Ms. Brennan's

Gas Laws WebQuest

Introduction

You are the owner of a SCUBA diving academy. In order to make sure none of your divers get sick or die due to scuba diving, you need to make your diving students aware of the gas laws that affect diving, such as Dalton's Law, Boyle's Law, Henry's Law, and Charles' Law.

The Task

You will use the gas laws to prevent your divers from getting "The Bends," air embolisms, and oxygen toxicity. In order to do this, you will:

Take the SCUBA Quiz online
Determine what SCUBA stands for and how it works.
Identify the Boyle's Law, Charles' Law, and Dalton's Law Equations.
Define "the bends," air embolisms, and oxygen toxicity.
Put together a tri-fold pamphlet to distribute to your divers. The pamphlet must have a title page and an introduction to SCUBA page. It should also contain one page each for "the bends," air embolisms, and oxygen toxicity. These pages should contain an explanation of the condition using the appropriate gas law, physiology, symptoms, and treatment. You may decide what to do with the remaining page.

Resources

SCUBA quiz site:

http://www.mtsinai.org/pulmonary/books/scuba/quiz.htm SCUBA Quiz

Sites to help with Gas Laws:

http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/GasLaw/KMT-Gas-Laws.html Chem Team Web page
http://www.chemtutor.com/gases.htm Chem Tutor Web page
http://www.chemfiesta.com/ Look for Gas Laws on Mr. Guch's Cavalcade of Chemistry
Your notes from class on the gas laws

Sites to help with SCUBA info:

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2001/meeraus/physicallaws.html The Chemistry of SCUBA
http://www.pbs.org/ktca/newtons/11/bends.html "The Bends"
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question101.htm "The Bends"
http://www.drugbase.co.za/data/med_info/decompr.htm Medical Information
http://scuba.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gulftel.com%2F%7Escubadoc General Information on Scuba Medicine
http://www.mtsinai.org/pulmonary/books/scuba/sectionf.htm Air Embolisms
http://www.gulftel.com/~scubadoc/o2tox.htm Oxygen Toxicity
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question493.htm Oxygen Toxicity

The Process

Working in a group of 2 - 3 people, first take the online SCUBA quiz to find out what you know (and what you DON'T know) about SCUBA diving and the gas laws.
Next, take a look at the provided web sites to get some basic information on "the bends," air embolisms, and oxygen toxicity. Also, look at the web pages and your notes to make the connections with the gas laws.
Start putting your pamphlet together. Remember that you need the following pages:
- title
- an introduction to SCUBA page
- one page each for "the bends," air embolisms, and oxygen toxicity.
- one page that is up to you (this is your chance to be creative or give extra information)
Make sure that you give credit to any web page or book author whose information you used in your pamphlet. You may also use pictures from the web, but once again, you must give credit.
Turn in your pamphlet ON TIME!

Learning Advice

Get your background information first before you start putting your pamphlet together.
Make a timeline for your group and stick to it.
Keep your data organized.
Work together so that all group members know ALL of the information, not just small chunks. (translate --> Don't break up the work, "You do this, I'll do that")
Do not miss class during this project!

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have finished your pamphlet! Turn it in by the deadline and it will be graded by the following rubric:

Grade:	Requirements:
A	Neatly typed, organized. All five required pages are present, 6th page shows creativity and/or extra interesting information, Information on illnesses and gas laws is accurate, appropriate, and complete (explanation of the condition using the appropriate gas law and physiology, symptoms, and treatment)
B	Neatly typed, organized. All five required pages are present, 6th page shows creativity and/or extra interesting information, Information on illnesses and gas laws is accurate, appropriate, and mostly complete (At least 3 of the following 4 topics is present: explanation of the condition using the appropriate gas law and physiology, symptoms, and treatment)
C	Neatly typed, organized. At least five of the 6 pages are present, Information on illnesses and gas laws is mostly accurate, appropriate, and complete (At least 3 of the following 4 topics is present: explanation of the condition using the appropriate gas law and physiology, symptoms, and treatment)
D	Neatly typed or handwritten, somewhat organized. At least four of the 6 pages are present, Information on illnesses and gas laws is mostly accurate, appropriate, and complete (At least 2 of the following 4 topics is present: explanation of the condition using the appropriate gas law and physiology, symptoms, and treatment)
F	Typed or handwritten, lack of organization. Only three of the 6 pages are present, Information on illnesses and gas laws is lacking in accuracy, appropriateness, and completeness (Only 2 of the following 4 topics is present: explanation of the condition using the appropriate gas law and physiology, symptoms, and treatment)

Scuba Pictures courtesy of Google Images.

This page written by Ms. K. Brennan
Last updated:January 15, 2002

This page was adapted from Bernie Dodge 's WebQuest_Template1.html by Tom March