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The importance of surface area can be illustrated by adding spherical solids at known sizes and temperature to other substances at different temperatures and then monitoring the rates of temperature changes of the system over time. Larger spheres (with less surface area per sample) exchanged heat with water more slowly than smaller spheres, and less thermally conductive glass spheres exchanged heat with water more slowly than iron spheres. Additional, more colorful demonstrations are described in which small glass spheres cool thermochromic plastic cups more quickly than larger glass spheres.
A continuation of Counting Orbitals I: The 'Ah-ha! Moment' and Quantum Numbers. Sit back and adjust your eyeballs for some colorful graphics.
Nora Walsh shares an overview of how she delivers content for her interactive notebooks during class. She includes a few video clips from her classroom showing a variety of ways to have students fill in their INB pages.
Flash rocks, typically pieces of quartz that produce light when struck together, are an example of the complex phenomenon of triboluminescence. The green chemistry aspects for the flash rock demonstration are considered, and LEGO models illustrating quartz crystals, piezoelectric materials, and nonpiezoelectric materials are presented.
You can solve Chemical Mystery #20 if you know your chemistry...and your magic!
Why does the "Whoosh Bottle" experiment behave differently at different temperatures?
Here is a great way to use spreadsheets to both collect student data and provide instant feedback during labs with quantitative data.
Continuation of the practical application of chemistry to seemingly something unrelated- global maritime trade. In this classroom activity students predict the buoyancy (and hence stability) of a merchant cargo ship based on interpretation of seawater surface salinity values. Like in the first three posts, the question types are conceptual.
This is the third post in a series dealing with seawater chemistry and global maritime trade. This classroom activity introduces the concept of salinity and tasks students to predict the range of salinities in certain regions of the ocean (coastal and open water, all four hemispheres, high and lower latitudes). Enjoy...
This is the second blog post describing a classroom activity relating seawater chemistry to oceanic shipping. Included are questions that challenge students to apply conclusions drawn from observations to making predictions.