Chemical Reactions: Quick and Ferocious

Some chemical reactions occur very quickly (explosions!), while other reactions are slow, e.g., the formation of rust. Some processes generate a lot of heat (explosions again), while others, such as dissolving sugar in water, absorb heat. The goal of this semilab is to explore kinetics and thermodynamics, the fundamental ideas that underpin all chemistry reactions and processes. We will conduct chemistry experiments to highlight these ideas and use physics and math to tie everything together. The knowledge acquired here will create a solid foundation for navigating high school and college chemistry courses and tackling advanced chemistry topics on your own. We will also channel this knowledge toward the creation of some spectacular experiments.
Prerequisites: Fluency with Algebra is expected. Familiarity with the basics of General Chemistry, such as the structure of atoms, chemical bonding, moles, molar mass, and concentrations of solutions, will be helpful.