Middle School Chemistry 1 ©2023 American Chemical Society
Activity Sheet Name
Chapter 6, Lesson 12
Natural Resources & Synthetic Materials
Date
1. Both natural products and synthetic products come from natural resources.
Explain why this statement is true.
2. What does it mean if a product is “synthetic”?
3. Some synthetic substances are exactly the same as substances found in
nature. Why would scientists synthesize something that already exists?
HINT: YouTube Video, “Professor Dave Explains: Will Synthetic Vitamins Make
Me Explode?”
4. Which synthetic product will you do research on?
Middle School Chemistry 2 ©2023 American Chemical Society
Before starting your research, you will conduct a hands-on activity where you create a
synthetic product—a gel worm. The three questions above will guide the activity and will
model how to approach your research.
WHAT NATURAL RESOURCES ARE USED TO MAKE THE SYNTHETIC PRODUCT?
The reactants in the chemical synthesis you will do are
sodium alginate
and calcium
chloride.
Natural resources used to make the gel
worm
Sodium Alginate
Calcium Chloride
What natural resource is
this chemical made from?
A brown seaweed called
kelp
Calcium chloride is made
from limestone which is a
common rock that is
mined.
How is the natural
resource processed to
make this chemical?
The seaweed is cut up,
mixed with water and
filtered. The water
evaporates off and the
sodium alginate powder is
left
The limestone is reacted
with hydrochloric acid or
sodium chloride to make
calcium chloride.
ACTIVITY
Question to investigate
Why is a gel worm made from calcium chloride and sodium
alginate solutions considered a synthetic product?
Materials
• Calcium chloride solution in a small wide cup
• Sodium alginate solution in a small wide cup
• One dropper
• Paper towels
Use these questions to guide your research about your synthetic product.
1. What natural resources are used to make the synthetic product?
2. What chemical processes are used to make the synthetic product?
3. What are the impacts to society of making and using the synthetic
product, compared to making a more natural product with a similar
function?
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Procedure
1. Use a plastic dropper to add about 10 drops of calcium chloride
solution to the center of a cup containing 15 mL of sodium
alginate solution.
2. Reach into the center of the solution (where you put the
calcium chloride) and gently and slowly pull out the gel
“worm.”
3. Set the “worm” on a paper towel.
5. What were the calcium chloride and sodium alginate solutions like
before you added the calcium chloride solution to the sodium alginate
solution?
6. After you added the calcium chloride solution to the sodium alginate solution and
began pulling from the center, how did the solutions change?
7. Why is the gel worm considered to be a synthetic product?
EXPLAIN IT WITH ATOMS & MOLECULES
What chemical processes are used to make the synthetic product?
Adding the calcium chloride solution to the sodium alginate solution caused the
sodium alginate to become a stiffer gel.
Two sodium alginate polymer chains
After adding calcium chloride
Middle School Chemistry 4 ©2023 American Chemical Society
8. Describe what the calcium ions from the calcium chloride do to help make the
sodium alginate polymer become a gel.
TAKE IT FURTHER
What are the impacts to society of making and using the synthetic product, compared
to making a more natural product with a similar function?
9. Are the natural resources used to make the synthetic gel worm renewable or
nonrenewable?
Fill out the chart below to answer the question.
Renewable and Nonrenewable
Natural Resources Used to Make Each Snack
Main ingredients
Natural resources
used to make each
Renewable?
Why or why
not?
Gel worm
Sodium alginate
Calcium chloride
Fresh fruit slices
Fruit
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10. If gel worms were made and sold on a large scale as a synthetic snack item for
kids, what are some of the impacts to society of producing and using them
compared to producing and using fresh fruit slices?
Fill out the chart below to answer the question.
Impacts to society and the environment
Synthetic gel worm
Fresh fruit slices
Impact of harvesting,
mining, or collecting the
natural resources
Processing the natural
resources to make the
final product?
Usefulness of the
product?
11. Which do you think is better, the gel worm snack or fresh fruit slices?
Why do you think so?
