solubility

The Intermolecular Force Lava Lamp Lab is a beloved activity among our first-year chemistry students. By integrating particulate model scaffolds into the classic Lava Lamp Lab, we aim to make the concept of intermolecular forces more accessible, reducing cognitive load and improving overall comprehension.

The importance and difficulty of concepts of the electrolyte came home to me while I was helping a student. She was having difficulty with the idea of an electrolyte. Specifically, she 1) misapplied the maxim "Like dissolves like," and 2) could not distinguish between the terms "dissolve" and "dissociate". In my knowledgeable na

Have you seen the rainbow candy experiment? It's a very simple experiment that involves pouring water into a plate that has M&M's candies or Skittles arranged in a pattern. Very curious shapes of sharply divided regions form spontaneously. How does this happen?! 

In Chemical Mystery #17, shavings of Dial soap are added to samples of Aquafina and Evian drinking water. Upon blowing into each mixture with a straw, only the Aquafina water produced stable bubbles. Why is this the case?

I recently tried an experiment in class that works well as a chemistry demonstration for Halloween. In fact, I recently performed it at our annual Halloween / National Chemistry Week chemistry demonstration show. The experiment is very easy to carry out. I call it “The Devil’s Milkshake”. Check it out in the video below.

I first saw the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment during a science fair at an elementary school in 2005, and I was instantly hooked! To perform this experiment, Mentos candies are dropped into a bottle of carbonated beverage; Diet Coke tends to be the beverage of choice. In the video below you can see this experiment play out in slow motion.

This is a series of experiments, PhET Interactive Simulation activities, and clicker questions to relate macroscopic and molecular representations of homogenenous solutions. Graphing skills are also used. Materials Access to PhET Inteactive Simulations -

I came across a simple, yet interesting experiment that was first described by Elizabeth Sumner Walter in 2001. She merely had students pour water into a dish containing some Gobstoppers candies.