Pharaoh's serpent is the name of a very interesting chemical reaction that produces a snake-like foam. Unfortunately, it requires the use of a toxic mercury compound. Explore this very similar reaction that can be achieved quite simply by using fuel tablets and calcium gluconate tablets and learn a lot about the chemistry that is involved!
Learn a bit about the chemical reactions that occur during a lightning strike, and how you can demonstrate these reactions in your classroom.
The "Two-Faced" thionin reaction involves causing a purple solution to fade to colorless by shining light on the solution. I wondered if it could be demonstrated the color of light that caused this transition.
A common topic in chemistry discussion groups and forums is about the use of the terms “spontaneous reaction” versus “thermodynamic favorability”. This is a new activity for chemistry students who struggle with the correlation between changes in enthalpy, temperature, entropy, and the Gibbs free energy of a system; which relies on an analogy that most students will be familiar with.
