An elementary problem

This task should take around one hour.

Task

Five chemical companies are awaiting chemicals from suppliers, and they will be delivered on different days. From the information given, which company has ordered which chemical, which process is involved, and on what week day are they to be delivered?

Company E has ordered a chemical for the Solvay process while the sodium hydroxide is for company B.

Both of these orders must be delivered before those for company D and the company that operates the Kroll process.

The vanadium(V) oxide is needed for the Contact process while the chemical for the Bayer process is needed before Friday.

The magnesium is not required by company A. The chemical for the Haber process, which is not sodium hydroxide is to be delivered on Tuesday while the calcium carbonate that was not ordered by company D is to be delivered on Wednesday.

Potassium oxide is one chemical on order and the chemical for company C will be delivered on Thursday.

Commentary

This problem is easier if you ignore the chemistry and treat it as a logic problem. Students enjoyed doing it, as did the teachers! If students are struggling to get started encourage them to draw up a grid with the variables across the top and down the side. This will enable them to mark in correlations.

Answer

Extension

During trialling some institutions extended this work by asking students to find out more about the chemical processes.

Notes

This resource is part of a collection of problem-solving activities, designed to engage learners in small group work. Find out how to use these resources, and obtain a list of suggested ‘junk items’ here.