Liceo Linguistico "ILARIA ALPI" the SCIENTIX DISCOVERY CAMPAIGN 23

Today in our science lab students and teachers  joined the Scientix Stem Discovery Campaign 2023 doing some experiments about climate change.

About 80 students have participated in this event, 39 of them were from Denmark. Have a look at the videos and enjoy! 

 

EXPERIMENT N.1 Annagiulia, Elena

Today we will explain the effects of acid rain by means of a simple experiment.

In order to succeed we will need a becher in which we will pour distilled water, a straw and a liquid ph detector

First of all,  we have to measure the Ph of the water using the liquid detector. We have to pour a drop of the solution into the water and wait for a couple of minutes.

We will observe that the water will turn up having a blue tone, which corresponds to a neutral ph. After this first step, we have to blow in the straw that is immersed into the water.

Doing this method we are contaminating the water with the CO2 contained in our breath.

At the end we will see the water yellow-ish coloured. This specific type of color corresponds to an acid ph. 

Now that the experience is finished, we can conclude that CO2 emissions, coming from industries, waste gas and fine particles, pollute the environment. They make water sources acid and this phenomenon produces acid rain, one of the causes of drought and desertification.

 

EXPERIMENT N.2 (Angelina, Maddalena) -POURING THE INVISIBLE

INTRODUCTION: Imagine two empty glasses: a lit candle is put into the first, the gesture of pouring an invisible content from the empty glass into the one with the candle is made, and.... the candle goes out. 

This looks like sorcery, but in reality it is an interesting experiment to understand the effects of different densities between gasses: in a container where vinegar and baking soda react, a substance called carbon dioxide is formed. The latter (denser than the air) will be poured in another container causing the candle to go out.

 

PURPOSE: So, the purpose of this experiment is to demonstrate that carbon dioxide is denser than air because, as we shall see, this is going to deposit on the bottom of the beakers. 

 

MATERIALS:

 1) Vinegar (CH3COOH)

 2) Baking soda (NaHCO3)

 3) Candle (preferably short) connected to a metal wire

 1) 2 tall beakers (more than the candle) or 2 plastic bottles cut into

TOOLS: 

1) 2 tall beakers (more than the candle) or 2 plastic bottles cut into half 

2) Matches or lighter

 METHOD: 

1) Take the two beakers and place them in front of you; 

2) Pour about two fingers of vinegar into one of the two beakers;

3) Then take a teaspoon of baking soda and add it to the beaker containing the vinegar (note that an abundant effervescence develops: it is the carbon dioxide produced by the reaction): 

4) Light the candle with a match or (in this case) a lighter; 

5) Place the already lit candle in the beaker with vinegar → observe that the candle goes out: in fact, the two reagents vinegar and sodium bicarbonate produce a new substance (CO2, carbon dioxide) which remains deposited on the bottom of the beaker because it is denser (and therefore heavier) than air; 

6) To prove this happening once again, pour about 50 mL of vinegar into the same container; 

7) Add about a teaspoon of baking soda to the vinegar, and let it react for a few seconds. 8) Make the gesture of pouring the content of the reaction (produced in first container) in the second, but stopping before the liquid is actually poured. 

9) Place the lighted candle in the container where the CO2 was transferred. This goes out because the carbon dioxide, denser than the air, goes from the first container to the second, replacing the air present. The flame, left without oxygen, goes out. Now, trying to put the lit candle back into the other beaker where the reaction had initially taken place, we notice that it does not go out because there is no no carbon dioxide left. 

 

As proven by this experiment, carbon dioxide does not favor combustion (when something burns) and in fact, as we have seen, it even puts out a candle: therefore, it can be used in fire extinguishers to put out fire.

 

EXPERIMENT N.3 (Sara, Giorgia)

AIR QUALITY 

Before showing you this experiment I will give a brief introduction to the topic, that is pollution. Pollution is an alteration of the environment caused by man, by polluting elements. There are different forms of pollution, including indoor pollution, which occurs in an indoor environment such as a room, and outdoor pollution that occurs in an outdoor environment. We naturally think that the external environment is the most polluted one, and consequently that the internal one is less polluted:and we’re going to demonstrate this through an experiment whose purpose is to show which of the two environments is the most polluted.

To carry out this experiment we will need sheets of white paper, vaseline oil, adhesive tape and a microscope. We took the two sheets and applied a thin layer of Vaseline oil on them, after which we put a sheet of paper on the window sill, and the other we left it aside in a closed room. After a few hours we went to take back the two sheets and now we can observe them under the microscope: we note that the sheet that has been outside seems to be almost dirty, this because a "polluting dust" has been attached to it thanks to vaseline, while the other sheet is less dirty than the previous one, from this we understand which of the two environments is more polluted, the external one.

 

EXPERIMENT N.4 (Sofia e Luca)

For this experiment we will need an egg, vinegar and a becker. The aim of this experiment is to show the effects of acid rains on the aquatic animals that live in our environment. 

First of all, we’re going to take the egg and soak it in the vinegar that we have inside of the becker. To speed up the process we have already soaked an egg for a day and if you pick it up, it’s clear what the effects are. The egg’s shell has completely melted in the vinegar - which is an acid substance - leaving the egg with this semi see-through membrane. This is what happens to the shell of an animal when it’s exposed to water and acid pH level. In fact, the acetic acid in the vinegar melts the calcium inside the egg’s shell, just how the heavy rain melts the shells of many animals. 

This is of course an extreme danger not only to our ecosystem but also to ourselves, since we strictly depend on our environment’s wellbeing. 

 

 

via GIPHY