Josh Kenney, Melissa Hemling, and I just published an article in the October 2024 Journal of Chemical Education. The article describes inquiry-based activities that highlight the chemistry behind “No-Mess” picture-coloring books.1 Well, it turns out that our timing is impeccable. That’s because the theme for National Chemistry Week 2024 (which happens in October) is “Picture Perfect Chemistry”. Our activity is a fantastic connection to this theme!
No-Mess coloring books make use of leuco (meaning colorless) dyes that become colored in the presence of acid (Figure 1).1,2
Figure 1: Reaction between a colorless leuco dye and zinc ion (left) to form a colored complex (right)
Therefore, the dyes found in these markers act as acid-base indicators and can be used as such in a variety of chemistry demonstrations (Video 1).
Video 1: How Do Color Wonder Markers Work? Tommy Technetium YouTube Channel, June 2022.
As seen in Video 1, Crayola’s Color Wonder marking system has leuco dyes contained in markers. When these dyes contact zinc ions embedded in special Color Wonder marking paper, the dyes display their color (Figure 1). We recently discovered how to use solutions of Zn2+(aq) to develop the dyes in Color Wonder markers. What’s interesting about this is that Zn2+(aq) solutions develop the color of these dyes as vibrantly as the commercial system (Video 2. Please forgive me, the beginning of Video 2 is almost the same as that of Video 1).
Video 2: The Chemistry of Crayola Color Wonder Revealed, Tommy Technetium YouTube Channel, September 2024.
A fun part of the activity that we published involves having students discover how the Imagine Ink marking system works. In this system, a single marker can develop a variety of colors on special marking paper (Video 3).
I can't picture a more perfect activity for National Chemistry Week than our newly published article! #NCW https://t.co/ilWXsper7L pic.twitter.com/rXbHbOyFXF
— Tommy Technetium (@pchemstud) October 8, 2024
So how does the Imagine Ink marking system work? Well, if I told you, that would take the fun out of it, wouldn’t it? I encourage you and your students to explore the Imagine Ink marking system and figure out how it works! Maybe you’ll Picture the Perfect explanation to some Picture-Perfect chemistry!
Happy National Chemistry week and Happy Experimenting!
References:
- Tom Kuntzleman, Josh Kenney & Melissa Hemling, Inquiry-Based Experiments with No-Mess Markers, J. Chem. Educ. 2024, 101, 10, 4523–4527.
- Tom Kuntzleman & Dean Campbell, The Chemical Wonders of No-Mess Markers, J. Chem. Educ. 2022, 99, 6, 2364–2371.
Safety
Safety: Video Demonstration
Safety: Video Demonstration
Demonstration videos presented here are not meant as tools to teach chemical demonstration techniques. They are meant as a tool for classroom use. The demonstrations may present safety hazards or show phenomena that are difficult for an entire class to observe in a live demonstration.
Those performing the demonstrations shown in this video have been trained and adhere to best safety practices.
Anyone thinking about performing a chemistry demonstration should first read and then adhere to the ACS Safety Guidelines for Chemical Demonstrations (2016) These guidelines are also available at ChemEd X.
NGSS
Asking questions and defining problems in grades 9–12 builds from grades K–8 experiences and progresses to formulating, refining, and evaluating empirically testable questions and design problems using models and simulations.
Asking questions and defining problems in grades 9–12 builds from grades K–8 experiences and progresses to formulating, refining, and evaluating empirically testable questions and design problems using models and simulations.
questions that challenge the premise(s) of an argument, the interpretation of a data set, or the suitability of a design.
Scientific questions arise in a variety of ways. They can be driven by curiosity about the world (e.g., Why is the sky blue?). They can be inspired by a model’s or theory’s predictions or by attempts to extend or refine a model or theory (e.g., How does the particle model of matter explain the incompressibility of liquids?). Or they can result from the need to provide better solutions to a problem. For example, the question of why it is impossible to siphon water above a height of 32 feet led Evangelista Torricelli (17th-century inventor of the barometer) to his discoveries about the atmosphere and the identification of a vacuum.
Questions are also important in engineering. Engineers must be able to ask probing questions in order to define an engineering problem. For example, they may ask: What is the need or desire that underlies the problem? What are the criteria (specifications) for a successful solution? What are the constraints? Other questions arise when generating possible solutions: Will this solution meet the design criteria? Can two or more ideas be combined to produce a better solution?
Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to explanations and designs that are supported by multiple and independent student-generated sources of evidence consistent with scientific ideas, principles, and theories.
Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to explanations and designs that are supported by multiple and independent student-generated sources of evidence consistent with scientific ideas, principles, and theories. Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.