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The Pumpkinator

Tom Kuntzleman | Mon, 10/17/2022 - 17:09

This Pumpkinator is a fantastic orange-to-blue-to-orange chemical reaction that will make a great addition to your Halloween-themed chemistry demonstrations.

Finding Flash Rocks

Dean Campbell | Sat, 08/13/2022 - 10:20

Flash rocks were discussed in a previous post as stones made of quartz that produce light by triboluminescence when struck together. This post provides some description of their origins and tips on how to find them, making connections to some of their properties.

Using My Marbles: Connecting Surface Area and Calorimetry with Temperature Curves and Thermochromic Cups

Dean Campbell | Sat, 07/30/2022 - 15:02

The importance of surface area can be illustrated by adding spherical solids at known sizes and temperature to other substances at different temperatures and then monitoring the rates of temperature changes of the system over time. Larger spheres (with less surface area per sample) exchanged heat with water more slowly than smaller spheres, and less thermally conductive glass spheres exchanged heat with water more slowly than iron spheres. Additional, more colorful demonstrations are described in which small glass spheres cool thermochromic plastic cups more quickly than larger glass spheres. 

Paper Snowflakes to Model Flat Symmetrical Molecules

Dean Campbell | Wed, 04/06/2022 - 13:39

Flat, symmetrical molecules can be modeled by folding a sheet of paper, cutting patterns into the folded structure, and unfolding to produce the flat paper models. The finished models resemble paper snowflakes, but have a variety of rotational symmetries. Template patterns for several molecules are available for download in the Supporting Information.