Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Advanced Higher Chemistry Project help needed!!

Chemicalmadness - 29-10-2015 at 11:41

I'm trying to come up with a project idea for advanced higher. I was thinking of synthesising ferric ferrocyanide from chemicals, and from blood then comparing yield or something like that??

Any thoughts or anything is welcome :-)
Thanks

aga - 29-10-2015 at 11:46

What age are the Advanced Higher beings ?

Chemicalmadness - 29-10-2015 at 12:06

17 yrs old. I'm in the last year of school before university. I live in Scotland

Detonationology - 29-10-2015 at 12:07

Trimethyl borate. Everybody loves that lovely green flame.

Chemicalmadness - 29-10-2015 at 12:24

Sorry it has to be some sort of investigation, basic ones are things like making aspirin and determining it, determining vitamin C, or 'the rock'...

Detonationology - 29-10-2015 at 12:32

Titration? Make phenol via decarboxylation of salicylic acid to use as an indicator. Make a solution of an unknown concentration to be titrated. It's a good investigation that would require both accuracy and precision, but it may be too simple.

Chemicalmadness - 29-10-2015 at 12:34

Thanks, Detonationology, that's the type of thing we need to think of :-) I'll get ideas that come in and then choose a bit later on .

j_sum1 - 29-10-2015 at 12:34

Use the periodicity of a Briggs Raucher reaction to determine the effectiveness of an antioxiant.

Set up a BR reaction -- make some stock chemical solutions.
Determine the period of the reaction. Video camera is a good tool here.
Addition of vitamin C shortens the periodicity. Add varying quantities and derive a calibration curve.
Use your calibration to measure vitamin C in unknown solution or to analyse foodstuffs. Perhaps investigate effect of sunlight or heat on orange juice.

I quite like the fact that you have an analytical technique that is not a titration or gravimetric. The notion that you can use a stopwatch to measure concentration is kind of cool.

Does that meet your brief?

j_sum1 - 29-10-2015 at 12:44

Here are some more. EEI in this context means extended exerimental investigation.
http://seniorchem.com/eei.html

And here is a document with even more ideas. Most should translate fro Australia to Scotland.

Attachment: project suggestions.docx (69kB)
This file has been downloaded 499 times

Chemicalmadness - 29-10-2015 at 12:51

Thank you, and it has some good ideas for my biology project too!

aga - 29-10-2015 at 12:52

Water testing is always good - people always have water and are always suspicious of what it might contain.

chemrox - 30-10-2015 at 09:22

"Make a solution of an unknown concentration to be titrated. It's a good investigation that would require both accuracy and precision, but it may be too simple."

This looks like the lab final for Chem 1b.

Having said that, why not do something quasi organic? Making bakelite for example? Or how about a field project; track down the source of a Cu in desiccated dendritic terrain?
Dithizone indicator...lots of fun..

Suggest a way to capture highly distributed metallic Hg in a small landfill.






[Edited on 30-10-2015 by chemrox]

JJay - 30-10-2015 at 09:27

I'm curious about how various acids react with various types of gloves.

chemrox - 30-10-2015 at 09:55

Quote: Originally posted by JJay  
I'm curious about how various acids react with various types of gloves.


Since you're new: we like it when people get as far as they can in looking and searching. Being curious won't open doors. We're all curious. I would pose that question a little more precisely and with fewer words. First of all how do you understand your question? You yelled for help. That strategy won't carry you far. What aspect of gloves do you seek more information about? What's the best way to ask? (assume using google)

Let's say you're planning on working with an acid and you don't want to get burnt. I would want to check the acid blocking capability of the gloves in general and the acid you plan to work with in particular. If you spend some time trolling this question (and ones that came out of the searches) you will find some tables that talk about glove material. BTW: consider thickness
I'd start by searching - laboratory glove material compared

[Edited on 30-10-2015 by chemrox]

JJay - 30-10-2015 at 10:05

Quote: Originally posted by chemrox  
Quote: Originally posted by JJay  
I'm curious about how various acids react with various types of gloves.


Since you're new: we like it when people get as far as they can in looking and searching. Being curious won't open doors. We're all curious. I would pose that question a little more precisely and with fewer words. First of all how do you understand your question? You yelled for help. That strategy won't carry you far. What aspect of gloves do you seek more information about? What's the best way to ask? (assume using google)

Let's say you're planning on working with an acid and you don't want to get burnt. I would want to check the acid blocking capability of the gloves in general and the acid you plan to work with in particular. If you spend some time trolling this question (and ones that came out of the searches) you will find some tables that talk about glove material. BTW: consider thickness
I'd start by searching - laboratory glove material compared

[Edited on 30-10-2015 by chemrox]


Hi,

I'm not trying to be rude about this, but you seem to have completely missed the point. The point is to answer the question about what would make a good science project.

aga - 30-10-2015 at 12:15

Quote: Originally posted by JJay  
I'm curious about how various acids react with various types of gloves.

Not wishing to be rude, however i must point out that your post failed to contribute anything to the Original Question that was posted either.

If you have already investigated Gloves and Acids then a Helpful thing would be to talk about what you have Done (or at least researched), what the hypothesis and procedure was, what references you used etc.

Personally i'm curious about how how tomatoes react with varying concetrations of nitrates and an array of other groups, however me just saying that is also of 0 use to the original poster.

JJay - 30-10-2015 at 13:41

Part of the project could involve selecting or designing apparatus for safely handling whatever reagents you are using.

aga - 30-10-2015 at 13:55

Part of the project could also be washing of hands, putting on safety goggles.

So, i'm forced to spend many minutes googling to demonstrate what a Useful Scientific suggestion may be.

Back in a few minutes.

aga - 30-10-2015 at 14:02

Based on JJay's 'curiosity' with gloves and acids, here we have :-

http://www.aps.anl.gov/Safety_and_Training/User_Safety/glove...

What about Base resistance ?

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/page/portallive/OCCHEALTH/...

What about tensile strength when exposed to acetone and.or heat ?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16276643

Actually, JJay's 'interest' may be a good avenue to follow for a 'demo' type experiment.

Gloves stretched to snapping point, then add various acids, bases and organic solvents to see what happens.

Should be dramatic in some cases (crowd pleaser).

j_sum1 - 30-10-2015 at 14:50

Typically these school ptojects involve identifying variables, manipulating one, controlling others and devising a method for observing a dependent variable.
On this take, a single titration to quantify an unknown does nit make the cut. Experimenting on a range of glove materials does.

Disclamer. I don't know exactly what the Scottish curriculum is like.