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.
A variety of interesting coloring books are available on the market that use water as a coloring agent.1 When water is applied to the pages of these books, colors seem to appear like magic. When the water evaporates, the colors disappear. This allows the pages of these books to be colored over and over again.
About a decade ago, I wrote briefly about the interesting experiment of throwing boiling hot water into air that is below -18°C (0°F) (see Ice Clouds).
Jet-Puffed color changing marshmallows are an interesting new product that is available on the shelves of grocery stores through the end of September.1 The color of these marshmallows changes when exposed to heat: the blue version turns green, while the pink version turns orange.
On February 3, 2023, a train derailed in the town of East Palestine, Ohio.1-2 Five of the train cars were carrying vinyl chloride (Figure 1), a compound that is mostly used to make PVC.
On a recent trip to Wyoming I eagerly paid a visit to Fort Bridger State Historic Park. In the main museum (the former barracks) an interpretive timeline display summarizing the history of (dishonored and broken) treaties and chronic conflict between the US government and western Native Americans captivated me.
Bottles of soda are sealed under high pressures of CO2, or PCO2. This causes a substantial amount of CO2 to dissolve into the beverage, giving the drink its fizziness. But what exactly is the pressure inside a bottle of soda?
For the past few years when I’ve been covering introductory concepts in thermodynamics, I’ve made a connection to climate change. My students and I calculate the energy that has been gained by Earth’s oceans as heat, using the following equation that is familiar to students of introductory and general chemistry:
I recently shared some simple experiments using magnets and coins that connect to the 2019 National Chemistry Week (NCW) theme, “Marvelous Metals!”1 Because coins are familiar items, made of metal, and so very easy to obtain, I think doing experiments with coins is a great idea for NCW 2019!
How can water be held in a cup that has a hole in the bottom of it? Watch this video and find out the explanation for Chemical Mystery # 15, The Leaky Cup!
