Chemical Dominoes Board Game
For this project, our assignment was to create a board game that involved single replacement, double displacement, lighting of LED, and production of gas reactions. There had to be at least one physical change and one chemical change in energy. Our physical change came from blowing up a balloon with the gas we produced, and the chemical change came from the combustion reaction we added. Our single replacement reaction was the combination of zinc and hydrochloric acid, our production of carbon dioxide gas came from combining baking soda and vinegar, our combustion reaction came from lighting a string soaked in ethanol on fire, we used a lemon battery to light our LED, and players had the choice between five chemicals for double displacement. Some of them reacted, and some of them did not. Equations for these reactions are in the key concepts section. We decided to do a Hunger Games themed board game with good "cornucopia cards" and bad "reaction cards" for players to draw.
Below are our game instructions and a video of our presentation.
Below are our game instructions and a video of our presentation.
Key Concepts
Ion: An atom or molecule with a net charge that comes from the loss or gain of electrons
Cation: A positively charged ion
Anion: A negatively charged ion
Single replacement reaction: A reaction where a cation in a compound is replaced by a cation of higher reactivity (A + BC -> B + AC)
Our reaction: Zn+ 2HCl → H2 + ZnCl2
Double displacement reaction: A reaction where two ionic compounds in an aqueous solution react and their ions switch partners (AB + CD -> AD + CB)
Our reaction: any combination of the elements NaOH, Cu(NO3)2, K2CrO4, AgNO3, and NaC2H3O2.
Combustion reaction: An exothermic reaction where an organic compound reacts with oxygen to create water and carbon dioxide
Our reaction: C2H6O+ 3O2 → 2CO2+ 3H2O
Our production of gas reaction: NaHCO3 + HC2H3O2 → CO2 + H2O + NaC2H3O2
Our lighting of LED reaction: Zn → Zn2+ + 2e- (electrons are being moved)
H2+ + 2e- → H2
Ion: An atom or molecule with a net charge that comes from the loss or gain of electrons
Cation: A positively charged ion
Anion: A negatively charged ion
Single replacement reaction: A reaction where a cation in a compound is replaced by a cation of higher reactivity (A + BC -> B + AC)
Our reaction: Zn+ 2HCl → H2 + ZnCl2
Double displacement reaction: A reaction where two ionic compounds in an aqueous solution react and their ions switch partners (AB + CD -> AD + CB)
Our reaction: any combination of the elements NaOH, Cu(NO3)2, K2CrO4, AgNO3, and NaC2H3O2.
Combustion reaction: An exothermic reaction where an organic compound reacts with oxygen to create water and carbon dioxide
Our reaction: C2H6O+ 3O2 → 2CO2+ 3H2O
Our production of gas reaction: NaHCO3 + HC2H3O2 → CO2 + H2O + NaC2H3O2
Our lighting of LED reaction: Zn → Zn2+ + 2e- (electrons are being moved)
H2+ + 2e- → H2
Reflection
During this project, I learned many new things about chemistry and chemical reactions. I learned how to tell different types of reactions apart, how to make those reactions happen, and how to make an electrical circuit out of lemons. I also learned how to make a successful and working board game.
One thing that went very well during this project was our group dynamic. We started brainstorming at the beginning of our first work day and immediately clicked as a team. We had no trouble dividing up to work on different things or working together, and we had fun the whole time. We worked well because we ended up friends as well as teammates. Another thing that went very well was the overall look of our board game. One of my group members is an artist, and she painted a huge bird in the middle of the board to be the focal point of our game. We laminated game cards, and they ended up looking very professional. All our reactions fit with our theme, and the overall game seemed very professional.
One thing that didn't go so well was our understanding of the reactions themselves. We initially tried to perform a reaction that wouldn't work because we misread the single replacement reactivity series we were given. It also took us a lot of time to work out the equations for the lemon battery, and we ended up having to look it up because we were stuck. Another thing that didn't go very well was our time management. We didn't have time to test our reactions until the day of the presentation night, and we found that two of them wouldn't work. We had to scramble around trying to find something that would produce a gas for one of our reactions, and we had to get more lemons and pennies to amplify the current going through our lemon battery. Half an hour before our presentation, we were still working, but we managed to get everything done in time. In the end, all of our reactions worked, and we had a successful presentation.
During this project, I learned many new things about chemistry and chemical reactions. I learned how to tell different types of reactions apart, how to make those reactions happen, and how to make an electrical circuit out of lemons. I also learned how to make a successful and working board game.
One thing that went very well during this project was our group dynamic. We started brainstorming at the beginning of our first work day and immediately clicked as a team. We had no trouble dividing up to work on different things or working together, and we had fun the whole time. We worked well because we ended up friends as well as teammates. Another thing that went very well was the overall look of our board game. One of my group members is an artist, and she painted a huge bird in the middle of the board to be the focal point of our game. We laminated game cards, and they ended up looking very professional. All our reactions fit with our theme, and the overall game seemed very professional.
One thing that didn't go so well was our understanding of the reactions themselves. We initially tried to perform a reaction that wouldn't work because we misread the single replacement reactivity series we were given. It also took us a lot of time to work out the equations for the lemon battery, and we ended up having to look it up because we were stuck. Another thing that didn't go very well was our time management. We didn't have time to test our reactions until the day of the presentation night, and we found that two of them wouldn't work. We had to scramble around trying to find something that would produce a gas for one of our reactions, and we had to get more lemons and pennies to amplify the current going through our lemon battery. Half an hour before our presentation, we were still working, but we managed to get everything done in time. In the end, all of our reactions worked, and we had a successful presentation.