Science Sate of Matter Labs

     In science class, the purple class started learning about the tree states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. The class learned about physical and chemical changes, change from one state to another. In order to assist with the learning process, the science teacher formed three different labs. They were known as the Burning Candle Lab, Marshmallow Tasting Lab, and Sugar Burning Lab. In all of these labs, burning a material, which is a chemical change, was involved. In the first lab, the Burning Candle Lab, the purple science class class observed a small candle when it was both lit and unlit. The class had to write down their observations. This lab taught that burning is chemical change and a chemical change changes the molecular makeup of an object.

     The next lab purple science did was the the Marshmallow Tasting Lab. In this lab,the students had to first rip apart a small marshmallow and then eat it. After that, the kids had to take a large marshmallow, burn it over a bunsen burner, and then eat it. The taste of both types of marshmallows had to to be described. This lab taught the difference between a chemical and a physical change. The broken marshmallow was a physical change while the burnt one was a chemical change. This was evidenced by the different tastes of the two.

  

    Lastly, the purple science class did the Sugar Burning Lab.In this lab, sugar was both chemically and physically changed. In addition, it was also melted and frozen. This lab taught about how to tell whether sugar was chemically changed and the change of state from one matter to another. The sugar, when place in the water, was only physically changed. When it was burned, it chemically changed. In addition it melted into a liquid while it was burning and hardened back into a solid when it cooled of.

 

   The basic concepts taught by this lab were that state of matter only changed physically through appearance while chemical changes occurred only when the molecular makeup of an object was altered. In addition it taught a little bit about freezing and melting. This knowledge would assist in jobs that involve mixing and mingling a lot of substances, such as cooking, for example.