Name _______________________________ Date______________ Period ____

The Burning Sugar Lab

Background Information: Cane sugar is a kind of carbohydrate and is made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The chemical formula is C12H22O11. During this lab you will heat sugar in a test tube over a Bunsen burner flame. Heat from the Bunsen burner provides the energy, which causes atoms in the sugar molecule to vibrate and eventually break apart. The sugar is then chemically changed when these free atoms rearrange themselves and come back together to create new substances. The Law of Conservation of Mass states that mass is neither created nor destroyed. Therefore, the new substances cannot contain any atoms not found in the original substance. In this lab we will use both chemical and physical properties to determine what 3 new substances form when sugar molecules are chemically changed with heated. Hint: Look carefully at the chemical formula for sugar. Question: What 3 new substances will be formed when you burn sugar? Hypothesis: Reactants Products C12H22O11+ 6O2 (Heat) _______________ + ______________ + ______________ Sugar + Oxygen = ______________________________________________________ Materials: Procedure: 1. Complete all preparations and safety checks for Bunsen burner use. 2. Place 2 sugar cubes in the mortar and use the pestle to crush it into a powder. 3. Spoon all the sugar onto the paper square (has fold in it for pouring). 4. Pour sugar into the test tube. 5. Attach test tube holder to the top of the test tube. 6. Put on safety equipment and light the Bunsen burner. The flame should be lower than normal, about 4 inches. 7. HEAT TEST TUBE OVER HOTTEST PART OF FLAME. POINT IT AWAY FROM YOU OR ANYONE ELSE! 8. Watch the sugar in the test tube VERY CAREFULLY! Make observations of all changes that occur during heating. 9. REMOVE TEST TUBE FROM FLAME BEFORE SUBSTANCE CAN RISE AS HIGH AS THE TOP OF THE TUBE. 10. Place test tube in the test tube rack and allow it to cool. Record your observations on your lab sheet as the test tube cools. 11. Clean up your area. 12. After observations place test tube in the GLASS DISPOSAL BOX.

Name _______________________________ Date______________ Period ____ OBSERVATIONS THAT INDICATE CHEMICAL CHANGES List all that occur!

DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SUBSTANCES OBSERVED SUBSTANCE DESCRIPTION Include color of the new substance, any liquid or gasses that were produced while the reaction was occurring: Substance
1. 2. 3. 4.

Color/Description

State of matter
(solid, liquid, gas)

NAME 3 NEW SUBSTANCES THAT YOU THINK WERE FORMED 1. _________________ 2.___________________ 3. _________________ LAB QUESTIONS Answer Answer the following Cornell Note Style on a separate sheet. 1. Describe any changes to the sugar cube that were physical changes. 2. Summarize your observations that told you that chemical changes were occurring. 3. Name each substance that formed and what observation led you to believe it was that substance. 4. Name the state of matter that the three substances occurred in. (Hint: One substance occurred in 2 states of matter) 5. What caused the sugar cube to be able to change into other substances? (see background information) 6. Why did the black substance rise up in the test tube? (Hint: it was full of a particular state of matter whose particles like to expand outward) 7. Where did the water come from? Why did it change state? 8. Where did the extra oxygen come from to create the carbon dioxide? 9. Complete the chemical formula for the burning sugar reaction. Reactants Products C12H22O11 + 6O2 (Heat) 6 __________ + 6 __________ + 11 __________ Sugar + Oxygen (Heat) _____________ + _____________ + _____________