General

It is my humble opinion, based on 36 years of teaching high school chemistry, that 11 Chemistry must start with a look at Chemical Reactions, for the simple reason that this begins the student’s formal study of chemistry with an empirical focus.

National Hispanic Heritage Month ran from September 15 to October 15 recently.¹ To help celebrate the occasion, students in the Bradley University Chem/Biochem Learning Community put up colorful tissue paper banners.

A classic chemistry experiment¹ involves using a concentrated solution of KNO₃ to “paint” a design in a continuous line on a piece of paper, allowing it to dry, and then igniting one end of the paper (Video 1).²

Dean J. Campbell, Rhiannon Davids, Michelle Fry, Michelle Edgcomb-Friday, Logan Harrington* *Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

Co-Authored by Iain A. Smellie*, Iain L. J. Patterson* *University of St Andrews, School of Chemistry, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9ST, United Kingdom

Co-Authored by Rhiannon Davids* and Dean J. Campbell* *Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

Rhiannon Davids*, Bezawit Legesse*, and Dean J. Campbell* *Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

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

An experiment that has always fascinated me is observing what happens when CO₂ is bubbled into limewater (which is a saturated solution of calcium hydroxide).^1-2 This experiment can be carried out by blowing bubbles of exhaled breath (which contains roughly 4% CO₂)³ through a straw into limewater.