Salty States

Learn about phase change with vapor races activities. Discover how the boiling point and freezing point of water can be changed. Design polarity and solubility investigations. Solve modern-day chemistry problems.

This Launch level kit includes a full-color student workbook and a detailed teacher guide, with step-by-step instructions for both hands-on and reading-based activities designed to engage students in phase changes and intermolecular forces. Both teacher and student will be able to open the box and start within minutes, and the kit will provide over 15 hours of engaging learning.

In this kit, the student will engage in these hands-on learning experiences:

• Conduct an evaporation race to begin learning about phase changes.
• Mix up some solutions and investigate the effect of salt on the boiling point of water.
• Make salty ice and find out how solutes change the freezing point of water.
• Explore the connection between molecular-level structures and the behavior of solids and liquids.
• Use your understanding of solutions to communicate solutions to chemistry problems.

Use the Salty States kit to answer questions such as:

• How do phase changes happen and what are they like on a particle level?
• Why do some liquids evaporate faster than others?
• How do solutes affect the boiling point and freezing point of solutions?
• How does polarity affect solubility and other physical properties?
• What is the best way to communicate scientific information?

Your student is ready for this kit when:

• They know the basics about atomic structure and types of matter.
• They are familiar with states of matter in everyday life.
• They have been introduced to examples of atoms and molecules.

The following are Science Unlocked kits we suggest your student has completed prior to doing this kit:

• Contain Your Excitement
• Water: Weird and Wonderful

Salty States kit is a part of the Science Unlocked Launch series and is recommended middle and high school students in grades 8-12.

Interested in learning more? Check out our Student Workbook Sample and Teacher Guide Sample!  

More Information

• Safety Information (SDS)

Items included in the kit:

• 1 Acetone
• 1 Aluminum Sulfate
• 1 Calcium Chloride
• 1 Black Construction Paper
• 1 Ice Cube Tray
• 1 Isopropyl Alcohol
• 1 Box of Paper Clips
• 1 Pipet
• 10 Plastic Graduated Cups
• 1 Plastic Graduated Cylinder
• 50 Salt Packets
• 1 Stirring Rod
• 18 Swab Applicators
• 1 Thermometer
• 1 Pair of Safety Glasses
• 1 Pair of Gloves
• 1 Vegetable Oil

Other items needed:

• Freezer
• Stopwatch or smartphone timer app
• Water
• Way to boil water

• Learning outcome: Investigate to determine the effect of salt on phase changes and observe interactions between molecules
• NGSS science standards alignment
• HS-PS1-3 Plan and conduct an investigation to gather evidence to compare the structure of substances at the bulk scale to infer the strength of electrical forces between particles.