Sulfur (S)

Student Objectives: Students will be able to identify some of the products that are made with sulfur and sulfur chemicals. They will also be aware of sulfur’s importance to world business.

Tips for the Teachers: Pure sulfur (sulfur flowers) can be purchased in small quantities at many pharmacies. Display a small sample and ask students to describe its appearance and smell.

Suggested Activities:

1. Make plaster of paris projects with hand of leaf prints in them. Paint when dry.

2. Play a sulfur products game. Cut 12 squares of paper, decorate or color and place in a line on the floor. Using 30 index cards, select 10 products made with sulfur and make three cards for each. Assign each card a value (1, 2 and 3 points for each product). Explain that each player will represent a country. The game represents one year of production in their country. The cards are for different amounts because some countries make more products than others. Choose five or six players (may be done from beginning in small groups using desktop playing area and paper place markers). Each player draws from the product pile in turn and moves the number of spaces on the card. Players draw a total of four times. At the end of the game, the player farthest ahead represents the country that used the most sulfur and produced the most products.

Measurements/Evaluation:

1. List 5 products made with sulfur.

2. Why are underground sulfur mines dangerous?

3. What is the name of a safer way of mining sulfur?

4. If a country buys a lot of sulfur, it usually means what?

 Sulfur

Sulfur is mainly used as a chemical for making fertilizer. It is also made into sulfuric acid, which is one of the strongest acids and is important in industry.

Some of the things that have sulfur in them are matches, gunpowder, plastics, rubber, paint, insecticides, car batteries and medicines. Sulfur chemicals help to make steel, purified water, photographs, gasoline and oil, paper, preserved food, refrigeration machines, and man-made fibers for clothing.

Sulfur is not easy to mine. Underground sulfur mines are dangerous to workers because of floods and poisonous gases. A new way of getting sulfur out of the ground has been found. It is called the Frasch method. Pipes are placed inside deep, narrow holes that have been drilled into the deposit. Hot water and hot air are put down two pipes to dissolve the sulfur and force it up to the surface through another pipe. When the water dries, it leaves yellow sulfur powder. Sulfur also comes from the ores of other minerals such as copper and pyrite.

Gypsum ore contains a lot of sulfur, but it would be very hard to separate it. Instead, the gypsum is used in making plaster for casts, sculptures and wallboard.

This mineral is so important to industry that people can tell how well business is going in a country by how much sulfur is bought.

Directions: Answer the questions about the graph below.

1. Which country bought the most sulfur? Color it red.
2. Which countries bought the same amount of sulfur? Color them blue.
3. Which country bought the least sulfur? Color it yellow.
4. Which country bought seven tons of sulfur? Color it brown.
5. Which country bought four tons of sulfur? Color it orange.
6. Which country is left? Color it purple.