Storm troopers ain't got nothing on this chemist
Tom Kuntzleman | Wed, 08/05/2015 - 08:24
Build a propane gun for your students! Construction is inexpensive, easy, and the effects are spectacular.
first-year undergraduate
Solution to Chemical Mystery #5: How to Burn Water
Tom Kuntzleman | Thu, 07/16/2015 - 14:16
In Chemical Mystery #5, I used chemistry to give the illusion that water can be lit on fire. Here is the solution to that mystery.
Chemical Mystery #5: How to burn water
Tom Kuntzleman | Sat, 07/11/2015 - 14:00
The video displays a neat trick you can do for your students. What do you suppose is the secret behind this trick? Hint: It has to do with chemistry!
A Thing for Chairs!
Julia Winter | Thu, 07/09/2015 - 22:47
Over the past two years, I have immersed myself in designing mobile games for organic chemistry: founding a company called Alchemie and building a team to develop these games. The first of our games is called Chairs! (The exclamation point comes from the fact that an app called Chairs already existed in the AppStore.) The game Chairs! is what we call our proof-of-concept. Folks were a bit incredulous when we told them we design games that make learning organic chemistry intuitive and fun.
Chemistry Summer Camp - Day 2: Limonene Extraction at Kalamazoo College
Dan Meyers | Thu, 07/09/2015 - 10:23
Yesterday I posted about Day 1 of the Chemistry Camp
Helping or Hurting?
Sarah Kong | Mon, 06/08/2015 - 08:56
I am teaching this summer and it is especially exciting as I am piloting the labs I wrote this spring. We are using these labs exclusively and I am collecting student feedback for each lab to help in the editing, refining, and revision process.
ELLs and Science Practices
Shelly Belleau | Fri, 06/05/2015 - 11:38
In a previous blog post, I shared my thoughts about the importance of science teachers (and all teachers, really) supporting their claims about lesson efficacy with evidence. While this doesn’t always need to be a formal research study, it can often be valuable to publish findings that will be helpful to other science teachers.
Harry Potter and the Elephant Toothpaste Potion
Tom Kuntzleman | Tue, 04/28/2015 - 16:45
The “Elephant Toothpaste” experiment is a very popular, albeit messy chemistry demonstration. To carry out this experiment, place a 250 mL graduated cylinder on something that you wouldn’t mind getting messy.
How Does an Orange Peel Pop a Balloon? Chemistry, of Course!
Tom Kuntzleman | Tue, 03/24/2015 - 15:15
Some orange peels can cause balloons to pop. The compound in orange peels called limonene is responsible for this effect. Limonene is responsible for the wonderful smell of oranges, and it is a liquid at room temperature.
Simple, Small-Scale Dry Ice Explosions
Tom Kuntzleman | Tue, 03/03/2015 - 10:17
A fun experiment to conduct when discussing phase diagrams is the melting of solid carbon dioxide (dry ice). To perform this experiment, place small pieces of dry ice (carbon dioxide) in a plastic pipette, seal with a pair of pliers, and position the bulb of the sealed pi