The Density Bottle is Red, the Density Bottle is Blue...
Tom Kuntzleman | Fri, 05/30/2025 - 10:10
You're going to love this new color variation on the Density Bottle experiment!
water
Not so Green Up Close: a Peek at a dyed Chicago River Sample
Dean Campbell | Sat, 05/17/2025 - 22:36
Light absorbance and fluorescence were studied for a sample of the Chicago River that had been dyed green for St. Patrick’s Day. The sample had weak green fluorescence, showing that the intense green appearance of the river was in part due to the long path length of light through the water. The ability of the green color to partition into 1-octanol was also explored.
Egg-lectrons and McLewis Structures
Dean Campbell | Fri, 02/28/2025 - 22:13
Egg cartons and beverage holders can be used as models of atoms, with their dimples representing orbitals. Each dimple can hold up to two objects such as milk jug caps, plastic eggs, and cup pieces to represent electrons in the orbitals. Partially overlapping the trays by stacking the dimples represents chemical bonding and produces molecular models resembling Lewis structures. The models can be easily made from materials that can be readily found grocery stores and fast-food restaurants.
The Diamonds of Winter
Tom Kuntzleman | Thu, 01/09/2025 - 09:44
Take a walk and explore the chemical winter wonderland of snowflakes...and diamonds!
The Chemistry of Water Reveal Coloring Books
Tom Kuntzleman | Tue, 07/16/2024 - 07:01
How do Melissa & Doug’s “Water WOW!” Water Reveal coloring books work? Let's do some experiments to find out!
Ice Clouds 2.0
Tom Kuntzleman | Tue, 01/16/2024 - 15:12
What is some of the chemistry involved in the formation of ice clouds when boiling water is thrown into icy air?
Drinking Dinosaur Pee?!
Tom Kuntzleman | Mon, 11/27/2023 - 10:41
It has been claimed that because all water ultimately ends up in the water cycle, we drink water that the dinosaurs peed out. What does chemistry have to say about this assertion?
Plastic Beverage Bottles and More as Orbital Models
Dean Campbell | Fri, 06/02/2023 - 07:58
The shapes of plastic bottles can be used to represent orbitals. Using various connectors, a bit of packing tape, and a few other more specialized touches can produce large scale molecular models that feature orbitals, sigma bonds, and pi bonds.
A Demo A Day III: Demonstrations and Props Used in My General Chemistry II Classes
Dean Campbell | Sun, 05/21/2023 - 10:50
Dean Campbell tries to use at least one demo for every class to illustrate concepts described in his chemistry courses. In this post, he includes short descriptions of the demonstrations and props he has used while teaching his collegiate General Chemistry II courses.
Hatching Ideas to use Egg Cartons to Represent Electron Arrangements
Dean Campbell | Mon, 01/23/2023 - 14:11
Egg cartons and small objects such as milk jug caps or plastic eggs can be used to illustrate chemical concepts. The egg cartons can be cut into trays to represent atoms or to represent energy levels associated with atomic orbitals. The plastic caps or eggs distributed among the dimples of the trays can be used to represent electrons or pairs of electrons.