Alcohols

Alcohols

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about sorting alcohols by particle size and boiling point.
  • An ethanol particle is larger than a methanol particle.
  • An ethanol particle is smaller than a propan-1-ol particle.
  • Ethanol has a higher boiling point than methanol.
  • Propan-1-ol has a higher boiling point than ethanol.
Use this information to answer the following questions.

Question Change answer

a)  Place in order ethanol, methanol, and propan-1-ol from the smallest to largest particle.
  • ethanol
  • propan-1-ol
  • methanol

Question Change answer

b)  Place in order the three chemicals from the lowest boiling point to the highest boiling point.
  • ethanol
  • propan-1-ol
  • methanol

Question 2Change answer

c)  What conclusion can you draw about the relationship between particle size and boiling point?
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or online.
Level:
5
Curriculum info: 
Science, Investigating in science, Material World
Keywords: 
changes, particle size, boiling point, hydrocarbons, properties
Description of task: 
Information on particle size and boiling point is provided for three alcohols. Students use this to place these substances in order of particle size and increasing boiling point.
Curriculum Links: 
Science capabilities
The capabilities focus is brought about by the conversations you have and the questions you ask.
 
Capability: Use evidence
This resource provides opportunities to discuss the reasoning skills involved in selecting relevant data to provide evidence.
Science capabilities: 
Use evidence
Answers/responses: 
   Y9 (04/1997) Y10 (04/1997)
a) methanol, ethanol, propan-1-ol moderate moderate
b) methanol, ethanol, propan-1-ol,
increasing bp		 moderate easy
c) The larger the particle the higher the boiling point
or the smaller the particle the lower the boiling point.		 difficult difficult