
"PHARAOH'S SNAKES" - HISTORY OF A FUN PYROTECHNICAL EXPERIMENT AND ITS APPLICABILITY IN TEACHING BASIC CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES
Author(s) -
Marcius A. Ullmann,
W. Martin Wallau,
Daniela Bianchini,
Andressa da Cruz Schneid,
Lara Machado Pereira Montenegro
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
química nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.214
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1678-7064
pISSN - 0100-4042
DOI - 10.5935/0100-4042.20140176
Subject(s) - mathematics education , computer science , psychology
Fun methodologies developed with alternative materials for teaching chemical reactions of carbon are interesting activities for discussing concepts of stoichiometry and thermochemistry. The decomposition of organic matter, CO2 production and coal formation can be demonstrated in the experiment "Pharaoh´s snake". This experiment is attractive since the simple combustion of sucrose generates a peculiar structure of coal. This paper proposes a simple methodology for making the sugar tablets used in the experiment and contextualizes the experimental observations with the chemical reaction of carbon which leads to coal and to the thermodynamics involving combustion processes