General Chemistry

The conversion of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into adenosine diphosphate (ADP) is an extremely important energy source for living organisms. Under common physiological conditions, it can be expressed as:

The Density Bottle experiment has inspired many colorful variations over the years.^1-6 I recently came across yet another colorful variation that I’d like to discuss.

General chemistry can be a daunting course for students and may be seen as a gatekeeping course or a general education “hoop to jump through” toward a goal of a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree for non-majors. Challenges are exacerbated by the large enrollment format common in many higher education institutions.

Would you like to take a walk with me through the chemical winter wonderland of snowflakes? Well, we chemists know that the stunning six-sided symmetry of snowflakes (Figure 1) results from repeated arrangement of water molecules into a hexagonal crystal structure (Figure 2).

Galinstan is the tradename for a liquid metal alloy that is comprised of three elements: gallium (68.5%), indium (21.5%), and tin (10%).¹ It behaves a lot like mercury but has significantly lower toxicity. Because of this, Galinstan is used as a replacement for mercury in a variety of applications.

The floating soap bubble¹ is an experiment that is very easy to set up and carry out (Video 1).

Lightning exhibits some of the most fascinating phenomena on planet Earth.

Co-Authored by Dean J. Campbell*, Carley Steres*, and Kaitlyn Walls* *Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

Classroom demonstrations have long been an approach used to convey information in chemistry courses. The intent is to help student learning by providing physical examples to illustrate concepts described in class.

Recently, Anne Schmidt and I published an article together in the Journal of Chemical Education.¹ The article outlines a titration activity that students can carry out at home using only store-bought items. The objective of the activity is to determine the amount of Mg(OH)₂ in milk of magnesia.