In Chemical Mystery #7, a can of Coca-Cola was observed to sink in one container of water and yet float in another! This trick made use of the fact that the density of water changes with temperature. See the video below.
Q: Does an unopened can of soda pop float or sink in water?
A: It depends!
See if you can figure out what is happening in this twist on the classic floating-and-sinking soda can experiment.
What do you do when you don’t have any local or affordable opportunities for professional development?
As with most conferences, even the small ones, there is way more than I could put in one blog. Here is what impressed me the most. Several people from the national and local ACS made a point of doing whatever they could to reach out to teachers. As Dr. George Bodner said (and I am paraphrasing), the ACS first looked at what they could do to teachers. They then examined what they could to for teachers. Now they are asking, "How can we work WITH teachers.
Previously I wrote about taking part in a district-wide high school blended learning pilot. You can read about it here. I received my Chromebook cart near the end of February/beginning of March. A little late but just in time for the periodicity unit I was planning as a blended unit. The following is a breakdown of how I designed the unit.
Common drain cleaners consist of water, sodium hypochlorite (bleach) and sodium hydroxide (base) and/or potassium hydroxide (base). Bases are caustic (caustic loosely means to gnaw or eat away at) and can cause corrosion in metal pipes. Wouldn’t you know, our house has PVC piping through the fixtures that dump into a 45 year old cast iron pipe. The cast iron pipe is old and currently shows signs of surface rust and corrosion to the point where the pipe appears to be leaking then sealing itself in several spots. Not to mention the interior of the cast iron pipe may not be completely open, thus, not permitting a fast flow in drainage. Good news: a home warranty is being taken advantage of to hopefully replace the cast iron pipe with a PVC pipe.
A few years ago, we launched a weather balloon during our summer science camp. The balloon reached an altitude of 30 km (100,000 ft)! Among other things, this project ended up being a great way to teach campers about the gas laws and how atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude.
How does the blue to white color change occur in the foam of Scrubbing Bubbles or KABOOM Brand cleaners? Watch this video and find out.
In Chemical Mystery #5, I used chemistry to give the illusion that water can be lit on fire. Here is the solution to that mystery.
The video displays a neat trick you can do for your students. What do you suppose is the secret behind this trick? Hint: >It has to do with chemistry!