the solid solute with water. It is organized in three different levels of complexity which allows its use by students from lower secondary school (level I), upper secondary school (level II) and university (level III).
The student chooses the mass of solute and volume of solvent to prepare the solution. Using those values, upon request, the program can calculate the mass concentration (levels I, II and III), molarity (levels II and III), and/or the activity value (level III).
This resource contains also some theoretical contents (The “Know more” section) with practical examples of calculation, divided in the 3 levels mentioned above.
Additionally, it presents a very complete glossary (e.g. salt, solution, solute, solvent, solvation, strong electrolyte, dielectric constant, activity coefficient, activity, dissociation, ionic strength, dipole-dipole interactions, van der Waals forces, ionization, molecular interactions, hydrogen bonding, ideal and real solutions) and reference bibliography.
This simulation can be used in the classroom as a practical activity to exercise the calculation of concentration. The theoretical contents can also be used by students for reviewing these topics.
COMMENTS
The resource is very well organized in terms of simulation and theoretical contents related to concentration, in order to be used by different education levels.
Part of this resource is interactive, as students can simulate the preparation of a solution by selecting both the amount of an electrolyte and the volume of water and, then, to obtain the value of correspondent concentration. The authors clarify the approximations made in each calculation. For example, that it is usual to consider that the volume of solution is approximately equal to the volume of solvent.
Another topic of this resource is related to the preparation of an aqueous solution by dilution but it is currently (July 2012) under construction. It is only available in Portuguese.
NAME OF THE REVIEWING ORGANISATION
Instituto Politécnico de Bragança
Comments about this Publication
Your comments are welcome
