Download - Fact or Fiction: POP Culture meets Chemistry
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Fact or Fiction: POP Culture meets ChemistryCould that really happen?
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FACT OR FICTION PROJECT: AP CHEMISTRY
Objective The objective of this year-end project is to emphasize research and technical writing skills by finding a chemistry related concept in a movie/media clip and testing the validity of its claim by doing research.
Expected Products1.Oral Presentation on Research Findings: PowerPoint or imovie with the media clip (under 3 minutes) inserted ( not to exceed 10 minutes total)
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Fulminated MercuryThe Next Frontier of Explosives? FACT or
FICTION
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Video Background
• In Breaking Bad, Walt is a high school chemistry teacher turned criminal producing metamphetamine (crystal meth) to sell on the black market.
• At one point his partner, Jesse, gets swindled and beaten up by a psychopathic gangster named Tuco.
• The following video shows Walt's confrontation with Tuco and subsequent explosion using Mercury Fulminate.
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Breaking Bad Video Clip
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Could a small crystal of mercury fulminate really blow windows out and shatter glass?
Research Problem
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Properties of Mercury Fulminate
-It is prepared by reacting mercury with nitric acid and then adding ethanol.
-The crystals are usually brown to grey (due to colloidal mercury) and large crystals are extremely unstable
-Pressure changes, vibrations and shock can lead to detonation. The explosive properties can be demonstrated in the lab by hitting a very small crystal with a hammer.
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Properties of Mercury Fulminate
• insoluble in water
• exists as white powder
Mercury (II) fulminate comprises two fulminate ions (CNO-) bonded to a central mercury atom.
Mercury (II) fulminate is very sensitive because of the instability of the fulminate ion.
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Reasons for Instability
• single bond is unstable-->immediately break in most reactions
• nitrogen will most likely bond with other nitrogen atoms, forming nitrogen gas.
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Detonation of Mercury Fulminate
• Detonation produces mercury vapor, carbon monoxide and nitrogen.
• Potential Explosion Pathway
2Hg(CNO)2 → 2CO2+N2+Hg(CN)2
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The explosion
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-Ultimately only .9-1.8 kJ of energy would be received by windows which is not enough to shatter them!
-The Verdict based on the research: FICTION!!
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The Process of ResearchIdentify an area of interest
Search sources for relevant information
Evaluate Resources
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Choosing a Topic
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Research Question
Or too narrow..
Example of too broad a topic: Is there a material
that can pull the weight of an average sized human
without breaking?
Example of too narrow a topic: What is the
numerical value of the tensile strength of a nylon-
based material?