Unit 5 – Colloids

Time Frame 3 weeks

Competencies
C1. Demonstrate understanding of the properties, preparations and uses of colloids.
C2. Appreciate the uses/applications of colloids in daily life.

COLLOIDS IN THE ENVIRONMENT

Time Frame 4 sessions

I. Learning Objectives
At the end of the session, the students must be able to:
1. Describe environmental impact of colloids.
2. Suggest ways to help clean our environment from pollutants.

II. Subject Matter

A. Topic: Colloids in the environment

B. References
1.Department of Education, Culture and Sports. (1991). Science and Technology
III. Quezon City: Book Media Press, pp. 154-166.
2.Brown, Theodore l., LeMay, H. Eugene Jr., and Bursten, Bruse E., Chemistry
the Central Science, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000, pp. 496-499.
3.Mendoza. Chemistry, pp.250-252.
4.Chemistry, Addison-Wesley, pp. 449.
5.Teaching Resources Package (TRD) Science and Technology
6. Chemistry PASMEP-U-ISMED-DECS, pp. 92-93, 157-160, 165-168.

B. Materials
Spatula
Balance
Watch
2 test tubes
Test tube rack
2 petri dishes or wide-mouthed containers
2 medicine droppers
2 bottle caps (tansan)
2-10 ml grad. Cylinders
Match
4ml diesel oil
6 ml water
2 ml detergent solution
A pinch of table salt
 2 identical cotton balls

III. Learning Tasks

A. Recall and Motivation
1. What are emulsions?
2. What are they made of?
3. How are they made stable?
4. Have you seen an auto mechanic reconditioning a car engine? What waste
materials does an auto mechanic have after his work?

B. Lesson Proper

1. Activity: “ Reading into the Newa” (SAS 5-05)

a. Give the students copies of new articles (Bataan Oil Spill, Exxon oil
spill, Spain oil spill).

b. Let them read “Dead Sea in the Making” by Michael D. Lemonick.

(referto p. 92-93 or TRP)

c. Let students read “oil Spill Threatens Marine Life” incorporated in the
SAS.

2. Discussion / Concept Formation

a. Ask them the following questions:
i. Describe how waters are affected by oil spills.
ii. How do oil spills affect aquatic life? Birds and other animals in
the environment?
iii. What can you do to help keep our waters free from pollution?

b. Tell them that there are different methods of cleaning oil spills in the
ocean, one method uses chemical dispersants.

c. A pollution risk comes from spilt crude oil. Major spills have occurred
from accidents involving oil rigs and large tankers. Sometimes oil is
dumped deliberately at sea when tankers are cleaned. Oil spills are a
serious threat to human safety and to wildlife.

d. Spilled oil is sometimes burned. At other times, it is collected behind a

temporary floating barrier (or boom). In most instances it is best
dispersed with detergent. Unfortunately, all these methods cause
additional problems of their own.

e. Petroleum is fossil fuel usually containing sulphur and nitrogen

impurities. When oil products are burned, the atmosphere can be
 polluted with sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. This can result to
acid rain.

f. A chemical dispersant is a substance added to oil and water mixture to

break large particles of oil into smaller ones such that small oil
particles become thoroughly dispersed in water. The oil particles then
evaporate faster.

YOU MAY END SESSION 1 AT THIS POINT.

3. Activity: “Break Up and Clean Up” (SAS 5-04)

a. Pre-lab: Do this in an open, well-ventilated area.
i. Show materials to be used.
ii. Provide students with LAS 10.3, “Break Up and Clean Up”, or
the alternative activity listed above.
iii. Discuss safety precaution.
iv. Crude oil or diesel oil is flammable. There should be no open
flames nearby when working with these materials.
v. Explain procedure of activity.
 Shaking the mixture that stimulates wave motion in the
ocean and must be done to thoroughly disperse the oil
in water.
 Equal amounts of salt must be added to the two systems
to control its effect.
 Take note of : 1) changes in the volume of the two
systems 2) burning time of the crude oil or diesel oil
 The time needed to completely burn the oil in part D is
a measure of the amount of oil that remained after
evaporation in B.

b. Laboratory Activity Proper

4. Discussion/Concept Formation
Let students write the results on the board or on manila paper.
Guide Questions:
a. Which mixture formed a colloidal dispersion?

b. What happened to the big droplets of crude or diesel oil in each set up?

c. What method of preparation of colloids is used here?

d. Is there a difference in the volume of the two liquids? If there is, what
have caused the difference?
 e. In which set up, A or B, is the rate of evaporation of diesel oil faster?
Why is this so?

f. Does the addition of detergent solution affect the rate of evaporation of

oil?

g. In which set up is the burning process longer, A or B? Why?

YOU MAY END SESSION 2 AT THIS POINT.

h. How was the emulsion broken?

i. What is the role played by the detergent solution in set up B?

j. Make a general statement on the relationship between oil particle size,

the rate of evaporation, and time of burning.

k. How do chemical dispersant help in cleaning up oil spills?

l. In this activity, which substance served as the chemical dispersant?

m. Name the advantages and disadvantages of using chemical dispersant

in cleaning up oil spills.

C. Generalization
1. When the oil spills and water are constantly shaken by wave motion, an
emulsion would be formed

2. Emulsion can affect marine and or aquatic life because the oil droplets
can easily be ingested by the organisms.

3. Each one has the role to play in keeping pollutants out of the water, so
that these bodies of water can be kept safe for marine life and human
beings.

D. Agreement
Assign a Group Project
 1.Interview an auto mechanic and find out approximate volume of spent diesel or
crude oil he gets from conditioning a car engine.

2.Find out the frequency of reconditioning a car.

3.Find out the number of motorized vehicles in your town.

4.Estimate the total amount of spent diesel or crude oil from reconditioning all
motorized vehicles in the town per year.

5.Plan away to keep the estimated volume of spent diesel oil crude oil from
getting into bodies of water.

YOU MAY END SESSION 3 AT THIS POINT.

E. Application/ Valuing
1. The next time you see spent diesel or crude oil from auto repair shop, what
will you do?

2. Discuss the interview with the mechanic.

3. Evaluation: most synthetic detergents contain alkylbenzene sulfonate (ABS),

non-biodegradable surfactant. When detergent of this kind gets into the
waterways, it forms stable foam. How does this affect us?