SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-on Activity Training TeachEngineering Hands-on Activity: * Eat Iron?!! TeachEngineering Digital Library: teachengineering.org

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General Advice Be prepared! Do each activity beforehand Make sure all materials are available Keep students on task Follow the time frame Be flexible Have Fun!! SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training

Eat Iron?!! SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training Full Activity on TeachEngineering Mixtures and separation of mixtures o Iron in breakfast cereal! Engineering focus: o Engineering Research Testing and analyzing materials Relating science knowledge to engineering applications Learning objectives: o Distinguish and describe the three types of matter: elements, compounds and mixtures o Explain the properties of each type of matter and provide an example of each type. o Define pure and impure materials. o Explain how engineers use the magnet separation technique to separate ferrous and nonferrous materials.

Eat Iron?!! Suggested time: 30 minutes Suggested group size: 2-4 students/group Materials: Big dish Access to water Iron-fortified flake cereal (ex: Total [recommended], Special K) Strong magnet Clear plastic cup Plastic spoon Blender (if unavailable, large Ziploc bags) SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training

Eat Iron?!! SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training Engineering Connection (Real World Application): Focus on the understanding of mixtures, and how they are characterized by methods of separation, including: o Filtration o Evaporation o Sublimation o Magnetic separation Important in chemical and petroleum engineering to separate mixtures into distinct components o More than one method may be necessary! o Includes separating components of crude oil into purified hydrocarbons, used for natural gases, gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, etc. Separation is important in environment engineering for water purification, also! Separation methods vary based on size, shape, mass or chemical affinity between the constituents of the mixture. In this activity, magnetic separation uses magnets to separate iron particles from a mixture.

Eat Iron?!! SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training Vocabulary TermsDefinitions Element: A substance consisting of one type of atom. Mixture: A substance consisting of two or more materials. Compound: A pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements. Homogeneous mixture: A mixture that has a uniform appearance and composition throughout its mass. Heterogeneous mixture: A mixture composed of visibly different substances or phases.

Eat Iron?!! Activity Background Concepts: o Elements are fundamental substances that cannot be further reduced to simpler substances by ordinary processes and are composed of only one type of atom. All matter is made up of elements. The elements are classified as pure substances. o Compounds are another class of pure substances. A compound is a material composed of two or more different atoms that are chemically bonded to one another. That means that it cannot be separated into its constituents by mechanical or physical means. o Mixtures are classified as impure substances. A mixture is a material containing two or more elements or compounds that are in close contact and are mixed in any proportion. For example, air, sea water, crude oil, etc. The constituents of a mixture can be separated by physical means, such as filtration, evaporation, sublimation and magnetic separation. SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training

Eat Iron?!! Activity Background Concepts (cont.) : o Examples of mixtures: Solid in liquid: sugar and coffee Liquid in liquid: water and alcohol Gas in liquid: soda Gas in solid: air entrapped in soil Gas in gas: air containing hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, etc. Solid in solid: metal alloys o A homogeneous mixture has the same uniform appearance and composition throughout its mass. For example, sugar or salt dissolved in water, alcohol in water, etc. o A heterogeneous mixture consists of visibly different substances or phases. A heterogeneous mixture does not have a uniform composition throughout its mass (its components are distributed unevenly), like the raisins and flakes in a raisin bran cereal. SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training

Eat Iron?!! Activity Background Concepts (cont.) : o In engineering, a separation process is used to transform a mixture of substances into two or more distinct products. This is done by taking advantage of the fact that the different components of a mixture probably have different properties such as: size, density, solubility, boiling point, etc. o What are some separation techniques for mixtures used in engineering? Filtration: separates solids from fluids using a medium through which only the fluid can pass Distillation: separates mixtures of liquids that have different boiling points Chromatography: separates dissolved substances traveling through a material Centrifugation: separates materials based on different densities Drying: removes liquids from solids by vaporization Magnetic separation: uses magnets to pull iron particles from mixtures SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training

Eat Iron?!! SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training Before the Activity: o Gather materials o Prepare the cereal by placing ~2 cups of water and 2 cups of cereal in a blender. Let it sit for a few minutes until the cereal is soft, then blend to make a smooth and shake-like slurry. o Divide students into groups of 2-4 Activity Procedure: o Show students a box of iron-fortified cereal flakes and pose the question: If you look at the nutritional label on the box of this cereal, you'll see that it contains some amounts of iron in its elemental form. Does that mean that it would be attracted to a magnet? What do you think?

Eat Iron?!! SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training Activity Procedure (cont.) : o Give a few cereal flakes and a magnet to each group and ask them to try to move the flakes with the magnet. (The flakes will not move!) o Discuss why nothing happened (possible reasons: the flake is too big, not enough iron in the flakes, too much friction to overcome, magnet not strong enough), and ask what might be done to overcome some of these issues. (Float the flake on water!) o Direct groups to place a big dish on their tables and completely fill them with water, above the rim. Very slowly put a big cereal flake on the water surface, near the middle. o Ask the groups to try using the magnets now. Direct them to put the magnet very close to the cereal flake and move the magnet very slowly in one direction. o Oh yaaaa!!!! Expect students to see that the flake moves! To verify that its movement is due to the magnet, slowly change the direction the magnet is moving. If the cereal follows the magnet, then it is because of the iron present in the cereal.

Eat Iron?!! SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training Activity Procedure (cont.) : o Ask students some question related to the iron in the cereal: Is cereal a compound or a mixture? (mixture) Do its ingredients keep their individual properties? (yes) Is this helpful for separating components of the mixture? (yes) o Make the following points: The individual components in mixtures retain their own physical properties. This conservation of properties can be taken advantage of to separate out components from a mixture. A homogeneous mixture is one in which the components are evenly distributed. A heterogeneous mixture has uneven distribution of its components. Breakfast cereals are good examples of heterogeneous mixtures (think of the raisins and flakes in a raisin bran cereal). Iron in its elemental form is strongly attracted to magnets. Compounds of iron are not as strongly attracted to magnets.

Eat Iron?!! SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training Activity Procedure (cont.) : o Pour samples of the already-prepared cereal slurry into clear plastic cups, one for each group. o Direct groups to have one student hold a magnet against the outside of the cup about midway up, while another student uses the plastic spoon to gently stir the slurry for seconds. o What happens? Expect to see a black line appear on the cup wall, which is the iron particles being stopped close to the magnet. o Conclude with a class discussion that makes the point that using magnets is a useful way to separate iron from mixtures: It is the very same way that recycling centers use magnets to separate cans from plastic and cardboard Materials engineers use magnets to separate ferrous from nonferrous materials.

Eat Iron?!! SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training Teaching tips: o Most important!!! Test this activity before teaching!!!! Not every type of cereal works Iron filaments are extremely small – it helps to know what you are looking for! o Emphasize the science concepts, vocabulary, and engineering connection; reinforce these throughout the activity o Encourage students to come up with ideas on how to separate the iron from the cereal… help lead them to the answer! o Be familiar with background concepts, especially real world engineering applications, to answer questions o The video at this site is a great resource for this activity: extract-iron-from-cereal/ extract-iron-from-cereal/

Activity Takeaways Teambuilding skills o Making decisions, sharing tasks and materials Engineering connections o Encourage students to learn science concepts by providing examples of real world engineering applications SHPE Foundation SHPE Jr. Chapter Curriculum Hands-On Activity Training Encouragement to be problem- solvers and creative thinkers o Help students develop a solution to separating iron from cereal o Promote creative thinking and brainstorming Motivation through having fun o Introduce the activity as a fun learning experience!

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