Gases

I teach the Gas Laws as the final topic in students’ first Chemistry course.¹ The KMT, Avogadro’s Hypothesis, the Combined Gas Law, and the Ideal Gas Law take three 70-minute class periods at most.

ENERGETIC COLLISIONS - KMT, Maxwell-Boltzmann, and Deviating from Ideal Behavior

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the best way to learn is by having a little fun? In my classroom, we've discovered that brain breaks can turn abstract concepts like gas laws into something tangible and memorable.

I am always looking for fun, engaging and hand-on activities that I can use in my inclusion chemistry classroom.

The floating soap bubble¹ is an experiment that is very easy to set up and carry out (Video 1).

by Dean J. Campbell* *Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

I enjoyed reading Yvonne Clifford’s piece, The Diet Coke And Mentos Reaction – Having A Literal Blast!, regarding the sublimation of dry ice, CO_2(s).

The Diet Coke and Mentos reaction is a common experiment performed in many science classes. This year, I adapted my somewhat free-wheeling “wing it” approach to this experiment to instead have students research, test, and adapt as needed. The students’ goal is to get the highest possible geyser.