The Chemistry of Snow Globes

Composition of ...

• Lead glass dome - soda lime glass- composed of approximately 75% silicon dioxide (SiO2), sodium oxide (Na2O) from sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), calcium oxide, also called lime (CaO), and several minor additives
• ceramic base-carbides and many other materials
• water-H2O
• snowflakes-bone chips, pieces of porcelain, sand, or even sawdust, now gold flakes or mainly benzoic acid (C7H6O)

Main Chemicals, Compounds, Components

1.Ceramics-base, figure

• ceramics are generally only two types- traditional and advanced
• traditional- made from clay and cements that have been hardened at high temps
• advanced includes carbides- SiC; oxides-aluminum oxide Al2O3; nitride- Si3N4; and many other materials
• some ceramics are only composed of two elements- for example, alumina-aluminum oxide, Al2O3; zirconia-zirconium oxide, ZRO2
• Ceramics are good insulators and can withstand high temps
• chemical bonds in ceramics can be covalent, ionic, or polar covalent
• Metal + nonmetal= bonding primarily ionic; metalloid+nonmetal= bonding primarily covalent
• most ceramics have a highly crystalline structure- three dimensional unit- unit cell, is repeated
• ceramics are created from natural materials like clay that have hardened by heating at high temperatures- driving out water- and allowing strong chemical bonds to form
• clay is tiny flat plates stacked together but separated by thin layers of water
• water keeps plates together, while lubricating them
• binders such as bone ash are sometimes added to promote strong bond formation

2.Snowflakes-benzoic acid

• Benzoic acids chemical formula is C7h6O2 or C6H5COOH.
• Structure of Benzoic acid is made up of a benzene ring- 6 carbons surrounded by other atoms
• the structure makes it an aromatic carboxylic acid
• It is aromatic because it has a benzene ring in its chemical structure, with alternating double bonds between each carbon
• it is classified as a carboxylic acid because it has a carboxyl group in its structure- COOH
• benzoic acid forms nice looking snowflakes in cool water- the acid doesn’t dissolve
• benzoic acid falls slowly in liquid

Chemistry's Role

Benzoic Acid

• a natural source of benzoic acid is gum benzoin from certain tree barks
• Benzoic acid can be made chemically by partial oxidation of toluene and oxygen, catalyzed by cobalt or manganese naphthenates

Ceramics

• ceramics are generally only two types- traditional and advanced
• traditional- made from clay and cements that have been hardened at high temps
• advanced includes carbides- SiC; oxides-aluminum oxide Al2O3; nitride- Si3N4; and many other materials
• some ceramics are only composed of two elements- for example, alumina-aluminum oxide, Al2O3; zirconia-zirconium oxide, ZRO2
• chemical bonds in ceramics can be covalent, ionic, or polar covalent
• Metal + nonmetal= bonding primarily ionic; metalloid+nonmetal= bonding primarily covalent
• most ceramics have a highly crystalline structure- three dimensional unit- unit cell, is repeated
• ceramics are created from natural materials like clay that have hardened by heating at high temperatures- driving out water- and allowing strong chemical bonds to form
• clay is tiny flat plates stacked together but separated by thin layers of water
• water keeps plates together, while lubricating them
• binders such as bone ash are sometimes added to promote strong bond formation

Background Research

http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtoguide/a/snowglobe.htm

Chemistry of Snow Globes

• snow globe makeup- benzoic acid + water + globe +base
• how to make snow- heat up the water to dissolve the benzoic acid, but don’t boil
• benzoic acid doesn’t readily dissolve in water at room temp. but dissolves in heated water like rock candy that is produced through sugar combined with water
• cooling down the solution quickly produces snow balls rather than snowflakes
• actual snow works in the same way with how fast the water turns into ice affecting the shape and size of the flakes
• benzoic acid is C7H6O -http://chemistry.about.com/od/factsstructures/ig/Chemical-Structures---B/Benzoic-Acid.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass

Glass globe

• Most glass is made of “soda lime glass” and it makes up 90%
• Soda lime glass
• Glass starts out being made with silica (sio2), fused quartz is chemically pure silica glass
• Fused quartz has a very melting temp. 1723C and a hard to work with viscosity
• Most glass has added substances to simplify the process
• sodium carbonate is added to lower the melting temp Na2Co3
• “lime” calcium carbonate (CaO) is added to make the glass not water soluble
• magnesium (MgO) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) are added

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_globe

Typical snow globe makeup:

• snow globes began with lead glass domes that were placed over a ceramic figure or tableau on a black cast ceramic base, filled with water and sealed
• The snow was made with bone chips, pieces of porcelain, sand, or even sawdust
• In the future the glass became thinner and they started making the bases lighter (bakelite was popular during the art deco period).
• Also the snow became particles of gold foil or non-soluble snowflake

http://classroom.synonym.com/chemical-properties-benzoic-acid-2721.html

• Benzoic acid chemical formula is C7H6O2
• Chemical properties based on the fact that its molecule is made up of an acidic carboxyl group attached to an aromatic ring
• COOH - a single carboxyl group is attached to a carbon atom of a benzene ring
• Benzene ring- C6H6 aromatic ring of six carbon atoms, with a hydrogen atom attached to each carbon atom
• benzoic acid- the COOH group replaces one of the H atoms on the aromatic ring
• C7H602-C6H5COOH

Salt Formation

• carboxyl group reacts with a base to form a salt such as with sodium hydroxide benzoic acid and sodium benzoate are used as food preservatives

Production of Esters

• reacts with alcohols to produce esters
• some esters are plasticizers

Production of an Acid Halide

• benzoic acid reacts with phosphorus pentachloride or thionyl chloride to form benzoyl chloride- highly reactive and used to form other products

Sulfonation

• reaction with a fuming sulfuric acid (H2SO4) leads to sulfonation of the aromatic ring
• SO3H group replaces a hydrogen atom on the aromatic ring
• result is mostly meta-sulfobenzoic acid (SO3H-C6H4-COOH)

Nitration

Halogenation

http://chem.answers.com/compounds/http://classroom.synonym.com/chemical-properties-benzoic-acid-2721.html

• extracted from resins mostly gum Benzoin
• It occurs in fruits like cranberries and prunes and cinnamon
• preservative to many foods

Resources

http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtoguide/a/snowglobe.htm

Parts of snow globe

Benzoic acid was listed as snowflakes

http://chemistry.about.com/od/factsstructures/ig/Chemical-Structures---B/Benzoic-Acid.htm

chemical structure of benzoic acid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass

production and chemistry of glass

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_globe

parts and history of snow globes

http://classroom.synonym.com/chemical-properties-benzoic-acid-2721.html

listed properties of benzoic acid

http://chem.answers.com/compounds/http://classroom.synonym.com/chemical-properties-benzoic-acid-2721.html

http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Bo-Ce/Ceramics.html

listed chemistry involved in the making of ceramics

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Benzoic_acid

listed more about the chemistry involved in benzoic acid

http://study.com/academy/lesson/benzoic-acid-structure-formula-uses.html

listed more about the chemistry involved in benzoic acid creation- structure, natural creation,

About the Author

Shane Wilkinson is a Junior at Billings Senior High School. He enjoys learning about how chemistry affects plays a role in daily and will attend college in Bozeman. He plans on going to college for a degree in graphic design and will go to college for many years. He has a good gpa, gets good grades, and is a good person in general. He hopes to have a good life by applying himself and being a good person to all the people that he meets.