The June, 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education contains an article that describes a simple, yet fascinating experiment that you and your students are going to love! It involves the use of butterfly wings from the genus Morpho. I obtained some of these wings and enjoyed experimenting with them. You will too!
The June 2015 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers at http://pubs.acs.org/toc/jceda8/92/6. This issue includes articles on curriculum; assessment; inorganic chemistry; investigating galvanic cells & exploring LEDs; atomic structure; nanochemistry laboratories; physical chemistry in the lab; synthesis.
In this Activity, students investigate the relationship between temperature and composition and the reflected and transmitted colors of a common nanoscale material, the cholesteric liquid crystal.
In this Activity, students learn the general principles of serial and parallel nanofabrication techniques. Students use nylon spheres, contact paper, and talcum powder to form patterns. Using this macroscale analogy, students explore the parallel fabrication technique known as nanosphere lithography.
This Activity introduces students to the unique properties of nanoscale materials through exploration of size-dependent optical properties of gold nanoparticles. Students first prepare a solution of gold nanoparticles. They then investigate the solution’s use as an electrolyte sensor by adding a non-electrolyte and a strong electrolyte, and observing any resulting color changes.
In this Activity, students compare incandescent bulbs and LEDs powered by dc and ac voltage sources. They use circuits made from cut-up holiday light strands, with some of the incandescent bulbs replaced with LEDs. The diode nature of LEDs is demonstrated, as well as the energy associated with different wavelengths of light.
