Curriculum
Teach Exciting Chemistry Practicals
Pupils remember chemistry they've seen happen, like a can that really does explode or a banknote that comes out of the flames unharmed.
- 58 minutes
- 10 modules
- 1 CPD hour
- Certificate
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14 days free, then £70 a year or £7 a month.
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What you'll learn
- Run 10 chemistry demonstrations safely, including behind a screen
- Use the exploding can to teach complete and incomplete combustion
- Show reaction rates with glow sticks and exploding custard powder
- Set up a forensic investigation using chromatography or mock urine tests
- Demonstrate diffusion and bonding with milk, washing-up liquid and food colouring
About this course
Nothing gets a class's attention like a bang, and chemistry has plenty of them. The trick is making sure each one teaches something about combustion, reaction rates or bonding at KS3 and KS4.
You'll see all 10 demonstrations done, with the method and the safety points for each. Set fire to a banknote without burning it, which is a good one for open evenings. Snap glow sticks in hot and iced water to show temperature changing the rate of a reaction. Solve a murder with forensic chromatography or mock urine samples. There's slime, a custard powder explosion and hydrogen going bang in a fizzy drinks bottle too.
The exploding can leads into complete and incomplete combustion, and a conversation about carbon monoxide that matters well beyond the exam.
- For early career teachers and teachers. Secondary.
10 modules
Open in order
- 9 min
Exploding Can
- 5 min
Disappearing Ink
- 4 min
Burning Money
- 6 min
Urine Analysis
- 4 min
Hydrogen Bomb
- 8 min
Molecular Bonding
- 6 min
Forensic Chromatography
- 6 min
Exploding Custard Powder
- 9 min
Glowing Reaction Rates
- 5 min
Slime