Complete the Pre-Lab Background and Pre-lab Skills sections on tophat

Print the Puzzle and Notebook section (this document) and bring it with you to lab.
Make sure you read this entire document BEFORE you come to lab!

You have just been hired as chemists in the Research and Development department of a newly
created company called That’s Cool. The CEO of That’s Cool wants the company’s first major
product on the market to be a new chemical ice pack. His vision is for this ice pack to be the
most efficient ice pack on the market.
Last week a competing company lost a lawsuit because their instant ice pack got hot upon
activation instead of getting cold. The CEO of That’s Cool is now feeling particularly nervous and
wants all the chemicals that the scientists in his Research and Development department have
tested to be tested again.
Your task is to help the scientists at That’s Cool unambiguously determine which chemical they
should use to generate the company’s new chemical ice pack.

• You must work on your puzzle in groups of 2 students.

• You must share your data with the rest of the class so that you can report back to the CEO of
That’s Cool.
• Each group of students must test 4 of the following 8 ionic salts:


Chemical Name Chemical Formula

Sodium hydroxide NaOH
Sodium chloride NaCl
Sodium nitrate NaNO3
Calcium chloride CaCl2
Copper (II) sulfate CuSO4
Ammonium nitrate NH4NO3
Ammonium chloride NH4Cl
Potassium hydroxide KOH

• You must adhere to the guidelines that have been provided by the Research and
Development department of That’s Cool:
Ø To make their chemical ice pack the scientists at That’s Cool mix the ionic salt of interest
with a fixed volume of water in a Styrofoam cup with a plastic lid.
Ø The size of their chemical ice pack is limited to a volume of 100.0 mL.
Ø You may not use more than 5.0 g of chemical per 100 mL of water while conducting your
experiments.

• The Accounting department of That’s Cool reminds you that this is a product for commercial
sale. It might be important to consider the production costs in addition to the efficiency of the
ice pack.
Chemical Price/kg (in dollars)
NaOH 21.17
CaCl2 41.28
KOH 31.38
CuSO4 93.32
NH4NO3 59.64
NH4Cl 25.04
NaCl 21.15
NaNO3 72.35

• The Marketing department of That’s Cool reminds you that, on average, your competitor’s
cold pack drops by at least 1˚C and remains at that temperature for 2 minutes once it has been
activated.


Laboratory Safety Goggles must be worn at all times during this experiment. If you remove your
safety goggles during the course of the experiment you will be asked to leave the room.
All chemicals should be properly disposed of at the end of the laboratory period. Make sure that
you consult with your instructor about how to safely dispose of all chemicals.

Add an entry to the Title Page for this lab report and its page numbers. On the next available
blank page in your laboratory notebook write down the date and title of the experiment for
today.

Write a set of initial observations for the 4 salts that your group chooses to use to solve this
puzzle.
As part of your post-lab you will enter these observations into Tophat.

Now write down the step-by-step procedure that you will use to solve the puzzle. Make sure to
have your instructor approve your procedure before you continue. Use the bullets below to guide
you.
• Remember that the size of your chemical ice pack is limited to a volume of 100.0 mL.
• You may not use more than 5.0 g of chemical per 100 mL of water.
• The temperature change for the cold pack has to be sustained over a reasonable period of
time to be useful, at least a few minutes.

As part of your post-lab you will create an electronic version of your procedure to upload to
Tophat.


Now perform your experiment and collect your data. Record all of your observations and all of
the data that you collect in your laboratory notebook. Also record any calculations that you
might need to do to solve the puzzle. Remember that you are interested in the total temperature
change for your salt over a fixed period of time.
Organize your data into a clear and legible data table that includes ALL your raw data and all your
calculations. Consider including the following columns:
• Initial temperature
• Temperature at mixing
• Temperature 5 minutes after mixing
• Change in temperature for the process
As part of your post-lab you will create an electronic version of this/these table/s to upload to
Tophat.

Now think about the cost considerations. Remember that the marketing department of That’s
Cool has specific requirements for their new cold pack which were given in the clues section of
the puzzle. These include performance requirements as well as cost considerations. You must
take both into consideration for your final recommendation.
HINT: Think about what it would cost for the company to use each salt as a function of the
change in temperature produced.
You will need to answer a question on Tophat where you calculate the cost for dropping the
temperature of 1g of each of the salts by 1 degree C.

It is time to provide the answer the puzzle. Write down a conclusion for this experiment.
Remember to include the performance and cost requirements in your conclusion.

Complete the Post-Lab Data Upload, Post-Lab Questions and Connections to Human Health
sections on Tophat.