Building a Unit Plan
Using AACT Resources
Unit: The Gas Laws
Classroom Resources:
 Introduce this unit to your students with the Gases Animation. In this animation, students will
visualize how volume, pressure, temperature, and quantity of a gas are related. Qualitative and
quantitative relationships are explored. Use the animation to guide your students through a
discussion of what is happening at the atomic levels for gases. You can also use the Founders of
Chemistry: Robert Boyle video which tells the story of Robert Boyle, a great chemist and discoverer
of Boyle's Law, and it describes the relationship between pressure and volume of a gas. Both
resources can be found in the Multimedia section of the website.
 After the class discussion, have your students get active with the Gas Pressure Lab: In this lab,
students will better understand what causes pressure in a container and the variables that affect
pressure (volume, temperature, number of moles) by mimicking molecular motion of gases. This
activity will further help your students visualize the behavior or gas particles.
 Use the Gas Laws Simulation to introduce gas law mathematical relationships into the unit. In this
simulation, students will investigate three of the fundamental gas laws, including Boyle’s Law,
Charles’ Law and Gay-Lussac’s Law. Students will have the opportunity to visually examine the effect
of changing the associated variables of pressure, volume, or temperature in each situation. Also,
students will analyze the gas samples at the particle level as well as manipulate quantitative data in
each scenario. Finally students will interpret trends in the data by examining the graph associated
with each of the gas laws. This lesson accompanies the simulation from the November 2015 issue of
Chemistry Solutions. There is a student activity sheet to accompany the simulation.
 A “Day of Demos” will help students apply the concepts to phenomena they observe every day.
o Make the Water Rise! - In this demonstration, students will observe the impact of temperature
change on a gas through an engaging demonstration using simple household materials.
o Balloon and Flask - In this demo, students will witness the relationship between temperature and
volume as well as temperature and pressure.
o EGG-citing Gas Laws! - In this demonstration, students will observe the impact of temperature
change on gas pressure through an engaging demonstration using simple household materials.
o Comparing Gas Density - In this demonstration, students will observe a reaction between baking
soda and vinegar in the presence of a variety of different heights of lit candles. The initial
environment has plenty of oxygen present in order to sustain the candle’s flame; however the
reaction will produce carbon dioxide which will cause the lit candles to extinguish in order of
height. Students will analyze and compare the presence of the gases in the container and make
determinations about the densities of each.

Students can get more practice explaining the relationship between gas temperature, pressure, and
volume with the Understanding Gas Laws Activity. In this activity, students use an online program
to investigate gas laws (Kinetic Molecular Theory, Partial Pressure, Boyle’s Law, Charles Law, GayLussac’s Law)

Do you students need a bit more? The Gas Laws Activity allows students to examine gas laws by
carrying out several computer simulations.

It’s time for the students to get some hands on experience with the Exploring Gases Lab. In this
lab, students will investigate the relationship between the variables of temperature, volume and
pressure. Students will engage in three lab station activities that each demonstrate a particular gas
law. Students will interpret the results, graph data points and relate given data sets to each of the
three gas laws.

Use the Ideal Gas Law Using Carbon Dioxide Demonstration to give your students the opportunity
to link calculations to gas observations. In this demonstration, students observe dry ice sublime
while the CO2 gas fills a balloon. They then calculate the moles and volume of CO2 produced.

Tie chemistry to real life with the Stoichiometry of Air Bags lesson plan. In this lesson, students
will be introduced to the concept of gram to gram stoichiometry calculations. Students will be
guided through a scenario regarding air bags and will be tasked with calculating the amount of gas
(NaN3) that must be used to inflate a vehicle air bag to the correct size. Follow-up practice
problems are also provided. There is a PowerPoint presentation prepared for this lesson.

For a culminating activity use the Air Bag Stoichiometry Project. In this activity, students make
real-world connections of stoichiometry with the design of car air bag. This can be used as a class
activity or as an assessment.

You can add an extension activity to increase your student’s science literacy with the ChemMatters
April 2013 article, In the Fog about Smog: Solving the Smog Puzzle on Earth and From Space
Ozone, Our Global Sunscreen. Several suggestions from the Teacher’s Guide are included with this
handout. There is also an accompanying ChemMatters Video (Episode 12), How NASA Tracks Air
Pollution from Space. NASA's Aura satellite can measure air quality across the entire planet in just
24 hours. This episode describes some of Aura's achievements, explains how smog is formed, and
discusses the future of Earth's ozone hole.