1. Home
  2. energy

energy

Upgrading a Classic Science Demonstration

Josh Kenney | Mon, 02/27/2023 - 09:31

In a classic demonstration of energy conservation, smashing two large steel ball bearings generates sufficient heat to burn a hole through a piece of paper. Josh Kenney found this demonstration underwhelming because the paper doesn't look burned. So, he upgraded the experiment by covering the paper in Elmer's Color Changing Glue. Now, a spectacular color change reveals the increase in heat!

Too Hot to Handle? Hydrogen Reacts with Oxygen on Palladium Foil

Dean Campbell | Thu, 04/28/2022 - 20:50

The reaction of hydrogen and oxygen gases to form water is well known to be an exothermic reaction. That reaction can occur by first absorbing the hydrogen into palladium metal, and then placing the resulting palladium hydride into contact with oxygen in the air. Infrared and visible light videos were recorded for this process involving palladium foil, and the Green Chemistry and safety aspects of these activities are considered.

Free Climate Science Workbook for Teachers

Stephanie O'Brien | Mon, 08/30/2021 - 16:08

The Wisconsin initiative for Science Literacy has published Science Climate Concepts Fit Your Classroom - A Workbook for Teachers. This is a free online Workbook, readily available for secondary teachers and college faculty. This workbook includes many hands on activities that incorporate traditional science classroom concepts within the context of climate science.

Boltzmann Bucks—Helping Students Conceptualize Entropy

Ben Meacham | Tue, 01/29/2019 - 16:43

If you are looking to go beyond using traditional, arguably misleading, definitions of entropy involving “disorder” and “messy bedroom” analogies, the Boltzmann Bucks game fits the bill. The game, pulled from a Journal of Chemical Education article, provides a wonderful opportunity for students to more accurately conceptualize entropy.

Break the Ice with Mystery Blocks

Stephanie O'Brien | Thu, 02/15/2018 - 20:00

In an effort to align my lessons with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), I have tried to take the content I have traditionally taught, and shift the design to focus on student engagement with the science and engineering practices outlined in the standards. For the topic of heat transfer I re-packaged the ice melting blocks discrepant event as a NGSS investigative phenomena.