Click Chem21 Logo to go to the home page.
  Click Chem21 Logo to go to the home page.

Online Lab Submission

Students:

Instructors:

Virtual Labs:

Pre-Lab Assignments

Interactive Animations:

  • 

Phase Diagram Tutorial

The Phase Diagram Tutorial is an interactive animation in which students build a virtual phase diagram, identify the six processes that occur at phase boundaries, and construct the heating curve of water (ice to steam).

All Chem21 tutorials provide a safe learning environment where students receive full credit once the tutorial is completed correctly, regardless of the number of attempts. This tutorial is typically assigned in lecture but can also be used as a pre-lab activity for Heat of Fusion, Specific Heat, or Heat of Vaporization experiments. Using the same engaging activity in both lecture and lab is a great way to connect learning between the two courses.

In the Phase Diagram / Heating Curve tutorial . . . .

  • students learn how pressure and temperature affect the states of matter.
  • students "create" a virtual phase diagram by dragging/dropping dots along the solid/gas phase, the solid/liquid phase, and the liquid/gas phase. The placement of the triple point dot and critical point dot completes the phase diagram.
  • students identify the six processes that occur when
    • solid ⇌ liquid (melting ⇌ freezing)
    • liquid ⇌ gas (vaporization ⇌ condensation)
    • solid ⇌ gas (sublimation ⇌ deposition)
  • students add multiple 50 J packets of energy to virtually warm ice to 0°C, melt the ice at 0°C, warm the 0°C water to 100°C water, vaporize the water to steam at 100°C, and heat the steam. Students quickly realize that the liquid to gas phase change (Heat of Vaporization) requires much more heat (more clicking of the 50 J icon) than the solid to liquid phase change (Heat of Fusion).
  • the animation concludes with a calculation where students sum the energy absorbed when a random quantity of H2O is warmed through zero, one or two phase transitions.
  • If the student miscalculates the final energy, they are shown the step-by-step solution and must restart the animation - a log of their results is saved so the instructor can review the student's work history
  • Students receive full credit when they correctly complete the tutorial - even with multiple restarts

Read the information in the Info Panel and then click the blue triangle to close the panel. Directions for completing the tutorial are listed on the various screens. As you progress through the tutorial, the information in the Info Panel changes so be sure to open this panel periodically for additional pertinent information.