Year 9 are studying the reactivity of Group 1. The teacher carries out the standard demonstration of lithium, sodium and potassium in a trough of water behind a safety screen, with rice-grain-sized pieces, goggles for everyone and the class at the distance the risk assessment sets. A school tablet on a stand behind the screen films each reaction in slow motion. The reactions are over in seconds, so the teacher then plays the slow-motion footage on the board, stopping at key frames: lithium fizzing steadily, sodium melting into a ball and skating across the surface, and potassium catching fire with a lilac flame. Students record observations for each metal in a table in their books and use them to write the order of reactivity and a word equation, such as sodium + water gives sodium hydroxide + hydrogen.
Tools: Built-in camera (slow motion and time-lapse) Nine ideas for your own version in Generate
This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and grade. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.