Addressing Current Challenges and Optimizing Opportunities
The October 2016 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: exploring the candy–cola soda geyser; peer-led team teaching; investigating students’ reasoning; fostering a student-centered learning environment; chemical education in India; activities to increase interest in chemistry; using a smartphone in the laboratory; food chemistry analysis; organic synthesis; green chemistry in the organic laboratory; materials science experiments; cost-effective laboratory equipment; teaching resources; JCE resources to celebrate National Chemistry Week 2016.
Cover: Exploring the Candy–Cola Soda Geyser
When Mentos candies are dropped into a bottle of a carbonated beverage, nucleation sites on the surface of the candies induce rapid dissolution of CO2 gas from the drink. This produces an impressive, messy, and foamy fountain that spouts several meters high and cascades down. In Kinetic Explorations of the Candy–Cola Soda Geyser, Trevor P. T. Sims and Thomas S. Kuntzleman discuss simple protocols that allow students to monitor the dynamics of CO2 escape during this fascinating experiment. Quantitative analysis of data collected is possible, allowing students to quantitatively explore topics in chemical dynamics. Given the popularity of this candy–cola soda geyser, these investigations can provide a motivating backdrop through which students can examine concepts in kinetics or conduct small research projects. To enable visualization of events inside the bottle, the cover shows events occurring inside and nearby a bottle of a clear and colorless carbonated beverage to which Mentos candies have been added. The entire sequence shown lasts less than four seconds.
Editorial: Forensic Chemistry
While forensic science deals mainly with the aftermath of crime, the flip side is the science of eliminating or ameliorating violent acts before they happen, as discussed by Robert Q. Thompson in Forensic Chemistry and Its Flip Side.
Review Article: Peer-Led Team Learning
Small Groups, Significant Impact: A Review of Peer-Led Team Learning Research with Implications for STEM Education Researchers and Faculty ~ Sarah Beth Wilson and Pratibha Varma-Nelson
Investigating Students’ Reasoning
Investigating Students’ Reasoning about Acid–Base Reactions ~ Melanie M. Cooper, Hovig Kouyoumdjian, and Sonia M. Underwood (This article is available for free through the ACS Editors’ Choice program.)
Characterizing Students’ Mechanistic Reasoning about London Dispersion Forces ~ Nicole Becker, Keenan Noyes, and Melanie Cooper
Fostering a Student-Centered Learning Environment
Using Self-Explanations in the Laboratory To Connect Theory and Practice: The Decision/Explanation/Observation/Inference Writing Method ~ Andrea Gay Van Duzor
Chemical Education in India
Chemical Education in India: Addressing Current Challenges and Optimizing Opportunities ~ Mangala Sunder Krishnan, R. Brakaspathy, and E. Arunan
Activities To Increase Interest in Chemistry
Using a Table Tennis Game, “Elemental Knock-Out”, To Increase Students’ Familiarity with Chemical Elements, Symbols, and Atomic Numbers ~ Chang-Hung Lee, Jian Fan Zhu, Tien-Li Lin, Cheng-Wei Ni, Chia Ping Hong, Pin-Hsuan Huang, Hsiang-Ling Chuang, Shih-Yao Lin, and Mei-Lin Ho
Demonstrating Rapid Qualitative Elemental Analyses of Participant-Supplied Objects at a Public Outreach Event ~ Gunnar Schwarz, Marcel Burger, Kevin Guex, Alexander Gundlach-Graham, Debora Käser, Joachim Koch, Peter Velicsanyi, Chung-Che Wu, Detlef Günther, and Bodo Hattendorf
Using a Smartphone in the Laboratory
Investigating Dissolution and Precipitation Phenomena with a Smartphone Microscope ~ Gregg J. Lumetta and Edgar Arcia
Integrating a Smartphone and Molecular Modeling for Determining the Binding Constant and Stoichiometry Ratio of the Iron(II)–Phenanthroline Complex: An Activity for Analytical and Physical Chemistry Laboratories ~ Camilo de L. M. de Morais, Sérgio R. B. Silva, Davi S. Vieira, and Kássio M. G. Lima
Food Chemistry Analysis
A Laboratory Experiment for Rapid Determination of the Stability of Vitamin C ~ Seid M. Adem, Sam H. Leung, Lisa M. Sharpe Elles, and Lee Alan Shaver
Titration and HPLC Characterization of Kombucha Fermentation: A Laboratory Experiment in Food Analysis ~ Breanna Miranda, Nicole M. Lawton, Sean R. Tachibana, Natasja A. Swartz, and W. Paige Hall
Analysis of Caffeine in Beverages Using Aspirin as a Fluorescent Chemosensor~Jordan Smith, Kristen Loxley, Patrick Sheridan, and Todd M. Hamilton
Organic Synthesis
Saccharin Derivative Synthesis via [1,3] Thermal Sigmatropic Rearrangement: A Multistep Organic Chemistry Experiment for Undergraduate Students ~ Custódia S. C. Fonseca
Facilitating Students’ Review of the Chemistry of Nitrogen-Containing Heterocyclic Compounds and Their Characterization through Multistep Synthesis of Thieno[2,3-b]Pyridine Derivatives ~ Hanlin Liu, Vladimir Zaplishnyy, and Lana Mikhaylichenko
Green Chemistry in the Organic Laboratory
Biobased Organic Chemistry Laboratories as Sustainable Experiment Alternatives ~ Julian R. Silverman
Comparing Amide-Forming Reactions Using Green Chemistry Metrics in an Undergraduate Organic Laboratory ~ Michael W. Fennie and Jessica M. Roth
Materials Science Experiments
Minding the Gap: Synthetic Strategies for Tuning the Energy Gap in Conjugated Molecules ~ Dana Christensen and Pamela G. Cohn
Synthesizing and Characterizing Graphene via Raman Spectroscopy: An Upper-Level Undergraduate Experiment That Exposes Students to Raman Spectroscopy and a 2D Nanomaterial ~ David Parobek, Ganesh Shenoy, Feng Zhou, Zhenbo Peng, Michelle Ward, and Haitao Liu
Achieving Very Low Levels of Detection: An Improved Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Experiment for the Physical Chemistry Teaching Laboratory ~ Brian G. McMillan
Cost-Effective Laboratory Equipment
Simple and Inexpensive UV-Photometer Using LEDs as Both Light Source and Detector ~ Eivind V. Kvittingen, Lise Kvittingen, Birte Johanne Sjursnes, and Richard Verley
Assembling and Using a Simple, Low-Cost, Vacuum Filtration Apparatus That Operates without Electricity or Running Water ~ Fengxiu Zhang, Yiwei Hu, Yaling Jia, Yonghua Lu, and Guangxian Zhang
Teaching Resources
Interactive Visual Least Absolutes Method: Comparison with the Least Squares and the Median Methods ~ Myung-Hoon Kim and Michelle S. Kim
Review of Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide ~ Sarah B. Boesdorfer
Review of Colour Chemistry, 2nd Edition ~ Robert E. Buntrock
From the Archives: Solving Mysteries through Chemistry
Celebrate National Chemistry Week 2016: Solving Mysteries through Chemistry with forensic chemistry resources in JCE, such as:
The Chemical Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Sherlock Holmes Goes Virtual ~ Erica K. Jacobsen
Crime Scene Investigation in the Art World: The Case of the Missing Masterpiece ~ Katharine J. Harmon, Lisa M. Miller, and Julie T. Millard
Activities for Middle School Students To Sleuth a Chemistry “Whodunit” and Investigate the Scientific Method ~ Audrey F. Meyer, Cassandra M. Knutson, Solaire A. Finkenstaedt-Quinn, Sarah M. Gruba, Ben M. Meyer, John W. Thompson, Melissa A. Maurer-Jones, Sharon Halderman, Ayesha S. Tillman, Lizanne DeStefano, and Christy L. Haynes
Using Paper-Based Diagnostics with High School Students To Model Forensic Investigation and Colorimetric Analysis ~ Rebekah R. Ravgiala, Stefi Weisburd, Raymond Sleeper, Andres Martinez, Dorota Rozkiewicz, George M. Whitesides, and Kathryn A. Hollar
A Multi-Technique Forensic Experiment for a Nonscience-Major Chemistry Course ~ Paul S. Szalay, Lois Anne Zook-Gerdau, and Eric J. Schurter
Forensic Chemistry: The Revelation of Latent Fingerprints ~ J. Brent Friesen
Activities Designed for Fingerprint Dusting and the Chemical Revelation of Latent Fingerprints ~ J. Brent Friesen
Making the Most of JCE Is No Mystery
With 93 volumes of the Journal of Chemical Education to explore, you will always find something intriguing—including the articles mentioned above, and many more, in the Journal of Chemical Education. Articles that are edited and published online ahead of print (ASAP—As Soon As Publishable) are also available.
Do you have something to share? Write it up for the Journal! For some advice on becoming an author, read Erica Jacobsen’s Commentary. In addition, numerous author resources are available on JCE’s ACS Web site, including: Author Guidelines, Document Templates, and Reference Guidelines. The deadline is fast approaching for our next special issue, Polymer Concepts across the Curriculum, so consider submitting a contribution soon.