1. our Movie
2. project description
For this project we were instructed to make a movie using chemistry concepts as special effects to display in our film. Before beginning work on our movie, our class was taught various chemistry concepts through labs. We learned how to change the color of fire, blow up an egg, use dry ice to make a small plastic tube explode, and how to create mixtures with different properties.
For our video, my group chose to recreate a few scenes from Star Wars, using dry ice and a fog machine to create the effect of the swamp. We decided to use the STEM building we built freshman year to film in and we put green paper on the walls and used black paper to cover the windows and darken the room. Joe acted as Luke and Tony acted as Yoda. To create the effect of the starship being lifted out of the swamp, we put water and dry ice into a green tupperware container with branches. We tied the ship to strings and lifted it out of the fog-covered swamp.
Unfortunately, we lost some of our video's clips while uploading, including the entire chemistry concepts explanation. Although we did refill the explanation, we couldn't refill the missing scenes because we didn't have access to the stem room.
For our video, my group chose to recreate a few scenes from Star Wars, using dry ice and a fog machine to create the effect of the swamp. We decided to use the STEM building we built freshman year to film in and we put green paper on the walls and used black paper to cover the windows and darken the room. Joe acted as Luke and Tony acted as Yoda. To create the effect of the starship being lifted out of the swamp, we put water and dry ice into a green tupperware container with branches. We tied the ship to strings and lifted it out of the fog-covered swamp.
Unfortunately, we lost some of our video's clips while uploading, including the entire chemistry concepts explanation. Although we did refill the explanation, we couldn't refill the missing scenes because we didn't have access to the stem room.
3. Chemistry concepts
**Explained in video starting at 1:53
Dry Ice - Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide which is a normal part of the earths atmosphere. It is called dry ice because it goes directly from a solid to a gas, skipping the liquid phase; also known as sublimation. Dry ice is -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit when it sublimates, and as it goes from a solid to a gas its vapor is visible and looks like a smooth, white fog. It stays low to the ground because it is denser than the surrounding air.
Fog machine - The fog machine works by heating up a mixture of water and glycerin and expelling it into the air. The glycerin is visible while in the air because in it's gas form it is whitish and foggy.
Dry Ice - Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide which is a normal part of the earths atmosphere. It is called dry ice because it goes directly from a solid to a gas, skipping the liquid phase; also known as sublimation. Dry ice is -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit when it sublimates, and as it goes from a solid to a gas its vapor is visible and looks like a smooth, white fog. It stays low to the ground because it is denser than the surrounding air.
Fog machine - The fog machine works by heating up a mixture of water and glycerin and expelling it into the air. The glycerin is visible while in the air because in it's gas form it is whitish and foggy.
4. reflection
In this project, I think my group did many things well. First, we all worked together very well and agreed on everything. I think we also collaborated very well, especially when working on explaining our chemistry concepts. We were all very interested in what we were doing, and while working together at Joe's house, we experimented with the dry ice and spent lots of time having fun and trying new things.
I think that one thing we didn't do well was manage our time. We had a good idea for what we wanted to do with our project, but we didn't plan how long it was going to take to incorporate everything we wanted to incorporate. We ended up leaving out things we initially planned to include. Another thing that we could've done better was plan the editing of our video. Once we had filmed it, we had lots of trouble uploading it to the computer, and multiple times we had to text the clips or re-upload them. It would've been much easier if we planned ahead and used a more trustworthy device to upload our video onto.
I think that one thing we didn't do well was manage our time. We had a good idea for what we wanted to do with our project, but we didn't plan how long it was going to take to incorporate everything we wanted to incorporate. We ended up leaving out things we initially planned to include. Another thing that we could've done better was plan the editing of our video. Once we had filmed it, we had lots of trouble uploading it to the computer, and multiple times we had to text the clips or re-upload them. It would've been much easier if we planned ahead and used a more trustworthy device to upload our video onto.