Misconceptions in Chemistry

Hans-Dieter Barke

Al Hazari

Sileshi Yitbarek

Misconceptions in Chemistry
Addressing Perceptions in Chemical Education

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Prof. Dr. Hans-Dieter Barke Universita t Mu nster FB 12 Chemie und Pharmazie Inst. Didaktik der Chemie Fliednerstr. 21 48149 Mu nster Germany Dr. Sileshi Yitbarek Kotebe College of Teacher Education Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Dr. Al Hazari University of Tennessee Dept. Chemistry 505 Buehler Hall Knoxville TN 37996-1600 USA

ISBN: 978-3-540-70988-6 DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-70989-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008933285

# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009

e-ISBN: 978-3-540-70989-3

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: Ku nkelLopka GmbH Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com

We would like to dedicate this book to Chemistry students everywhere. May their quest to full understanding of this subject lead them to the discovery of the truth and the beauty of Chemistry.

Acknowledgment

First, we would like to cordially thank Dr. Hilde Wirbs, wife of Hans-Dieter Barke, for all the discussions concerning chemistry misconceptions and for testing some proposed strategies for teaching and learning in her school, Kaethe-Kollwitz Realschule in Emsdetten near Muenster, Germany. Many thanks to colleagues and friends: Prof. Dr. Dieter Sauermann (Munich), Prof. Dr. Guenther Harsch (Muenster) and Prof. Dr. Rebekka Heimann (Leipzig) who helped us get interesting insights into problems of chemistry education. Special appreciation goes to Barbara DoranRogel and Dr. Friedhelm Rogel for translating all chapters of the German book on Chemical Misconceptions: Prevention and Cure, written by Hans-Dieter Barke into English. Same appreciation belongs to artist Mr. Mulugeta Gebrekidan, he did the drawings with regard to the concept cartoons. We are also gratefully indebted to Dr. Temechegn Engida, Dr. Birte Moeller, Dr. Nina Strehle, Dr. Cosima Kuhl, Dr. Wahyne Sopandi, Dr. Sebastian Musli, Dr. Claus Hilbing, Reinhard Roelleke, Tobias Doerfler and Serkalem Girma for availing themselves whenever we needed their support. Finally we would like to thank the Fonds of Chemical Industries FCI in Frankfurt, Germany, and the German Society of Research DFG in Bonn, Germany. The financial support of the FCI allowed us to realize and to utilize all the Masters theses as the research basis of the German book on Chemical Misconceptions. The DFG supported our visits to Chemical Education congresses in the United States of America where we met Dr. Al Hazari, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. October 2008 Hans-Dieter Barke, Al Hazari, Sileshi

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Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Perceptions of Ancient Scientists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 The Theory of Basic Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Transformation Concepts of the Alchemists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 The Phlogiston Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Historic AcidBase Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 Horror Vacui and the Particle Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 Atoms and the Structure of Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Students Misconceptions and How to Overcome Them . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Students Preconcepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 School-Made Misconceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Students Concepts and Scientific Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Effective Strategies for Teaching and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Substances and Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Animistic Modes of Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Concepts of Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Concepts of Miscibility for Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Concepts of Destruction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Concepts of Combustion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6 Concepts of Gases as not Substances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7 Experiments on Substances and Their Properties . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Particle Concept of Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Smallest Particles of Matter and Mental Models. . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Preformed and Non-preformed Particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 9 10 10 11 12 14 15 20 21 21 24 26 28 33 34 37 38 39 41 43 46 50 52 64 65 67 69 73
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Contents

4.3 Smallest Particles as Portions of Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 4.4 Particles and the Horror Vacui . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 4.5 Particles Generic Term for Atoms, Ions and Molecules . . . . . 82 4.6 Formation of Particles and Spatial Ability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 4.7 Diagnosis Test for Understanding the Particle Model of Matter 86 4.8 Experiments on Particle Model of Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 5 StructureProperty Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Structure and Properties of Metals and Alloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Existence of Ions and Structure of Salts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Mental Models on Ionic Bonding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Chemical Structures and Symbolic Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Experiments on StructureProperty Relationships . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chemical Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Overview of the Most Common Misconceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Empirical Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Teaching and Learning Suggestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 Experiments on Chemical Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AcidBase Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 AcidBase Reactions and the Proton Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Misconceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Teaching and Learning Suggestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Experiments on Acids and Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Redox Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Misconceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Teaching and Learning Suggestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Experiments on Redox Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Complex Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 Misconceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Teaching and Learning Suggestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 103 108 115 125 130 140 142 145 145 146 156 165 169 170 173 173 175 183 193 204 204 207 209 217 226 231 232 235 237 245

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9.3 Experiments on Complex Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1 Misconceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2 Empirical Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3 Energy and Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4 Fuel and Chemical Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.5 Experiments on Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

252 259 261 262 265 269 272 279 286 287 289 293

List of Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .