Biology by Bradford
Energy changes escape room
The Overheating Fuel Lab
A test burn has gone wrong in the basement of a fuel research lab. The ventilation has failed, the sprinklers are hissing, and the safety system has sealed your team inside with the calorimeters still warming. The building's computer will only release the doors to someone who can follow energy through a reaction: heat and temperature, bonds broken and made, Hess's law and the fuels that power the world. Five locks stand between you and the stairwell. Each lock poses four questions, and your answers decode into its combination. Crack all five before the room temperature climbs any higher.
- 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
- ForIB Chemistry SL and HL classes, every value a question needs given (calculations on data-booklet constants)
- Play linkbiologybybradford.com/escape/c-r1
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.- Lock 1 · Recall
Thermometer Cabinet
Light panel Easy
Add up the numbers above the shaded squares.
- Lock 2 · Understand
Energy Profile Wall
Bar chart Easy
Each letter is a bar. Read its height off the scale.
- Lock 3 · Apply
Bond Energy Archive
Petri dishes Medium
Count only the solid colonies. Ignore the rings.
- Lock 4 · Analyse data
Spirit Burner Bench
Logic clues Medium
A, B, C and D are four different digits. No clue gives a value away; combine them.
- Lock 5 · Evaluate
Fuel Cell Vault
Overlay Hard
Panel 2 is upside down. Turn it round in your head; only segments lit on both panels count.
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.Which statement correctly distinguishes heat from temperature?
- A Heat is energy transferred; temperature measures the average kinetic energy of particles
- B Heat is the average kinetic energy of particles; temperature is the total energy they transfer
- C Heat and temperature are the same quantity, but one is measured in joules and one in kelvin
- D Temperature is the energy transferred; heat is a measure of how fast all the particles move
During an exothermic reaction in a beaker, what happens to the temperature of the surroundings, and what is the sign of ΔH?
- A The temperature rises, and ΔH is positive
- B The temperature rises, and ΔH is negative
- C The temperature falls, and ΔH is negative
- D The temperature falls, and ΔH is positive
Which equation shows the complete combustion of ethanol?
- A C₂H₅OH + 2O₂ → 2CO + 3H₂O
- B C₂H₅OH + 3½O₂ → 2CO₂ + 3H₂O
- C C₂H₅OH + 3O₂ → 2CO₂ + 3H₂O
- D C₂H₅OH + O₂ → 2C + 3H₂O
Why are biofuels such as ethanol made from sugar cane classed as renewable energy sources?
- A They release no carbon dioxide at all when they are burned completely in pure oxygen
- B They release more energy per gram than any fossil fuel, such as coal or crude oil
- C They were formed from the remains of organisms buried over millions of years
- D Their carbon was fixed by photosynthesis over a short time, so they can be regrown
Light panel
EasyAdd up the numbers above the shaded squares.
Running it
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.