Biology  by Bradford
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Free · AP Chemistry · Unit 8

Acids and Bases escape room

The Clearwater Treatment Plant

A storm has knocked out power at the Clearwater Treatment Plant, and the backup system has sealed your team inside the control wing. Upstream, a tanker has spilled acid into the river, and the intake gates will open automatically at dawn. Before then, someone has to prove they can read the plant's chemistry: its acids, its bases and the buffers that keep the town's water steady. Five locks stand between you and the dosing controls. Each lock poses four questions, and your answers decode into its combination. Crack all five and neutralize the intake before the acid reaches the town's taps.

Play it onlineTeacher pack (PDF)
  • 5 locksfour multiple-choice questions at each, 20 in all
  • About 45 minutesfor a team of three or four
  • Online or on papera link to play, or the pack to print
  • ForAP Chemistry classes, every value a question needs given (calculations on the AP equation sheet and periodic table)
  • Play linkbiologybybradford.com/escape/apc8

The five locks

Each lock’s four answers are decoded with its puzzle into a four-digit combination, so one wrong answer keeps it shut. The questions climb from recall to evaluating evidence.
  1. Lock 1 · Recall

    Intake Gate

    Petri dishes Easy

    Each letter is a petri dish. Count the colonies growing in it.

  2. Lock 2 · Understand

    Settling Tank Hatch

    Symbol sums Easy

    One symbol's value is given. Use it to unlock the others, then swap your letters for symbols.

  3. Lock 3 · Apply

    Dosing Room Door

    Bar chart Medium

    Each letter is a bar. Only 0 and 5 are numbered, so count the lines.

  4. Lock 4 · Analyse data

    Water Lab Cabinet

    Magic square Medium

    Every row, column and diagonal adds up to the total shown. One square is blank as well as the lettered ones: work through it.

  5. Lock 5 · Evaluate

    Main Control Panel

    Light panel Hard

    No numbers this time. The right-hand square is worth 1 and each square to its left is worth double. Add up the shaded ones.

Lock 1, as a team sees it

The first four questions and their decoder. The answers, and the reason for each, are in the teacher pack.

  1. A solution at 25 °C has [H₃O⁺] = 1.0 × 10⁻⁴ M. What is [OH⁻] in this solution?

    1. A 1.0 × 10⁻⁴ M
    2. B 1.0 × 10⁻¹⁰ M
    3. C 1.0 × 10⁻¹⁸ M
    4. D 1.0 × 10¹⁰ M

  2. In the Brønsted-Lowry sense, what is the conjugate base of the dihydrogen phosphate ion, H₂PO₄⁻?

    1. A H₃PO₄
    2. B PO₄³⁻
    3. C OH⁻
    4. D HPO₄²⁻

  3. Which of the following acids ionizes completely when dissolved in water?

    1. A HF
    2. B HNO₂
    3. C HNO₃
    4. D HCN

  4. Which mixture, dissolved in 1.0 L of water, forms a buffer solution?

    1. A Equal moles of NH₃ and NH₄Cl
    2. B Equal moles of HCl and NaCl
    3. C Equal moles of NaOH and NaCl
    4. D Equal moles of HNO₃ and KNO₃

Petri dishes

Easy

Each letter is a petri dish. Count the colonies growing in it.

ABCD

Running it

  1. Online: send teams the play link. They answer a lock’s four questions, decode the letters and enter the combination; after lock 5 they get a completion code to show you. Nobody needs an account.
  2. On paper: sign in (free) and print the teacher pack: question cards, the five decoders, a guide and the answer key with a reason for every answer.
  3. Your version: Edit a copy from the library to change any question, then play and print it by its own code, or build a room from the topics your class has covered.

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