Lesson A11: Fluid Technologies – Solubility

Key Ideas     Unit Checklist

  Video Lesson

What are some everyday technologies that rely on solubility? Watch this video to learn more.

 
 

  Lesson A11: Fluid Technologies – Solubility

Figure A.4.11.1 – First Nations across Canada used canoes for water transportation.
Figure A.4.11.2 – First Nations in forested areas of Canada made birchbark canoes.


Figure A.4.11.3– Birchbark canoes are made from the outer bark of birch trees.
Reading and Materials for This Lesson

Science in Action 8
Reading: Pages 62–65

Materials:
Piece of scrap cotton fabric (such as an old T-shirt), permanent marker, ballpoint pen, washable ink pen, rubber gloves, hairspray, water, rubbing alcohol, dish soap, old newspapers, shallow pan (glass or metal), cardstock paper (heavier than regular paper), scissors, nail polish (at least 3 different colours).
 

Figure A.4.11.4 – Birchbark canoes were sealed with spruce tree sap. ο»Ώ
Waterproof Canoes

First Nations people across Canada built and used canoes for transportation. First Nations in eastern Canadian woodlands made birchbark canoes. To make a canoe, they shaved a large round piece of bark from a birch tree. The flexible bark was then shaped into a canoe and sewn together at both ends.

Sewing the birch bark together did not make the canoe watertight. To seal the canoe, a water-insoluble material was required. First Nations people used spruce gum, which is dried sap from spruce trees, to seal canoe seams. To obtain spruce gum, they made cuts in a spruce tree and let the sap bleed. After scraping dried spruce sap off the tree, they heated the gum and mixed it with animal fats to make it less viscous. The hot spruce gum was then spread on the seams of the canoe. The fat and tree sap sealant was insoluble in water, which made the canoe waterproof.

A variation on spruce gum sealant was created by First Nations in Northern Alberta. They had access to oil sands containing bitumen. Bitumen is a type of thick crude oil, which is insoluble in water. First Nations in Alberta mixed bitumen with spruce gum to seal their canoes.

  Connections 

Figure A.4.11.5 – Handmade soap is dried in large trays and cut into blocks.
Figure A.4.11.6 – One end of a soap particle dissolves in dirt and the other end dissolves in water.


Figure A.4.11.7 – Soap is an important technology for human hygiene.
Connections – Health
>> Soap Stops Sickness

Soap is a technology that is 5000 years old. Soap is made by mixing animal fats or vegetable oils with lye. Another name for lye is sodium hydroxide. Lye is traditionally made by soaking wood ashes in water. Lye is very corrosive, so it must be handled with extreme care. A mixture of fat and lye chemically react to form soap. Soap initially has the consistency of pudding, but it dries after it is poured into moulds.

Soap is a very important technology for increasing human health and lifespan. Soap washes harmful bacteria off skin, which prevents diseases from spreading. Soap itself doesn’t kill bacteria. Antibacterial soaps contain an additional chemical that kills bacteria.

Washing your hands regularly is the best way to help stop the spread of disease. Washing your hands is especially important after using the toilet or after being exposed to sick people. You should wash your hands with soap for at least 30 seconds. When you wash your hands, scrub both the palms and backs of your hands, as well as between your fingers, and under your fingernails.

 Watch More

Soap and Water vs Dirt and Bacteria

This cartoon explains how soap works.

 
 
 
 
Many young children in developing countries die from diseases that can be prevented by handwashing. This video talks about why handwashing is important and how to teach more people around the world about handwashing.

 
 
Figure A.4.11.8 – Chocolate, and stains like grease and oil, cannot be washed out of clothes with just water.ο»Ώ ο»Ώ
Figure A.4.11.9 – Soap or detergent is needed to remove dirt from clothes.



Figure A.4.11.10 – Sometimes laundry detergent does not clean difficult stains.
Laundry Stain Removal

Many clothing stains are difficult to remove. Clothing stains behave differently, depending on their particles. Sometimes laundry stains dissolve in a solvent or detergent. For example, greasy stains like oil, sweat, and dirt easily dissolve in detergent or soap. Other stains are removed by a chemical reaction. For example, blood and grass stains need to react with special stain-removing chemicals called enzymes.

From "For Better Living: Stain Removal Chart "
ο»Ώ
Removing Chocolate Stains: When the stain strikes, gently scrape off any excess chocolate. Once you get the item home, soak it in cool water. Then pretreat with a prewash stain remover and launder in the hottest water that’s safe for the fabric.  NOTE: If stain remains, rewash using a bleach safe for fabric.

  Try It! 

Remove Ink Stains

Try this experiment to test the effectiveness of different solvents at removing ink stains.

Materials: 
  • Piece of scrap cotton fabric (such as an old T-shirt)
  • Scissors
  • Permanent marker
  • Ballpoint pen
  • Washable ink pen
  • Rubber gloves
  • Hairspray
  • Water
  • Rubbing alcohol
  • Dish soap
  • Protective eyewear (when handling rubbing alcohol)
 
This activity uses rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol, which is quite safe if handled correctly.
It would be best to wear eye protection and avoid contact with skin.
If you do make direct contact with rubbing alcohol, rinse thoroughly with water.

This activity (and other activities in this section) requires scissors – handle scissors carefully to avoid cutting yourself.
Instructions:

  1. Cut the large piece of cotton fabric into 4 smaller pieces.

  2. Draw a line with permanent marker on each piece of fabric.

  3. Draw a line with washable ink marker on each piece of fabric.

  4. Draw a line with ballpoint pen on each piece of fabric.

  5. Put on the rubber gloves.

  6. Add water to one piece of fabric, covering all three ink stains.

  7. With your glove-covered fingers, rub the water into the stain. Add more water if necessary.

  8. Record your observations in a table like the one below.

    Observation Table
     Solvent Ballpoint Pen
    Stain
    		Permanent Marker
    Stain
    		Washable Marker
    Stain
     Hairspray      
     Water      
     Rubbing alcohol
    		     
     Dish soap
    		     


  9. Repeat steps 6, 7, and 8 with rubbing alcohol, dish soap, and hair spray. Use protective eyewear and gloves when handling rubbing alcohol.

  10. Watch this video to see this experiment and its results:

 
 

Questions: 

Think about the following questions very carefully. Then, type or write your answers. After you have your answers, click the questions for feedback.

Hairspray and rubbing alcohol removed the ink most effectively. The ballpoint pen and permanent marker ink were soluble in the hairspray and rubbing alcohol, but insoluble in water and dish soap.
Water removed the washable ink stains the best. This is because the water-based marker ink can be dissolved in water, making cleaning up for kids much easier than with permanent markers.

  Connections 

Figure A.4.11.11 – Marbled paper has beautiful patterns.
Figure A.4.11.12 – Marbled paper lines the inside covers of old books.
 

Figure A.4.11.13 – Marbling is done by carefully mixing colours, then applying them to paper or cloth.
Connections – Art
>> Paper Marbling

Paper marbling is an art form that creates beautiful papers. Paper marbling art was developed in Asia and the Middle East. The inside covers of books used to be lined with marbled papers.

A shallow tray of water and coloured inks are used to create marbled paper. The coloured inks are insoluble in water. Paper artists splatter different colours of ink on the water tray. Then, they comb or swirl the floating inks to create patterns. Lastly, they carefully lay a piece of paper on the tray, which absorbs the ink pattern from the surface of the water. The ink sticks to the paper and dries, preserving the beautiful floating pattern.

 Watch More

The Art of Paper Marbling

Watch this video to see how beautiful patterns are created on marbled paper.

 
 
 
 
This video shows how marbled paper is made in Italy.

 
 

  Try It! 

Paper Marbling

Try this simple experiment to make your own marbled paper.

Materials: 
  • Old newspapers
  • Shallow pan (glass or metal)
  • Cardstock paper (heavier than regular paper)
  • Scissors
  • Nail polish (at least 3 different colours)
  • Water
 
This activity (and other activities in this section) requires scissors – handle scissors carefully to avoid cutting yourself.
Instructions:

  1. Cover your working surface with old newspapers.

  2. Trim the cardstock paper with scissors, so it fits inside the shallow pan.

  3. Fill the shallow pan with water.

  4. Shake the nail polish bottles well.

  5. Open the nail polish bottles and drop nail polish randomly onto the surface of the water. Work quickly before the nail polish dries. You can layer different colours of nail polish on top of each other.

  6. Place the piece of cardstock paper carefully over the floating nail polish. Press it down lightly, but don’t soak it in the water.

  7. Peel the paper off the water surface and place it on some newspaper to dry.

  8. Watch this video to see this experiment and its results:

 
 

Questions: 

Think about the following questions very carefully. Then, type or write your answers. After you have your answers, click the questions for feedback.

Nail polish floated on the water because it was insoluble in water and less dense than water.

Paper marbling would not work with watercolour paints. Watercolour paints are soluble in water, so they would dissolve and spread throughout the entire tray, creating mud-coloured water.





  Make sure you have understood everything in this lesson. Use the Self-Check below, and the Self-Check & Lesson Review Tips to guide your learning.

Unit A Lesson 11 Self-Check

Instructions


Complete the following 6 steps. Don't skip steps – if you do them in order, you will confirm your understanding of this lesson and create a study bank for the future.

  1. DOWNLOAD the self-check quiz by clicking here .

  2. ANSWER all the questions on the downloaded quiz in the spaces provided. Think carefully before typing your answers. Review this lesson if you need to. Save your quiz when you are done.

  3. COMPARE your answers with the suggested "Self-Check Quiz Answers" below. WAIT! You didn't skip step 2, did you? It's very important to carefully write out your own answers before checking the suggested answers.

  4. REVISE your quiz answers if you need to. If you answered all the questions correctly, you can skip this step. Revise means to change, fix, and add extra notes if you need to. This quiz is NOT FOR MARKS, so it is perfectly OK to correct any mistakes you made. This will make your self-check quiz an excellent study tool you can use later.

  5. SAVE your quiz to a folder on your computer, or to your Private Files. That way you will know where it is for later studying.

  6. CHECK with your teacher if you need to. If after completing all these steps you are still not sure about the questions or your answers, you should ask for more feedback from your teacher. To do this, post in the Course Questions Forum, or send your teacher an email. In either case, attach your completed quiz and ask; "Can you look at this quiz and give me some feedback please?" They will be happy to help you!

Be a Self-Check

Superhero!



Self-Check Quiz Answers

Click each of the suggested answers below, and carefully compare your answers to the suggested answers.

If you have not done the quiz yet – STOP – and go back to step 1 above. Do not look at the answers without first trying the questions.

 
Water-soluble fertilizers are able to dissolve quickly when a plant is watered. In solution, the fertilizer can then travel faster to plant roots in the ground.
The ink in washable markers is water-soluble, so it washes off skin easily. The ink in permanent markers is not soluble in water, so it doesn’t wash off with just water. However, permanent marker dissolves in rubbing alcohol. Applying rubbing alcohol to permanent marker will clean it off skin.
Butter is not soluble in water, so it cannot be rinsed out of a shirt by water alone. However, grease stains can be cleaned with soap or detergent in water. One end of the soap particles will dissolve the grease particles. The other end of the soap particles will dissolve in water and pull the grease particles off the clothing.
Peanut butter is an oily substance. As a result, peanut butter oils are able to dissolve the sticky oils in labels on the jar.
Solution mining does not send miners deep into the ground, which is much safer. It is also less expensive for companies to pump water into the ground to dissolve salt, rather than paying miners.