bonding

Egg-lectrons and McLewis Structures

Dean Campbell | Fri, 02/28/2025 - 22:13

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Egg cartons and beverage holders can be used as models of atoms, with their dimples representing orbitals. Each dimple can hold up to two objects such as milk jug caps, plastic eggs, and cup pieces to represent electrons in the orbitals. Partially overlapping the trays by stacking the dimples represents chemical bonding and produces molecular models resembling Lewis structures. The models can be easily made from materials that can be readily found grocery stores and fast-food restaurants.

The Diamonds of Winter

Tom Kuntzleman | Thu, 01/09/2025 - 09:44

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Take a walk and explore the chemical winter wonderland of snowflakes...and diamonds!

Incorporating Indigenous Perspectives into the Chemistry Classroom

Yvonne Clifford | Mon, 10/14/2024 - 10:12

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Yvonne Clifford shares a compilation of lessons that incorporate Indigenous peoples and cultures.

Personalizing Resources

Nora Walsh | Fri, 01/05/2024 - 10:35

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Nora Walsh highlights activities found on ChemEd X and how she worked them into her own curriculum teaching Lewis structure concepts.

PFAS Guided Inquiry Activity

Melissa Hemling | Fri, 03/24/2023 - 20:32

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This PFAS Analysis guided inquiry activity introduces students to "Forever Chemical" pollutants in the environment as they apply their previous knowledge related to electronegativity, polarizability and bond strength to PFAS molecules.

Bonding Interactive Notebook

Nora Walsh | Mon, 10/24/2022 - 13:29

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Nora Walsh outlines the interactive notebook pages she uses for her unit on Bonding. All of the documents and foldables are available for download.

Flash Rocks from Green Chemistry and LEGO Brick Perspectives

Dean Campbell | Fri, 07/15/2022 - 23:56

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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.

Are Red Table Grapes Sold in Stores Always Red?

Scott Donnelly | Mon, 03/28/2022 - 23:43

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Structure. Structure. Structure. This blog post describes a classroom activity where students propose the structure of a molecule- based on bond type information- used to accelerate the change in color of red table grapes.

Generating explosive gases from sand

Tom Kuntzleman | Fri, 01/07/2022 - 12:16

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Did you know that sand can be converted into a mixture of gases that spontaneously ignites in air? The procedures involved are relatively simple to perform, spectacular to observe, and relate to a rich assortment of chemical principles.

Chemical Bonding and Naming with Nora Walsh

Deanna Cullen | Sun, 11/07/2021 - 15:52

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In this ChemBasics Talk, Nora Walsh offers everything necessary to plan a unit on the topic of chemical bonding and naming including introductory and discovery activities, manipulative activities, practice problems, her favorite online teaching resources and more. Watch the recording and access resources she shared.