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High School Physical ScienceUnit 5SPS6.a–e

Solutions, Acids & Bases

The chemistry of everything you drink, wash with, clean with, and swim in.

One purple potion. Three different colors.

Juice from boiled red cabbage is deep purple. Pour a splash into three cups of clear, colorless kitchen liquids: Cup 1 turns hot pink. Cup 2 stays purple. Cup 3 turns green. Same purple juice every time — nothing added but the clear liquids. Why do you think the same juice makes three different colors?

Start: What Do You Already Know? → Explore on your own ↓
6activities
12new words
4parts
∞replays — new every time
Open world

Explore

Jump in anywhere, in any order. Every activity reshuffles each time you play, so there's always something new. You earn grams per liter for every right answer.

Think about it

Big questions to wonder about

By the end of this unit, you'll be able to answer every one of these.

Why does the same purple cabbage juice turn pink in one cup and green in another?

Why does a warm soda go flat so much faster than a cold one?

Why does salt water conduct electricity, but sugar water doesn't?

Sugar vanishes in hot coffee but sits at the bottom of iced tea. Why?

Vocabulary

Word Wall

The 12 words you'll own by the end of this unit. Tap any card to flip it. Words you collect in the activities get a ✓.

The road ahead

Unit Roadmap

Four parts, in the order we'll learn them.

1

Part 1: What Is a Solution?

  • Solute & solvent
  • Solutions in every state
  • Dissolving up close
  • Electrolytes & conductivity
SPS6.a
2

Part 2: Dissolving Rate & Concentration

  • Three ways to dissolve faster
  • Dilute vs. concentrated
  • Concentration in g/L
SPS6.aSPS6.b
3

Part 3: Solubility & Solubility Curves

  • Saturated, unsaturated, supersaturated
  • Reading the curves
  • Why gases break the rule
SPS6.c
4

Part 4: Acids, Bases & pH

  • Acids (H⁺) & bases (OH⁻)
  • The pH scale — each step ×10
  • Indicators
  • Neutralization
SPS6.dSPS6.e
Where we're headed

Learning Targets & Success Criteria

Learning Targets

I am learning to…

  • Explain the properties of solutions: solute and solvent, conductivity, and concentration
  • Investigate how temperature, surface area, and agitation affect how fast a solute dissolves
  • Interpret solubility curves to describe how temperature affects solubility
  • Explain how the structure of acids and bases relates to pH and indicator color, and classify household substances
Success Criteria

I will be successful when I can…

  • Name the solute and solvent in any mixture and explain why salt water conducts but sugar water doesn't
  • Make anything dissolve faster and explain why, particle by particle
  • Calculate concentration and tell a dilute solution from a concentrated one
  • Read a solubility curve: saturated, unsaturated, supersaturated, and how many grams crystallize when it cools
  • Use the pH scale and indicators to classify household substances as acid, base, or neutral
Georgia Standards of Excellence

Standards

SPS6

Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to explain the properties of solutions.

SPS6.a

Develop and use models to explain the properties (solute/solvent, conductivity, and concentration) of solutions.

SPS6.b

Plan and carry out investigations to determine how temperature, surface area, and agitation affect the rate solutes dissolve in a specific solvent.

SPS6.c

Analyze and interpret data from a solubility curve to determine the effect of temperature on solubility.

SPS6.d

Obtain and communicate information to explain the relationship between the structure and properties (e.g., pH, and color change in the presence of an indicator) of acids and bases.

SPS6.e

Plan and carry out investigations to detect patterns in order to classify common household substances as acidic, basic, or neutral.

Watch

One-minute videos

Quick previews from Simple Science Videos.

Solutions

SPS6.a · SPS6.b

Solubility Curves

SPS6.c

Acids & Bases

SPS6.d

pH of Household Substances

SPS6.e
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Keep going

Free activities for this unit that go deeper.

Virtual Lab Bench