What does temperature do to molecules

Measuring the weight of the bottle, balloon, and water at room temperature, after heating and after cooling, may help students dispel this misconception. If the balloon is not broken, the weight should stay the same.

Research also states that many students can understand qualitatively that matter is conserved in transforming from solid to liquid.

They also start to understand that matter is quantitatively conserved in transforming from solid or liquid to gas - if the gas is visible. Benchmarks for Science Literacy, p. Before you start the activity, students need to understand the difference between particles in a gas, liquid, and a solid.

Here they will see how the characteristics of solids, liquids, and gases can be explained by particle motion. Discuss what happens at both the observable and molecular level in these scenarios:. Use the following demonstration to begin a discussion of the effect of temperature on particle movement. Blow up a balloon, and then aim a hair dryer on low setting at the balloon, and watch it rise.

The Balloon and the Bottle Give each student a copy of the Balloon and the Bottle student sheet, which includes questions and procedures. Briefly review the procedure with students:. After students have completed the activity, ask them to record their answers to these questions on the student worksheet:. In this assessment activity, students will illustrate in a cartoon scene the idea of how temperature affects the motion of molecules.

Students should present their cartoon to the class and explain how it relates to the idea of temperature affecting the motion of molecules and states of matter. Give the students these instructions: You are a cartoonist. Your task is to create a cartoon scenario illustrating the effect of temperature on the movement of molecules in a solid, liquid, or a gas.

This is because the molecules begin slowing down. Hot as an Ice Cube by Philip Balestrione, two clear cups per group or student, food coloring, eye droppers, water hot and cold.

Can anyone name a characteristic of a molecule? Does anyone know what causes substances to change their temperature? In the experiments you are about to do we will find the answers to these questions.

The class will be divided into groups of two and they will be reminded to work cooperatively. We will inform the class about the materials they will be working with hot water, cold water, food coloring, and an eye dropper. While in these groups the students will make predictions about what will happen when the food coloring is dropped into the hot and cold water. Their predictions will then be recorded on an observation sheet by one member of each group.

The students will then perform the experiment by dropping an equal amount one drop of food coloring into the hot and cold water. The group recorder will now write down the observations of the completed experiment. The students will form a circle for a colloquium discussion. They will bring their observation sheet with them to the circle.

The students will then be asked to define molecules and temperature based on what they saw in the experiment. If the students aren't able to respond to the teacher immediately, we will allow appropriate wait time and then give certain clues as to what the definition is until a student puts the answer into his or her own words.

Assessment: The students will pantomime the experiment. They will begin by pretending they are molecules in frozen water and they will end by acting like molecules in boiling water. This is similar to what we did in class If the students can correctly perform the pantomime then we can conclude that they have mastered the concepts.

This written form of assessment will also be accompanied by an illustration showing what they have written. Summary-This is a lesson letting students practice learning how to read a thermometer and then ending with the teacher asking the students what clothes should be warm in order to keep one cool or warm. Molecules and Temperature Lesson Critique. The lesson that I taught on Molecules and Temperature was one that I felt somewhat reluctant to teach.

Mar 24, As temperature increases, velocity must increase. Related questions How does kinetic molecular theory explain gas laws? What is Graham's Law of Effusion? What are some examples of the kinetic theory of gases? What is the relationship between Charles law and the kinetic theory of gases?