Chemistry At the Mall
My local chapter of the American Chemical Society sponsors an annual event at a local mall called “Chemistry at the Mall”. The event is in celebration of National Chemistry Week. This year’s theme is “The Sweet Side of Chemistry – Candy”. I advise an ACS ChemClub and we hosted a table at “Chemistry at the Mall”. Ten student members worked shifts from 11am – 4pm. This was a great way to get involved with my local chapter and meet some other members. My students had a great time providing outreach and introducing young children to chemistry.
Back to School... with Candy
Making plans for back to school? Don’t forget the candy! It doesn’t sound like something a nutritionist would recommend, but what about a chemistry educator?
Solution to the M&M Mystery?
Further investigations of the M&M Mystery Tom Kuntzleman wrote about previously.
Solution to Chemical Riddle #1
In the video below, you can find the solution to the chemical riddle involving the food dye and bleach experiment. You can also find a description of how to set up and carry out the experiment. Finally, an extension to the activity is presented. Thanks to Erica Jacobsen, James Hanson, and Alfredo Ti
Trusty or Rusty? Oxidation Rate of Nails
In this Activity, students investigate the process of rusting by studying the oxidation of steel nails in a gel using supermarket chemicals. An indicator makes the presence of Fe3+ produced by the oxidation visible. Factors that accelerate or retard the rate of iron oxidation are studied.
Turning on the Light
In this Activity, students investigate the luminescent properties of common items such as glow-in-the-dark stickers, wintergreen-flavored hard candies, and a chlorophyll solution made from spinach leaves. After making observations, they use a flowchart to categorize the luminescent items as fluorescent, phosphorescent, or triboluminescent.
Where There's Fire There's...
In this Activity, students compare the combustion of different substances such as a glowing wooden toothpick and lit birthday candle in air, oxygen, exhaled breath, and carbon dioxide environments. The oxygen and carbon dioxide are generated from supermarket chemicals. This Activity can be used to explore the chemistry of oxygen and combustion.
Diffusion of Water through a Differentially Permeable Membrane
In this Activity, students investigate the process of osmosis through a differentially-permeable membrane formed by the precipitation of copper(II) hexacyanoferrate(II). This Activity allows students to watch and investigate osmosis, which reinforces the concept of transport in living cells.
Apple Fool! An Introduction to Artificial Flavors
In this Activity, students investigate flavorings by making artificial "cooked apples" from a mixture of crackers, sugar, cream of tartar, and water, as is done for the filling in recipes for Mock Apple Pie. This Activity focuses on consumer chemistry, and can be used to introduce natural and artificial flavors or lab experiments that make esters.
I Screen, You Screen, We All Screen for Phenolics
In this Activity, students use a colorimetric visualization test to screen grape juice for phenolic content. Students use the test to examine differences in phenolic content of juices prepared with different processing methods. Most of the materials are readily available at the supermarket.