Chemistry At the Mall
My local chapter of the American Chemical Society sponsors an annual event at a local mall called “Chemistry at the Mall”. The event is in celebration of National Chemistry Week. This year’s theme is “The Sweet Side of Chemistry – Candy”. I advise an ACS ChemClub and we hosted a table at “Chemistry at the Mall”. Ten student members worked shifts from 11am – 4pm. This was a great way to get involved with my local chapter and meet some other members. My students had a great time providing outreach and introducing young children to chemistry.
Cautious Chemist #2: Be Responsible
I recently spoke by email with Bob Worley as he prepared an article, But Surely That’s Banned, sharing some thoughts on chemical safety for teachers from his UK perspective. Part of the discussion revolved around our shared concern for using methanol for demonstrations. The Fire Tornado demonstration, that was part of the September 2014 Nevada museum incident, can easily be found in written form and video in a quick Google search.
But Surely That's Banned
The Royal Society of Chemistry became increasingly frustrated in 2004 when academics (the “when I was a lad” variety”), National Tabloids (it’s “‘elf un safety gone mad” variety), and many teachers were quoting health & safety fears as the reasons not to do practical science work and demonstrations.
Eavesdropping on Professional Chemists
My husband and I are both chemists, but in very different capacities. My focus is teaching while he is a lab supervisor. As such, we have very different discussions when we meet with colleagues. Usually. A few weeks ago we attended a meeting together and I felt right at home. The discussion topic was lab audits. This is when fellow chemists enter a different lab and make sure that everyon
JCE AP Special Issue
The Journal of Chemical Education AP Special Issue is in print. Greg Rushton and I were happy to highlight the special issue for high school chemistry teachers and other stake holders at BCCE in August. If you haven't already taken a look at the articles, I hope you will find some time to check them out. I encourage you to read the first article of the following list.
Molympics - A Collaborative Project between HS teachers and Students
We teach it, some celebrate it, and we try to make it engaging for our students. What is it? The mole concept and Mole Day! So how do we make it engaging for our students? Let me introduce #molympics.
The Atomic Dashboard
If you are on Twitter and follow #chemchat, you may have recently seen some beautiful, rotating 3D atomic and molecular models from Dave Doherty @atomsNMolecules. I was curious about these models and after contacting Dave, he introduced me to The Atomic Dashboard.
Solution to Chemical Mystery #3: The Sour Side of Chemistry!
Congratulations to Grazyna Zreda who solved the Chemical Mystery of the Mentos candies! To conduct this trick, two white Mentos candies are placed in separate beakers that both contain universal indicator.
Encouraging Words
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
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