second-year undergraduate

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.

The Intersection of Art and Chemistry

Dan Meyers | Thu, 02/26/2015 - 14:26

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Last year I came across a link on Twitter regarding an art installation by Roger Hiorns in England titled “Seizure.” Some of you may have seen it too – a condemned flat in London was essentially sealed off and filled with more than 75,000 L of supersaturated copper sulfate solution.

Liquid Nitrogen, Gas Laws and Rocket Science

Tom Kuntzleman | Fri, 01/09/2015 - 13:58

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The “bucket launch” is a fantastic experiment you can do if you have access to liquid nitrogen. Depending upon conditions, we have observed the bucket to launch anywhere from 80 to 160 feet high. See the video.

A Simple, yet Dramatic Chemistry Experiment with Ping Pong Balls

Tom Kuntzleman | Sat, 12/06/2014 - 19:40

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Cellulose nitrate (also known as nitrocellulose or guncotton) is a very flammable substance that is formed by reacting cellulose (also known as dietary fiber) with a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids:

Encouraging Words

Dan Meyers | Mon, 09/22/2014 - 14:45

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Here in Michigan we are entering into our 4th week of school. My Honors Chemistry 1 students will be having their first test this week and my Chemistry 2 students will be having their stoichiometry test in 2 weeks. Things are moving along and I am daily observing improvement in my students.

Oxidation of diphenylmethanol to benzophenone

Sushama Dandekar | Sun, 09/21/2014 - 18:38

I'm looking for a reliable procedure for an undergraduate organic lab experiment: oxidation of diphenylmethanol to benzophenone. I am updating our lab experiments and was thinking about introducing phase transfer catalysis, linked to a 2-step Grignard synthesis ( bromobenzene --> phenylmagnesium bromide --> diphenylmethanol --> benzophenone). I have found a JChem Ed paper that sug