The Physics Teacher provides introductory physics education at the high school and university levels and some of its articles are of interest to chemists. One such article points out that several substances used in the kitchen and bathrooms are not simple liquids or solids but are squishy substances, which include mayonnaise, shaving cream,…

A study conducted shows that if digital photography is combined with regular thin-layer chromatography (TLC), it could perform highly improved qualitative analysis as well as make accurate quantitative analysis possible for a much lower cost than commercial equipment. The findings suggest that digitally enhanced TLC (DE-TLC) is low-cost and easy…

A sudoku puzzle was designed that incorporated lists of chemistry terms like polyatomic ions, organic functional groups or strong nucleophiles that students need to learn. It was found that students enjoyed solving such puzzles and also such puzzles made the boring tasks of memorizing basic chemical terms an exciting one.

A general example of a delocalization system associated with a higher energy than the localized one, which suggests that it is wrong to consider delocalization as equivalent to resonance stabilization, is presented. The meaning of resonance energy as it appears in valence bond theory is described as the lowering of the calculated ground-state…

A new family of removable colored coatings that could make temporary messages is developed by employing alginates. The nontoxic, biodegradable coating is made by using calcium alginate and dyes that are widely used as food colorants and adheres easily and firmly to surfaces and could be removed by treating with a non-toxic solution of ethylene…

A course linking chemistry and archaeology was designed to introduce scientific principles and applications to students with little or no science background. The course could provide students an opportunity to explore the role of the sciences in archaeology and to discover the relationship between materials and the culture that produce them.

A general mathematical treatment for chemical systems is described that might help students to better understand the real scope of the mathematical equations. The extent to which an equation acceptably describes a chemical system is determined from the limiting values of practical chemical variables and the concordance value defined by given…

Several valerian-containing products sold in pharmacies were evaluated to verify the presence of Valeriana officinalis by identifying the presence of valerenic acid found only in species of Valeriana. The content of valerenic acid was found to vary considerably in the products analyzed, thus emphasizing the importance of standardizing herbal…

A puzzle was developed as a resource for teaching intermediate chemistry students where they need to use general intelligence and logic skills. The puzzle involves identification of name, age, subdiscipline of chemistry and position of 6 students around the table by using certain data provided to them.

The analysis of a Murder case study can be used in general chemistry or nonscience major chemistry courses to teach data handling and analysis in a non-laboratory context. This case study will help students to respond more enthusiastically and with more interest to a set of material placed before them related to a real case rather than…

The role of d-orbital hybridization in the chemistry curriculum and a qualitative description of bonding in SF[subscript 6] are described. The sp[cubed]d[squared] hybridization model found to be helpful in understanding the chemical phenomenon of chemical bonding in SF[subscript 6] and are not applicable to all situations.

The theory of s, p, d and f dealing with the line spectra of the alkali metals during the period 1881 based on analogies with the harmonic ratios of sound is described. Friedrich Hund followed Bohr's practice of labelling the various shells and subshells by replacing the secondary quantum number with the series notations (s, p, d, and f), which…

A laboratory exercise was developed by using variable temperature powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine [alpha] for MgO (periclase)and was tested in the Applied Physical Chemistry and Materials Characterization Laboratories at James Madison University. The experiment which was originally designed to provide undergraduate students with a…

The thermodynamic concepts of First and Second Laws with respect to the entropy function are described using atoms and molecules and probability as manifested in statistical mechanics. The First Law is conceptually understood as [Delta]U = Q + W and the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the entropy function have provided the probability and…

A food motivation activity, using a candy bar for high school chemistry classes is described. The use of everyday items like candy makes lab sessions interesting for students and may also help connect chemical concepts to their observable world and encourage them to ask questions.