Zosimos of Panopolis (active c. A.D. 300) penned some of the earliest writings we have on the subject that would come to be known as chemistry. Working in Roman Egypt, he used furnaces, glass vessels, and other laboratory equipment to separate, purify, and transform materials. Zosimos believed that the substances of the world contained secrets waiting to be uncovered, but his writings were not straightforward laboratory manuals. They combined practical observations with symbols, philosophical ideas, and strange, dreamlike visions.
In this unit, students enter Zosimos’ mysterious laboratory and are unexpectedly recruited as his apprentices. Their work begins with purification. Students will be challenged to turn a dirty mixture of water, salt, sand, and gravel, into pure water, learning to purify using filteration and distillation. Students will then search Zosimos’ writings for clues about the ways materials can be changed. After identifying methods such as breaking, boiling, and heating, they will be challenged to change a familiar material into something with surprising new properties.
As the unit progresses, students move from separating materials to creating new ones. They will observe hydrogen peroxide breaking down into water and oxygen, use models to represent the rearrangement of atoms, and investigate how electricity can break apart water molecules. Through these activities, students will encounter one of chemistry’s central ideas: matter can be separated, combined, and rearranged to produce remarkable changes. Like Zosimos, they will learn to look beyond appearances and search for the hidden transformations taking place within the material world.
Schedule
There are three lessons in this unit. The activities in Lesson 1 can be completed in about 90 minutes, depending on students’ project designs. However, the students build a solar still in Lesson 1, and will need to let it sit in the sun for a few hours, and then return to observe its effect. The activities in Lesson 2 can be completed in 50-60 minutes, but the lesson involves baking a material for 40 minutes, and that would best be done before the lesson begins. The activities in Lesson 3 are likely to take 90 minutes to two hours.
Lesson 1 – Purifying
Lesson 2 – Changing
Lesson 3 – Creating
Materials Needed
This curriculum works best with The Laboratory: Apprentice Journal (available on Amazon here). Each lesson includes instructions to record observations and test results in that journal.
All lessons involve projects. Most materials needed for these projects are common household items. The following are less common items you will need.
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- Baking soda
- Epsom salt
- Clean sand
- Plastic wrap
- Large clear glass bowl with at least a two-cup capacity
- Baking sheet or oven-safe dish
- Timer
- Lego figurine or similarly sized toy
- Empty plastic bottle
- Dry yeast
- Liquid dish soap
- Liquid food coloring
- 3% hydrogen peroxide solution
- Safety glasses
- Toothpicks
- Playdough, colored marshmallows, or gumdrops
- Cardboard
- 9-volt battery
The Lessons
Click on a lesson below to get started.