Chemistry II

GENERAL INSTRUCTION: Do the following procedure carefully, record your observations, and
give your generalization.
Activity 1: Lava Lamp (Home Laboratory Activity)
Objective: To explain why a substance is soluble or insoluble.
Materials Needed: water, food coloring (any color), unused cooking oil, and 1.5 - liter PET bottle
Procedure:
1. Pour water into the bottle until it is almost full.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring into the water, then stir to diffuse the food color.
3. Fill the bottle with the cooking oil. Cap the bottle and shake. Turn the bottle upside down.
4. Describe your observation and give possible explanations.

Possible Generalization:
From this activity, it was shown that food coloring is soluble in water, while oil is insoluble in water. This
was mostly affected by the nature of the solutes and solvents. With the help of stirring, food coloring diffused
more quickly in water, which is known to be a polar substance. The bond of food coloring molecules broke and
formed new bonds with the water molecules. The two came together and became a solution, heterogeneous and
undistinguishable between one other. Since it was said that polar substances can only be dissolved in or be
dissolved by polar substances, it can be concluded that food coloring is also polar. On the other hand, oil did not
mix with water. It was still distinct from the water even though the bottle is turned upside down and shaken along
the process. This reflects that oil is non-polar. Its molecules are not attracted to water molecules so oil just floats
above water due to lower density.

Activity 2: Solute – Solvent Interactions (Home Laboratory Activity)

Materials Needed: table salt, oil, 70% alcohol, kerosene, water, and sugar
Procedure: Observed
1. Mix the following solute and solvent given in the chart Solute Solvent
Solubility
and put a  in the column “observed solubility” if the table sugar water 
solute dissolves in the given solvent and put an  if it table sugar kerosene 
is not. table salt water 
2. Then, generalize the results that you obtained. table salt kerosene 
Note: Be careful in handling kerosene. It will be better oil water 
to conduct the activity in an open space. oil kerosene 
table salt alcohol 
alcohol water 
Possible Generalization:
In the first activity, it was proven that polar substances can only be dissolved in and be dissolved by polar
substances. In this activity, table sugar, table salt, and water are polar. The bond of table sugar molecules and
table salt ions break to form new bonds with water molecules. That is why both solutes are soluble in water. After
mixing, the experimenter was eventually not able to differentiate the solutes from their solvent, water. It was the
same for alcohol, especially since they were similarly clear-colored. In this case, alcohol is just partially polar so
it is still miscible in water, but it is not polar enough to break down the ionic forces of table salt and dissolve it.
Hence, table salt is insoluble in alcohol.
Since oil is non-polar, like in the first activity, it is immiscible in water. Though thin, there are still
distinguishable layers of liquids in the cup due to difference in density. Another non-polar substance is kerosene.
That is why, it was not able to dissolve table sugar and table salt. No matter how many times one mixes it, grains
of solutes are still evident and insoluble. Until kerosene vaporized, the solutes remained. Kerosene, however, was
able to dissolve oil. It was possible to mix them together without other distinguishable layers of liquid. Because
oil is miscible in kerosene, it can be concluded that non-polar substances can also be only dissolved in and
dissolved by non-polar substances. All in all, it was proven that like substances dissolve and form solutions.