Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
A Chemistry Webquest
Task
Process
Evaluation Rubric
Conclusion
You will work with your research team (3-4 students) to learn more about lead and its
effects on our health. Meanwhile, you will also need to recall your knowledge of the Periodic
Table, atoms and ions, and different types of chemical reactions in order to understand the
problem and select the best solution. Recall what you know about how the Periodic Table is
organized, remember what you’ve learned about ionic compounds, and use your knowledge of
Time is of the essence, because every day without tap water costs the city thousands of
dollars and affects the lives of all of your neighbors. Therefore, you will have one week to do all
of your research and write a proposal to your Mayor explaining your solution.
Task
Webquest Objective: To use your knowledge of chemistry and the provided resources
to research and select the best solution for your city’s contaminated water.
proposal with your research team to persuade the mayor to use your method to solve the crisis.
Days 1-2
4. One copy of the document explaining how you chose to divide up the work
Make sure you follow the evaluation rubric carefully to receive full points for this project.
You will work in research teams of 3 or 4 to complete this activity, but each student is
required to fill out their own worksheet. Answer the questions together using the resources
provided.
Note: the websites you will use to conduct your research are very informative. However,
since you are all only beginning to become “mad scientists,” you might not recognize or
understand some of the information. That’s okay! Part of your job as researchers is to figure out
what information is useful and what information is not needed for this particular assignment.
Day 1: Learning more about Lead
Not surprisingly, the lead poisoning problem has a lot to do with chemistry!
Before we can understand what causes lead poisoning and how to solve it, we must first learn
Reference: http://www.ptable.com
1. Find lead on the periodic table. Write down its Atomic Symbol, it’s Atomic Number, and
3. What are some of the properties of this group of elements? (Hint: click on the name of
4. What are lead’s physical properties? (Hint: Click on the box for lead to find more
6. How many stable isotopes does lead have? Name one and list the number of protons,
Now it’s time for a closer look at some of the properties of lead.
Reference: http://www.chemistryexplained.com/elements/L-P/Lead.html
9. According to this website, which group does lead belong to? Name two other elements
in this group.
10. Read about the Extraction of lead from ore. Write chemical reactions to explain the
process (Hints: The chemical formula for lead ore is lead sulfide or PbS, called “galena.”
there are two reactions. The first is “smelting,” and the second is heating with charcoal)
11. Write down the names and formulas of two different simple ionic lead compounds.
Next, we must pause and remember what ionic compounds are and what they are
Reference: http://www.bhsu.edu/Portals/336/CHEM106/100912_L6_UCRC_Pt2.pdf
13. For each type of ion formed, write the number of protons and electrons you would expect
14. Determine the charge of the lead ions in each of the compounds that you wrote in
question 11 above. (Hint: use the method this site used to find the charge of iron FeCl2)
Day 2: Examining the Problem
Now that we’ve learned a little about lead, let’s take a closer look at the problem of lead
First, we’ll look at the chemistry involved when lead contaminates water.
Reference: http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/water/lead/lead-and-water.htm
1. Write the chemical reaction that occurs between lead and water when oxygen is present.
2. Under the section, “Why is lead present in water?” it says, “Lead may bind to carbonate,
therefore lower amounts of lead dissolve in hard water. Inside the pipes, a layer of hardly
soluble alkalic lead carbonate is formed.” Write the chemical reaction that occurs between
lead and carbonate (Hint: remember that the carbonate ion is CO32- and read the section
4. Name five of the damaging effects of lead in the body that this website lists.
5. According to this website, who are more likely to suffer more severe health consequences
Reference: https://publications.nigms.nih.gov/findings/mar05/lead.html
(in the event that this website is not functioning, use these alternative resources to answer the
questions: http://www.livescience.com/18247-metals-human-body-health-nigms.html
http://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingsworkfaqs/f/leadpoisoning.htm )
6. Believe it or not, some metals are actually good for your health. List three “healthy” metals
here and briefly explain why they are healthy. (Hint: read the “Good-for-Nothing Lead”
section)
7. Once lead is inside the body, it can do damage to pretty much every organ in your body, but
8. What types of molecules are affected by lead? (Hint: read the “An Uncommon Bond”
section)
9. What did Godwin discover about the way that lead affects the molecules mentioned in
Question 8 (i.e. what type of reactions is lead involved in, with what other elements in the
body)?
10. Remember what displacement reactions are? Write the product of the single displacement
reaction:
Pb(s) + Cu(NO3)2(aq) →
11. Take a look at the right sidebar at the image of Zinc and Lead chemical compounds. What
difference do you notice between the two molecular structures? How does lead affect
Second, we’ll examine how these chemistry concepts affected the city of Flint.
Reference: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/health/toxic-tap-water-flint-michigan/
13. Why did the Michigan State Government choose to change the city’s water source?
14. What element (or ion) was present in the water that made it appear reddish-brown?
Obviously, lead poisoning is a very serious problem! Fortunately, your city tested the
water before most people were affected, and has some available funds to take care of the
problem. Now your job is to propose a solution to make your drinking water safe again.
Reference: http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/water/lead/lead-and-water.htm
You should recognize this site from Day 2. This time, you’ll find several different
solutions to lead contamination at the bottom of the page. Read about a few and take notes on
them on the next page. *Note: You will lose points if you do not research at least 3 different
Once you have learned about the various ways to remove lead from your water system,
choose the solution that you think is best for your city. You are to write a persuasive letter to the
mayor explaining why that solution is the best for your city. Follow the outline shown on the next
page.
You may choose to assign each team member to a paragraph, or you may choose to
work on the entire letter together. Whatever you choose to do, have at least one person
proofread the letter all the way through to make sure the pieces all come together and that the
*Note: On a separate page attached to your letter, please indicate how you chose to
divide up the work for this project. This can be brief, but this part of the assignment is just as
important because it shows that you are able to collaborate and delegate roles.
Notes for Days 3-5
Letter to the Mayor - Format Guidelines
Dear Mayor _____________, (you can use the name of the mayor of your hometown or another name)
1. Paragraph 1: Brief introduction - identify the researchers in your team and set the tone
2. Paragraph 2: Information about lead and how it most likely contaminated the water
a. Use information from your research in Days 1 and 2 - but don’t include ALL of it!
Pick and choose what information you think is most important to explain to the
mayor.
3. Paragraph 3: Information about the environmental and health effects of lead poisoning
a. Use information from your research in Day 2 - but again, you do not need to
include ALL of the information you gathered. Select what you feel is the most
a. the chemical concepts involved (what type of reaction or property you are using
b. rationale for choosing this specific solution - why is it better than others? Is it
thoughts. End with a convincing statement to urge the mayor to consider your proposal.
Sincerely,
Evaluation Rubric
In order to receive full points for this assignment, please follow the rubric below:
CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
Content The letter contains The letter contains The letter contains The letter contains
Accuracy at least 5 accurate 3-4 accurate facts 1-2 accurate facts no accurate facts
facts about the about the topic. about the topic. about the topic.
topic.
Use of Research The student The student included The student included The student
in Letter included a a substantial amount a minimal amount of included very
substantial amount of the included the included minimal research or
of the included research from the research from some did not include any
research from all of required sources in of the required of the included
the required at least two out of sources in at least research in the
sources in all three three of the body two out of three of letter.
body paragraphs. paragraphs. the body
paragraphs.
Content The letter contains The letter contains The letter contains The letter contains
Accuracy at least 5 accurate 3-4 accurate facts 1-2 accurate facts no accurate facts
facts about the about the topic. about the topic. about the topic.
topic.
Ideas Ideas were Ideas were Ideas were The letter seemed
expressed in a clear expressed in a pretty somewhat organized to be a collection of
and organized clear manner, but but were not clear. It unrelated
fashion. It was easy the organization took more than one sentences. It was
to figure out what could have been read to figure out very difficult to
the letter was about. better. what the letter was figure out what the
about. letter was about.
CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
A Well- The letter uses The letter uses The research weakly The letter does not
Supported research to support research to support supports the use research to
the content and the content, but solution, but the support the content
Solution presents the lacks letter lacks and fails to propose
solution in a logical, persuasiveness or persuasiveness and a clear solution to
persuasive way. logic. does not suggest the problem.
that the solution is
logical.
Length The letter is 20 or The letter is 15-20 The letter is 10-15 The letter is less
more sentences. sentences. sentences. than 10 sentences.
Collaboration The group The group The group The group did not
completed the completed the completed the describe how they
description of their description of their description of their divided their roles or
decided roles, and decided roles, the decided roles, but did not work
their letter was individuals worked the letter was together at all for
evidence that they well together, but obviously not this assignment.
collaborated well on their letter had some collaborated on and
the assignment. inconsistencies. the students did not
support each other.
Overall Science The student The student The student The student did not
Expertise demonstrated and demonstrated some demonstrated limited demonstrate
used their knowledge of a few knowledge of the knowledge of the
knowledge of previously learned research but did not research or
previously learned topics and use previously previously learned
chemistry concepts knowledge from learned chemistry chemistry concepts.
and the knowledge some of the concepts.
gained in research. resources.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You came up with a solution and made the drinking water safe again!
Hopefully, this assignment helped you see how important chemistry is to solve the world’s
toughest problems. Not only were you able to apply some of the chemistry concepts we learned
in class, but you were able to scour the references I gave you to find useful information.
While you’re developing your “mad scientist” skills, remember that it is okay not to know
everything. However, you should be able to use the research skills you are developing to find
the information you need to make an informed decision about a problem. We will continue to
C1.2k Analyze how science and society interact from a historical, political, economic, or social
perspective. C4.8D Give the number of electrons and protons present if the uoride ion has a -1 charge.
C4.9A Identify elements with similar chemical and physical properties using the periodic table.
C4.9b Identify metals, non-metals, and metalloids using the periodic table.
C4.10A List the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons for any given ion or isotope.
C4.10B Recognize that an element always contains the same number of protons.