Join Us at ChemEd 2025
Sarah English | Tue, 04/15/2025 - 20:47
Join us at ChemEd 2025 this July at the Colorado School of Mines. Check out this post to learn about all the exciting opportunities!
Demonstrations
Elevating the Coke and Mentos Experiment
Tom Kuntzleman | Mon, 04/07/2025 - 13:45
Ryan Johnson and I took a trip to the top of Pikes Peak to study the Coke and Mentos experiment. And we had a few surprises along the way...
Egg-lectrons and McLewis Structures
Dean Campbell | Fri, 02/28/2025 - 22:13
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.
Models of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons and Dipoles
Dean Campbell | Fri, 01/10/2025 - 21:51
Explore chlorinated hydrocarbons and dipoles with paper and toy models like LEGO, K’Nex, and Lux Blox! Paper models reinforce molecule polarity lessons, with templates and assignments included in the Supporting Information.
Connecting Light Emissions from Aurora and Other Astronomical Phenomena to Chemistry Courses
Dean Campbell | Tue, 11/05/2024 - 19:26
Recent space-related phenomena like aurora and a comet were viewed by large numbers of people. These phenomena can be connected to concepts described in chemistry courses, such as electronic structures and light emission associated with species such as excited oxygen atoms.
Picture Perfect Chemistry
Tom Kuntzleman | Sat, 10/19/2024 - 12:17
A Picture-Perfect activity for National Chemistry Week 2024!
The WEIRDEST Chemical Reaction I've Ever Seen!
Tom Kuntzleman | Sat, 09/07/2024 - 11:17
This chemical reaction is just plain weird...but also beautiful!
Mechanochemistry with Phenolphthalein and Base
Dean Campbell | Wed, 07/24/2024 - 17:11
Grinding solid colorless phenolphthalein indicator and solid colorless magnesium hydroxide base can produce a reaction that causes the mixture to turn pink.
The Chemistry of Water Reveal Coloring Books
Tom Kuntzleman | Tue, 07/16/2024 - 07:01
How do Melissa & Doug’s “Water WOW!” Water Reveal coloring books work? Let's do some experiments to find out!
Using LEGO bricks and paper springs to illustrate helical chemical structures
Dean Campbell | Sat, 06/29/2024 - 13:56
Helical structures can be built from media such as LEGO bricks and paper. These structures can be used to model helical structures in chemistry. These include circularly polarized light and various helical biomolecules.