« Return to AACT homepage

AACT Member-Only Content

You have to be an AACT member to access this content, but good news: anyone can join!


Need Help?

Classifying Reaction Types Mark as Favorite (44 Favorites)

LAB in Observations, Balancing Equations, Conservation of Mass, Classification of Reactions, Chemical Change. Last updated September 06, 2019.


Summary

In this lab, students will carry out various reactions and classify the reaction types. They will predict products.

Grade Level

High school

AP Chemistry Curriculum Framework

This lab supports the following unit, topics and learning objectives:

  • Unit 4: Chemical Reactions
    • Topic 4.1: Introduction for Reactions
      • TRA-1.A: Identify evidence of chemical and physical changes in matter.
    • Topic 4.2: Net Ionic Equations
      • TRA-1.B: Represent changes in matter with a balanced chemical or net ionic equation: a. For physical changes. b. For given information about the identity of the reactants and/or product. c. For ions in a given chemical reaction.
    • Topic 4.4: Physical and Chemical Changes
      • TRA-1.D: Explain the relationship between the macroscopic characteristics and bond interactions for: a. Chemical processes. b. Physical processes.
    • Topic 4.7: Types of Chemical Reactions
      • TRA-2.A: Identify a reaction as acid-base, oxidation-reduction, or precipitation.

Objectives

In this lab, students will

  • perform a composition, decomposition, single displacement, and double displacement reaction.
  • make observations of chemical reactions and categorize them.
  • write and balance chemical equations.

Chemistry Topics

This lesson supports students’ understanding of

  • Classification of reactions
  • Balancing equations
  • Chemical change

Time

Teacher Preparation: 45 minutes—1 hour

Lesson: two 50-minute class periods or 1 block class

Materials

Per group

  • goggles
  • 7 graduated cylinders (10 mL)
  • 8 test tubes
  • test tube rack
  • crucible tongs
  • Bunsen burner
  • wooden splint
  • rubber stopper
  • matches
  • scoopula
  • pH strips
  • water
  • steel wool
  • copper wire
  • catalayse/potato piece
  • magnesium ribbon
  • zinc strip
  • hydrogen peroxide (5–6%)
  • 1.0 M hydrochloric acid

0.1 M of the following:

Safety

  • Always wear safety goggles when working in with chemicals.
  • Pour all of the solutions in the designated chemical waste container.
  • When working with acids, if any solution gets on students’ skin, they should immediately alert you and thoroughly flush their skin with water.
  • When lighting the match and wooden splint, be cautious with the flame.
  • Students should wash their hands thoroughly before leaving the lab.
  • When students complete the lab, instruct them how to clean up their materials and dispose of any chemicals.

Teacher Notes

  • There is an accompanying PowerPoint that can be used as a prelab or postlab activity.
  • Prepare solutions so they are 0.1 M. The following directions will create enough solution for approximately 20 lab groups.
  • Directions for preparing the necessary solutions (each will be 0.1 M)
    • Copper (II) chloride (Molar mass CuCl2 = 134.45 g/mol) To prepare 200 mL of 0.1 M aqueous solution of copper (II) chloride, dissolve 2.69g of CuCl2 in 200 mL of water.
    • Copper (II) sulfate (Molar Mass CuSO4 = 159.61 g/mol) *Note: Students will not use as much copper (II) sulfate as the rest of the solutions. To prepare 100 mL of 0.1 M aqueous solution of copper (II) sulfate, dissolve 1.60 g of CuSO4 in 100 mL of water.
    • Potassium carbonate (Molar Mass K2CO3 = 138.21 g/mol) *Note: Students will not use as much potassium carbonate as the rest of the solutions. To prepare 100 mL of 0.1 M aqueous solution of potassium carbonate, dissolve 1.38g of K2CO3 in 100 mL of water.
    • Sodium Oxalate (Molar mass Na2C2O4 = 133.999 g/mol) To prepare 200 mL of 0.1 M aqueous solution of sodium oxalate, dissolve 2.68g of Na2C2O4 in 200 mL of water. To make the potato catalase for this lab simply cut a potato in small pieces (make sure that it will fit in the test tubes used in the lab).
  • This lab uses principles of green chemistry. The chemicals used are much less toxic than similar labs that use silver nitrate and sulfur compounds.
  • Remind students to not force the stopper into the test tube for reaction E.
  • If you don’t have enough graduated cylinders for each group to use a new one for each chemical, make sure student properly wash the glassware before measuring a new chemical.

For the Student

Lesson

Purpose

  • Perform a composition, decomposition, single displacement and double displacement reaction
  • Make observations of chemical reactions and categorize them
  • Write and balance chemical equations

Safety

  • Always wear safety goggles when working in with chemicals.
  • Pour all of the solutions in the designated chemical waste container. When working with acids, if any solution gets on students’ skin, they should immediately alert you and thoroughly flush their skin with water.
  • When lighting the match and wooden splint, be cautious with the flame.
  • Students should wash their hands thoroughly before leaving the lab.
  • When students complete the lab, instruct them how to clean up their materials and dispose of any chemicals.

Materials

Procedure

REACTION A

  1. Place 10 mL of copper(II) chloride solution in a test tube. Record your observations.
  2. Take a piece of magnesium metal and sand it with steel wool. Record your observations.
  3. Place the magnesium in the test tube. Complete reaction B and then return to make final observations.

REACTION B

  1. Place 10 mL of 1.0 M hydrochloric acid solution in a test tube. Record your observations.
  2. Take a piece of zinc and sand it with steel wool. Record your observations.
  3. Place the zinc in the test tube. Complete reaction C and then return to make final observations.

REACTION C

  1. Take a small piece of copper wire and hold it at one end using crucible tongs. Record your observations.
  2. Place the opposite end of the wire into the hottest part a Bunsen burner flame (the blue part) for 30 seconds.
  3. Remove the wire and examine it. After the wire is cooled, scrape the surface. Record your observations.

REACTION D

  1. Place 5 mL of copper(II) sulfate in a test tube. Record your observations.
  2. Measure 5 mL of potassium carbonate solution in a graduation cylinder. Record your observations.
  3. Add the potassium carbonate solution to the test tube. Record your observations.
  4. Leave the test tube in the test tube rack. Complete reaction E and then return to make final observations.

REACTION E

  1. Place 10 mL of hydrogen peroxide in a test tube. Record your observations.
  2. Record observations of a small sample of potato (catalase). Add it to the test tube. Quickly place the rubber stopper LIGHTLY onto the test tube.
  3. Observe what happens. Allow the reaction to carry on for about 10 seconds.
  4. Light a wooden splint using a match. Blow out the flame. The splint should glow. Remove the stopper from the test tube and place the glowing splint into the test tube. Record your observations of the splint.

REACTION F

  1. Place 10 mL of sodium oxalate solution in a test tube. Record your observations.
  2. Use a scoopula to obtain a small piece of calcium chloride. Record your observations.
  3. Add the calcium chloride to the test tube. Record your observations.
  4. Leave the test tube in the test tube rack. Complete reaction G and then return to make final observations.

REACTION G

  1. Use a scoopula and put a small sample of calcium oxide in two test tubes. Record your observations.
  2. To one of the test tubes, add 15 mL of water.
  3. To a third test tube, add 15 mL of water. Record your observations.
  4. Test the pH of the contents in each test tube with a pH strip.
Observations
Reaction Observations before: Observations after:
A
B
C
D
E
F
Calcium oxide Calcium oxide + water
G

Analysis

  1. Write the balanced chemical equations for reactions A–G. Also identify the reaction type it is an example of.

Reaction A

Reaction B

Reaction C

Reaction D

Reaction E

Reaction F

Reaction G

  1. For the products identified in reactions A–G, match the observations you made to the products predicted by your chemical equation. For example, if your reaction produced a yellow precipitate, then you would say: In reaction X, the yellow precipitate that formed was lead(II) iodide.

Reaction A

Reaction B

Reaction C

Reaction D

Reaction E

Reaction F

Reaction G

  1. How do you know a chemical change occurred in each reaction?
  2. If you measured the mass of the reactants before the reaction and the mass of the products after the reaction, what would you expect to find? Why? How does balancing an equation support this idea?