Curriculum Activity

 

Activity Title: A Reaction Story:  Alka-Seltzer

 

Subject Area/Concept: Chemistry, Physical Science     

 

Grade Level:  Jr and Sr High School

 

 

Tool:          o  Image Processing                o GIS          X   Mol. Visualization               o  Stella

 

 

 

Objective(s): Using technology, students effectively use technology to tell a chemical story.  Students also display mastery of stoicheometry, molecular modeling and reactions. 

 

 

 

Data Source: Find pdb or mol files on the web or make them with corina.

 

 

 

Procedure:  Students begin by learning how to use RasMol and Chime.  Once that has been done each student picks a chemical story to tell using the products in an HTML format.

 

 

 

Student Inquiry Questions: How do compounds react to each other in proximity.  Is the method of reaction based on the shape or physical nature of the compounds. 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes to Instructor:  Students can either work by themselves or in groups of two.  This project can be done on any (high or low end computer, even a mac.)  Save the program RasMol on a floppy and have students download pdb or mol files to the disk.  Make sure that the plug-in chime is loaded on each computer.

 

 

 

 

 

Creator:  Steve Zimmerman,  La Canada High School, LCUSD,  Calzim@aol.com