Education Standards
Lesson Plan for BioPreferred Standards Activity
USDA BioPreferred Standards Context Lesson Plan
Overview
Students will compare the basis of the derivatives for different plastics in order to determine their expected carbon-14 content. They will then compare ratios of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in plastic samples and categorize the sample according to its percent bio-based composition.
Teacher Background Information: This lesson is more of a context design to be used with an existing nuclear chemistry lesson plan. The goal is for students to see the applicability of nuclear chemistry beyond carbon-dating by showing how carbon-dating can be used to determine the carbon sources of products. Students will need a basic understanding of the carbon cycle, and nuclear equations. The lesson will need students to learn about half-lives halfway through the lesson and that is left open to teach as you wish. There is room for extension to mass spectrometry if you want to incorporate it here for AP Chemistry or as an honors extension. I would suggest using the Flinn POGIL on Mass Spectrometry.
USDA BioPreferred Standards Context Lesson Plan and Student Activity
Students will compare the basis of the derivatives for different plastics in order to determine their expected carbon-14 content. They will then compare ratios of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in plastic samples and categorize the sample according to its percent bio-based composition.
Teacher Background Information: This lesson is more of a context design to be used with an existing nuclear chemistry lesson plan. The goal is for students to see the applicability of nuclear chemistry beyond carbon-dating by showing how carbon-dating can be used to determine the carbon sources of products. Students will need a basic understanding of the carbon cycle, and nuclear equations. The lesson will need students to learn about half-lives halfway through the lesson and that is left open to teach as you wish. There is room for extension to mass spectrometry if you want to incorporate it here for AP Chemistry or as an honors extension. I would suggest using the Flinn POGIL on Mass Spectrometry.
Note that bio-based products are not necessarily more resource efficient nor are they always biodegradable.
Educational Goals: To create connections between industrial processes, consumer decisions, our biosphere, and how analytical chemistry can determine information about products in our lives.
Student Objectives: Students will compare and contrast bio-plastics and fossil fuel based plastics. They will explore how the levels of carbon-14 stay relatively constant in our living environment but change when plants and animals die. They will finally be able to calculate whether a sample meets bio-preferred status (according to the USDA) or not.