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Unit 3: Matter Page 23
Activities, Experiments, Projects
Lesson 1: Atoms & Density
Note: This section is an abbreviated overview of the experiments online.
Experiment: Plasma Grape properties to the gas. Anytime you
have charged particles (like naked
CAUTION!! Be careful with this!! electrons) off on their own, they
This experiment uses a knife AND a are referred to by scientists as
microwave, so you’re playing with ions. Hopefully this makes the dry
things that slice and gets things textbook definition make more
hot. If you’re not careful you could sense now (”Plasma is an ionized
cut yourself or burn yourself. gas.”)
Please use care!
So here’s what you need to do:
We’re going to create the fourth You need: a microwave, a grape,
state of matter in your microwave and a knife.
using food. Note – this is NOT the
kind of plasma doctors talk about 1. Carefully cut the grape almost in
that’s associated with blood. half. You want to leave a bit of skin
These are two entirely different connecting the two halves.
things that just happen to have the
same name. It’s like the word 2. Open the grape like a book. In
‘trunk’, which could be either the other words, so that the two halves
storage compartment of a car or an are next to one another still
elephant’s nose. Make sense? attached by the skin.
Plasma is what happens when you 3. Put the grape into the
add enough energy (often in the microwave with the outside part of
form of raising the temperature) to the grape facing down and the
a gas so that the electrons break inside part facing up.
free and start zinging around on
their own. Since electrons have a 4. Close the door and set the
negative charge, having a bunch of microwave for ten seconds. You
free-riding electrons causes the may want to dim the lights in the
gas to become electrically room.
charged. This gives some cool
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