Gathering+Data+Through+All+Senses

**Gathering Data Through All Senses

10/16/09 Today during flex, Jessie and I did one of the A layer activities together in which we combined Sulfuric Acid with Copper (II) Oxide. Part of the activity required us to record all observations from the procedure, so I decided to write about them here as well as gathering data from all senses is one of our Habits of Mind Sight: Copper Oxide itself is a metallic, sandy metal in its natural solid state. Sulfuric acid is a clear liquid. Once the two combined, however, they created a blue liquid. When boiled, copper sulfate could be seen at the bottom of the beaker. After ev****aporating for a while, blue copper sulfate crystals could be seen.** Smell: There was a pungent smell coming from the reaction. It had a very noxious scent and smelled very displeasing. The instructions also referred to the fumes as toxic. Touch: Some of the copper oxide got on my fingers and it felt very sandy before I quickly rinsed it off. Besides that one incident, there was not much to touch in the experiment. (I did not have a camera on me that day and the next time I went to the classroom, the copper sulfide had been cleaned up)
 * Sound: The compound fizzed and bubbled quite violently when being boiled and you could hear the sound of it clearly from ac****ross the room.

This was an interesting experiment as it allowed me to gather data through most of my senses prior experiments had not. It was fun to watch the color of the mixture of the two compounds change as they reacted and observe the boiling as it reacted. However, it was not so pleasant to whiff the fumes of the reaction as it was foul-smelling and toxic as well.**