The biochemistry laboratory course is structured such that students work in pairs during the first half of the course. The purpose is to encourage per-peer learning processes during the students' first exposure to the software.

A deionizer (Barnstead) attached to a dedicated faucet is used to produce the deionized water used in the teaching laboratories and research. The experiment timer switch was a 60-min spring-wound timer, Intermatic, available at home improvement centers.

The production of a GPC-based material by submitting a cross-linked resin precursor to control thermal conditions is discussed. The precursor material is prepolymerized at 60-degree Celsius in a mold and is carbonized in inert atmosphere by slowly raising the temperature, the rise is performed to avoid change in the shape of the carbonization…

The procedure to estimate the carbon-carbon bond distance in the naphthalene molecule is described. The procedure is easily performed and can be done either at home or in the classroom, with the restriction that the mass of the naphthalene must be determined using an analytical or a precise balance.

A multipurpose apparatus that can be used to measure the viscosity of solution by the Ostwald method and the surface tension of solution by the drop-weight method or by the capillary-rise method is developed. The apparatus is convenient for in-situ preparation of solutions of different concentrations and avoids the error that frothing of the…

An experiment is developed for a laboratory course on nanostructures, as part of the undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in nanotechnology at Flinders University. Designed to demonstrate the relationship between molecular order and the optical dielectric properties of the liquid crystalline state, the experiment is shown to be a useful tool…

The applications of a Pasco CI-6532 pressure sensor used in conjunction with a datalogger to monitor the liberation of carbon dioxide in the reaction CaCO3(s) + 2H(super +)(aq) --> Ca(super 2+)(aq) + CO2 (g) + H2O(I) are described. The method serves for the determination of the chemical kinetics of the reaction and also can be extended to…

A simple biosensor method for the determination of H2O2 is presented. The concentration of H2O2 can be directly determined by the increase in the dissolved oxygen content in the solution.

A version of the classic gas phase infrared experiment was developed for students at Arkansas State University based on the shortcomings of the rotationally resolved infrared experiment. Chem Spec II is a noncommercial Windows-based software package developed to aid in the potentially complicated problem of assigning quantum numbers to observed…

A real-life experience that provides an ideal opportunity to combine problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and collaborative learning is described in the content of a realistic instrumental analysis laboratory. This practical experiment can be used in an instrumental analysis or analytical course.

An exercise that provides a hands-on demonstration of the hydrolysis of aspirin is presented. The key to understanding the hydrolysis is recognizing that all six process may occur simultaneously and that the observed rate constant is the sum of the rate constants that one rate constant dominates the overall process.

The preparation of 7-hydroxy-3-carboxycoumarin starting from 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, and malonitrile, by one-pot consecutive reactions, carried out in water under heterogenous conditions is presented. The experiment encourages students to think in terms of reaction mechanisms.

The mathematics behind the average absorption cross-section is exactly one third of the maximum value described. The goal is to calculate experimental observables, or other properties of bulk sample, in terms of microscopic molecular parameters.

Since chemical reactions involve the breaking and making of bonds, understanding the relative strengths of bonds is of paramount importance in the study, teaching, and practice of chemistry. Further, it is showed that free atoms having p(super n) configuration with n = 2,3, or 4 are stabilized by exchange energy, and by spin-orbit coupling for n =…

High School students' understanding about the particulate theory of matter and their use of particulate terminology is investigated. The Physical Changes Concepts Test (PCCT) was administered in two forms, an applied version and a theoretical version, to determine whether students scientifically understood the concepts well enough to apply them to…