My Heart Beats for Chemistry
Tom Kuntzleman conducts a safer "mercury-like" beating heart experiment with an added splash of gratefulness.
Tom Kuntzleman conducts a safer "mercury-like" beating heart experiment with an added splash of gratefulness.
In this lab, students connect the workings of an electrochemical cell in the lab with the symbolic equations used in electrochemistry and manipulate a model representing the particulate level of what is happening during the electrochemical process. Although this lab was previously highlighted on ChemEd X, there are now virtual options offered!
Learn how to form a blue-green copper compound on a penny, and then use that compound to make green flames. This is a great summer time activity for your next campfire!
Due to the COVID 19 crisis, ChemEd X videos and software is open access to all educators.
With few materials available to complete wet labs in my school, I have to be creative with covering lab concepts in my AP chemistry course. I was looking for a way to make sure my students were getting the idea of the macroscopic changes that take place in a galvanic cell without necessarily being able to do the wet lab. The particulate model that is part of the Energizer Lab inspired me to write an end of unit assignment for my students using Stop Motion video apps.
Did you know there is a simple test you can do to see if an alkaline battery is fresh or dead? All you need to do is bounce the bottom of a battery onto a hard, flat surface. Guess what causes this difference in bouncing ability between fresh and dead batteries? Chemistry, of course!
This introductory lesson uses a crosscutting concept, structure and function, as a means to model pre-conceptions of a voltaic cell. A phenomena is used to pique curiosity and engage students as they progress through the unit.
With a desire to increase curiosity and enthusiasm in my classroom along with ideas gleaned from Twitter, I have shifted my curriculum to a lab-first approach.
There are many places online to build a DIY Hoffman apparatus. The ACS offers an electrolysis of water lesson that includes a hand made Hoffman apparatus(link is external) as part of a unit on energy that I used as a resource.
During our recent chemistry summer camp, we used some electrochemistry activities. We had some logistical issues, but they were an overal success!