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“Noble High School, a community of learners, believes that we are all capable of success.

Through a rigorous curriculum, we foster


the academic and personal growth of life-long learners. We value small, heterogeneous communities, which encourage innovation
and honor the voices of all.”

NAME _____________________ PARTNER(S) _______________________ BLOCK _____ DATE ______

NOBLE HIGH SCHOOL


BIOLOGY
TEAM III
LABORATORY:
THE PROPERTIES OF WATER (H2O)

“All living things depend on water. Inside your body, your cells are surrounded by a fluid that
is mostly water, and your cells themselves are 70 to 95 percent water. The abundance of water
is a major reason Earth can support life. Water is so common that it is easy to overlook its
extraordinary properties, which are linked to the structure and interactions of its molecules”
(Campbell, Williamson, Heyden, 2004).

OBJECTIVE: In this laboratory experiment you will be conducting a series of four activities that demonstrate some
of the unique properties of water. Water is everywhere. It makes up about 75% of the surface of the Earth. It makes
up 50-95% of the weight of living organisms. Water has special properties that make it unusual and complex. For
instance, the answers to these following questions all depend on the unique properties of water:
1. How does water rise from the roots of a tree to the very top?
2. How do insects walk on the water?
3. Why does ice float rather than sink? How would life in a lake be affected if ice sank and lakes froze
from the bottom up?
4. Why do people become ill, or die, if they go without water for too long?
5. Why do large bodies of water affect the temperatures of surrounding regions?

ACTIVITY I: WATER ON A PENNY (5 MINUTES)


MATERIALS:
 Glass pipette (eye dropper)
 Penny
 Water

METHODS:
1. Make a prediction about how many drops of water you think the penny will hold before it runs over.

Prediction:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

2. Add drops of room temperature water to a penny one at a time until it runs over the edge
3. Record your data/results in Diagram 1 and Table 1.
4. Repeat this step three times and take an average of the number of drops that can fit on the penny.

RESULTS:

Diagram 1: Draw a diagram below showing the shape of the water on the penny after one drop, when the
penny is half fun, and then just before it looks like it is going to over flow.

Single Drop Half Full Nearly Overflowing


Table 1. Number of Drops of Water on a Penny

Trial Number Number of Drops of


Water on Penny
Trial 1 (Person 1)
Trial 2 (Person 2)
Trial 3 (Person 3)

Average Number of Drops of Water on a Penny _______________

ACTIVITY II: WATER & DETERGENT ON A PENNY (5 MINUTES)


MATERIALS:
 Glass pipette (eye dropper)
 Penny
 Water
 Detergent

METHODS:
1. Make a prediction about how many drops of water mixed with detergent you think the penny will hold
before it runs over. Be sure to make a comparison to your previous prediction involving just water.

Prediction:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

2. With your finger, spread one drop of detergent onto the surface of a dry penny.
3. Add drops of water to a penny one at a time until it runs over the edge.
4. Record your data/results in Diagram 2 and Table 2.
5. Repeat this step three times and take an average of the number of drops that can fit on the penny.

RESULTS:

Diagram 2: Draw a diagram below showing the shape of the water on the penny after one drop, when the
penny is half fun, and then just before it looks like it is going to over flow.

Single Drop Half Full Nearly Overflowing

Table 2. Number of Drops of Water on a Detergent Covered Penny

Trial Number Number of Drops of


Water on Penny
Trial 1 (Person 1)
Trial 2 (Person 2)
Trial 3 (Person 3)

Average Number of Drops of Water on a Penny _______________


ACTIVITY III: WATER ON WAXED PAPER & GLASS (5 MINUTES)
MATERIALS:
 Glass pipette (eye dropper)
 Penny
 Water
 Waxed Paper
 Glass Slide

METHODS:
1. Make a prediction about the shape of water when dropped onto a piece of wax paper compared to a
glass slide. Draw your prediction below.

Diagram 3:

Waxed Paper Glass Slide

2. Add drops of room temperature water to each surface.


3. Record your data/results in Diagram 3.

RESULTS:

Diagram 4:

Waxed Paper Glass Slide

Explain what happened in words.


_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
ACTIVITY IV: WATER & CHROMATOGRAPHY PAPER (5 MINUTES)
MATERIALS:
 Chromatography Paper Strip
 Water
 Vis-A-View Marker
 Graduated Cylinder

METHODS:
1 Make a prediction about how long it will take for water to climb up a piece of paper that is ½ inch wide.
Record your prediction in inches/min.

Prediction:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
2 Ms. Kearney has prepared the setup at the front of the room. Elect a person from your group to check on
the status of the experiment at 5-minute time intervals.
3 Record the starting time here: _______________________
4 Record the distance the water has traveled every 5 minutes in Table 3.
5 Draw a diagram of how the ink changed on the paper in Diagram 3.

RESULTS:

Table 3. Distance Water Traveling up Chromatography Paper

Time (min) Distance (cm)

0
5
10
15
20
25
30

Diagram 3.
ACTIVITY V: A: DISSOLVING- OIL & WATER (5 MINUTES)
MATERIALS:
 Water
 Graduated cylinder
 Vegetable oil

METHODS:
1. Make a prediction about what will happen when you pour the oil into water.

Prediction:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

2. Place 8 ml of water into a graduated cylinder.


3. Gently add 2 ml of oil by titling a cylinder of oil slightly and letting the water run slowly down the inside of
the cylinder.
4. Draw the results (complete with labels!) under Diagram 4.

RESULTS/DATA:

Diagram 4:

ACTIVITY V: B: DISSOLVING- WATER & OIL (5 MINUTES)


MATERIALS:
 Water
 Graduated cylinder
 Vegetable oil

METHODS:
1. Make a prediction about what will happen when you pour the water into oil.

Prediction:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

2. Place 8 ml of oil into a graduated cylinder.


3. Gently add 2 ml of water by titling a cylinder of oil slightly and letting the water run slowly down the inside
of the cylinder.
4. Draw the results (complete with labels!) under Diagram 5.

RESULTS/DATA:
Diagram 5:

ACTIVITY VI: BOILING POINT (5 MINUTES)


MATERIALS METHODS:

1. Ms. Kearney will do this activity as a demonstration. Ms. Kearney has set up two beakers on hot plates.
Each contains the same volume of liquid, one with 95% ethanol (C 2H5OH) and the other is tap water. There
is a thermometer in each beaker to record the temperature changes.

2. Make a prediction about the temperature changes over time and the boiling points (the temperature when
the liquid begins to boil) for each liquid.

Predictions:
a. Which liquid’s temperature will change most quickly?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

b. Which liquid will have the lowest boiling point? (Boil first):
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

3. Record temperature changes for each liquid every 1 minute. Record the final temperature at which each
substance begins to boil (boiling point). Set up a data table like the one below.

Table 6: Boiling Points of Ethanol and Water

Time Temperature ( C)

Water Ethanol
0.0 min

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