Dean Campbell uses demonstrations and props to illustrate concepts while teaching his collegiate Materials Chemistry course. Many of the examples described are also suitable for use in high school and collegiate General Chemistry courses.
What is some of the chemistry involved in the formation of ice clouds when boiling water is thrown into icy air?
Discover the secrets behind flame-shaped highlighter markings that not only disappear and reappear but also glow and flicker under the influence of acids, bases, and UV lights.
The floating soap bubble is an impressive experiment that is surprisingly easy to carry out.
Ordinary playing cards can be used in games where the cards model valence electrons in atoms. These games could provide players with a fun and active way to practice counting valence electrons in simple chemical structures.
With a little chemical investigation, you can figure out how Jet-Puffed's new color changing marshmallows work!
The shapes of plastic bottles can be used to represent orbitals. Using various connectors, a bit of packing tape, and a few other more specialized touches can produce large scale molecular models that feature orbitals, sigma bonds, and pi bonds.
Learn the chemistry behind the reaction between calcium carbide and water...melon...?!
A trip to see the 2024 solar eclipse provided the opportunity to explore ideas associated with sulfur in petroleum, sunlight intensity measurements, laser interference patterns from eclipse glasses, and large-scale light emission from excited hydrogen.
Laser cutters can be used to cut and engrave a variety of thin materials. Compact discs, composed of layers of polycarbonate plastic and aluminum metal, were explored for their ability to be shaped with a laser cutter. The laser can successfully cut and engrave the compact discs into the shape of snowflake. However, each disc must first be coated with a material like glue in order to protect the plastic from discoloration and the byproducts from cutting the plastic that can accumulate on the disc surface.
