Starting with a discrepant event and led through a series of experiments, students of an introductory chemistry course investigate if copper metal reacts with acetic acid. Finding that oxygen from the air plays an important role in the reaction of these substances, students ultimately realize that the conditions under which two reactants interact are important in determining the type of products that are made. This laboratory activity, which could function as a discovery oriented experiment or as an individualized project, could be used to teach the importance of controlling variables, how to prepare common gases, as well as to discuss the electrochemical series, redox, the solubility of gases in water, and the concept of corrosion.
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