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Created 12/2/15. Updates available online.

Beer's Law Lab

Beer's Law Lab Screenshot
  • Beer's law
  • Solutions
  • Concentration
Java Logo Original Sim and Translations

About

Topics

  • Beer's law
  • Solutions
  • Concentration
  • Molarity
  • Light
  • Absorbance
  • Transmittance
  • Spectrophotometry

Description

“The thicker the glass, the darker the brew, the less the light that passes through.” Make colorful concentrated and dilute solutions and explore how much light they absorb and transmit using a virtual spectrophotometer!

Sample Learning Goals

  • Describe the relationships between volume and amount of solute to solution concentration
  • Explain qualitatively the relationship between solution color and concentration
  • Predict and explain how solution concentration will change for adding or removing: water, solute, and/or solution
  • Calculate the concentration of solutions in units of molarity (mol/L)
  • Design a procedure for creating a solution of a given concentration
  • Identify when a solution is saturated and predict how concentration will change for adding or removing: water, solute, and/or solution
  • Describe the relationship between the solution concentration and the intensity of light that is absorbed/transmitted
  • Describe the relationship between absorbance, molar absorptivity, path length, and concentration in Beer’s Law
  • Predict how the intensity of light absorbed/transmitted will change with changes in solution type, solution concentration, container width, or light source, and explain why
Version 1.3.0

For Teachers

Teacher Tips

Download teacher tips PDF Overview of sim controls, model simplifications, and insights into student thinking (PDF).

Teacher-Submitted Activities

Title Gold Star Contribution Contribution by PhET Authors Level Type Updated
Beer's Law Lab - Guided Inquiry Activity A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines. This contribution was designed by PhET. Susan Hendrickson, Julia Chamberlain UG-Intro Guided
Lab		 6/23/15
Investigation of a Solution’s Color (Qualitative and Quantitative) - Guided Inquiry Activity A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines. This contribution was designed by PhET. Ted Clark, Julia Chamberlain UG-Intro Guided 6/23/15
Beer's Law Warm-Up A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines. This contribution was designed by PhET. Julia Chamberlain UG-Intro
HS		 HW 5/26/15
Alignment of PhET sims with NGSS This contribution was designed by PhET. Trish Loeblein HS Other 10/19/15
How do PhET simulations fit in my middle school program? This contribution was designed by PhET. Sarah Borenstein MS Other 10/19/15
PhET Sims Aligned to the Chemistry Curriculum This contribution was designed by PhET. Julia Chamberlain HS
UG-Intro		 Other 5/27/15
MS and HS TEK to Sim Alignment Elyse Zimmer MS
HS		 Other 10/19/15

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Translations

Software Requirements

Windows 7+ Mac OS 10.7+ iPad and iPad Mini with iOS Chromebook with Chrome OS
Internet Explorer 10+
latest versions of Chrome and Firefox
Safari 6.1 and up
latest versions of Chrome and Firefox
latest version of Safari
latest version of Chrome

Credits

Design Team Third-party Libraries Thanks To
  • Julia Chamberlain (lead)
  • Chris Malley (developer)
  • Kelly Lancaster
  • Emily B. Moore
  • Ariel Paul
  • Kathy Perkins
  • Royal Society of Chemistry
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