Experiment 2 Part 1
Experiment 2 Part 1 went smoothly for the Monday afternoon lab. There was some confusion on which waste container the Experiment 2 waste belongs in, despite the lab manual's clear instructions. Make sure the students know to not put their waste in the Expt. 1 Ag+ container.
A common mistake was that students were putting NaCl(s) as a product. Some also struggled with knowing what the products were. The only solution to that is a series of leading questions and discuss the reactions more generally (ie: strong acid-strong base always forms salt and water, etc.).
Also emphasize 2Cl- versus Cl2 and so forth. This still trips up many students.
Nina
Experiment 2 Part 2
Experiment 2 Part 2 was relatively easy for the students. Most finished after 2 hours, but I did have a few slower paced students who took the entire lab period.
For Part E some students tried to add water as a reagent... obviously this only confused them further. So keep an eye out for that one.
In part G the lab manual asks the students to rinse and save the copper wire for Part J. This is a typo and should be for Part I.
Question 4 stumped many of my students until I reminded them that reducing agents have different strengths and that a strong reducing agent is a weak oxidizing agent.
Nina
