Substances Changing: Decomposition

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These downloadable videos and animations are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to develop the idea of chemical change by showing that in some reactions substances decompose.

Chemical changes often involve two substances reacting together and many students think a chemical change must have at least two reactants. The idea that a substance can change into two or more other substances is particularly challenging. One video shows the decomposition of copper carbonate on heating and the collection of a gaseous substance in a plastic bag. Questions to accompany this video are given in the Stuff and Substance package. The second video shows testing the gas with limewater. Animations represent the changes of substances in terms of atoms and give practice at constructing a word equation.

These video and animation files form part of the resources in the section Substances Changing in the Stuff and Substance multimedia package, which provides a series of interactive pages that can be used by teachers or students in the classroom.

URL: http://stem.org.uk/rx5fa

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