Table of Contents Chapter 3: Artist as Chemist |
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Chapter ChallengeArt is an activity found in every culture throughout history. Art can be expressed in a wide variety of media. You are asked to create a work of art that expresses yourself and to create a museum display around your artwork.The chemistry concepts you use to produce your artwork will be described in a museum placard. |
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Activity Summaries |
Chemistry Principles |
Activity 1: What Makes Something Art? The students view several examples of artwork and discuss the features which enable a work to bedefined as “art.” |
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Activity 2: Choice of Media for Durability This activity helps the students to understand the environmental impact of chemicals on sculptures.While doing this, they develop a working knowledge of acid/base chemistry by observing the effectsof carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, followed by designing their own experiment.
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Activity 3: Chemical Behavior of Metals This activity shows the students how to determine the relative reactivity of different metals andwhich are more durable against corrosion. Valence electrons are discussed and the concept ofelectroplating is demonstrated. |
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Activity 4: Physical Behavior of Metals Beginning with making brass from a penny, this activity helps the students understand the commonphysical properties of metals. The “electron sea” model is introduced to describe metallic bondingand the concepts of hardening, tempering, and annealing are explored. |
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Activity 5: Clay Students will examine and dehydrate a hydrated compound as a model to better understand thechemistry of clay. From their dehydration data, students will determine the percent of water in thecompound. The mole concept will be applied to determine the formula of the hydrate. |
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Activity 6: Paints The students will test various combinations of soluble compounds to determine which will produceprecipitates in double-replacement reactions. This data will be tabulated and used to determine thebest compounds to use as pigments for their paints. |
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Activity 7: Dyes Students will determine a procedure for extracting dyes from natural materials and use them to dye pieces of wool. Then they will be introduced to the concept that the bonding of dyes to fibersis often pH-dependent. Students will observe the effect of changing pH on the colors of two natural dyes. |
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Activity 8: How Does Stained Glass Get Its Color? In this activity, students will use borax as a glass substitute to observe how different compounds produce different colors in the “glass” as they are heated in a flame. |
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