Lesson Plan: Flame Tests Chemistry
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to identify the uses of flame tests and the colors produced by alkali, alkaline earth, and other metal atoms during a flame test.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- describe how to set up and perform a flame test,
- explain that flame tests rely on the emission of light due to electron transitions between energy levels in the elements,
- recall the colors produced by the flame tests of the alkali metals up to potassium, calcium, and copper,
- identify an element based on its flame test,
- understand why flame tests cannot be used for mixtures of metal ions.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- metals,
- electron shells.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- flame emission spectroscopy,
- tests for metal cations.