Practical Activity: 'Hands-on with Optical Isomerism!'

Project Objective:

The 'Hands-on with Optical Isomerism' Project aims to deepen students' knowledge of optical isomerism through the execution of a playful and creative practical activity. In addition, students should develop teamwork, research, and problem-solving skills.

Detailed Project Description:

Each group of students will be challenged to create a set of three-dimensional models of chiral molecules and their enantiomers, and to perform light rotation experiments using a homemade polarimeter model. This project will be divided into three main stages: research and planning, model construction, and experimentation.

Necessary Materials:

• Toothpicks or plastic sticks
• Styrofoam balls or modeling clay
• Laser pointer
• 2 Sheets of acetate paper
• Permanent marker
• Adhesive tape

Step by Step:

Stage 1: Research and Planning

Each group should research optical isomerism and chirality. Based on their research, students should choose a chiral molecule to represent with their model. The groups should document their research and planning, including the sources of information used.

Stage 2: Model Construction

The groups will build three-dimensional models of chiral molecules and their enantiomers. Each group should build at least one pair of enantiomers. The Styrofoam balls or clay will represent the atoms, and the toothpicks or plastic sticks will represent the chemical bonds.

Stage 3: Experimentation

Using the laser pointer, acetate sheets, and permanent marker, students will build a simple polarimeter model. They will use this polarimeter to simulate the rotation of polarized light passing through a medium containing chiral molecules.

Students should document the entire process of research, planning, construction, and experimentation, as well as the results obtained.

Project Deliverables:

Written Document:

• Introduction: Students should describe the concept of optical isomerism, its importance, and the project's objective.
• Development: Students should detail the research and planning process, model construction, experimentation, and results obtained. They should explain the theory behind their experiments and the concepts involved.
• Conclusion: Students should summarize their findings, discuss the challenges faced and solutions found, and reflect on what they learned through the project.
• Bibliography: Students should list all sources of information used in the project, including books, websites, videos, etc.

Models and Polarimeter:

The groups should present the three-dimensional models of chiral molecules and their enantiomers, along with the homemade polarimeter they built.

The estimated runtime of this project is 5 to 10 hours per student, and the project should be delivered within one month from the start date.