Describes a program for bringing industrial applications of technology into high schools to enhance students' perceptions of the chemical industry and industrial careers in chemistry. Ambassadors from the Proctor and Gamble Company and Miami University--Middletown helped students work through a typical product-development cycle for fabricating…

Presents a chemical demonstration program designed to support elementary science education in which fifth- and sixth-grade students visit a college campus to watch chemical demonstrations performed by a professor. Contains suggestions for program set-up and references for demonstrations to use. (WRM)

Features acid tests for determining whether jewelry is "real" gold or simply gold-plated. Describes the carat system of denoting gold content and explains how alloys are used to create various shades of gold jewelry. Addresses the question of whether gold jewelry can turn a wearer's skin green by considering various oxidation reactions. (WRM)

Explains why silver, which has the same external electronic configuration as copper and gold, does not appear yellow: white light reflects on most metals without color absorption or change to the naked eye; however, copper and gold appear yellow because they absorb "blue" and "red" photons during electron transitions between different…

Reports on a low-cost and unique molecular model set capable of generating a large number of structures for teaching and learning general chemistry. An important component of the kit is an 11-hole ball that gives tetrahedral, octahedral, trigonal, trigonal bipyramidal, and square planar symmetries. (WRM)

The loss of carbon dioxide from carbonated beverages provides an interesting case of the combination of equilibrium and kinetic principles. Adding air with a commercial device (the Fizz Keeper) has a negligible effect on various equilibria present but will slow diffusion in the gas space of a resealed bottle, decreasing the rate at which…

Describes a new demonstration that uses an apparatus like the ammonia-fountain apparatus but with modifications designed to produce ammonium-chloride smoke. This demonstration is easy to perform, interesting to observe, and allows demonstration of the solubility of ammonia in water, the basic nature of ammonia, the acidic nature of hydrogen…

Describes the design of undergraduate chemical laboratory fume hoods. Proves that folding the sides and top permit the hood and its duct hose to be stored in a standard 18-inch-wide laboratory cabinet. (WRM)

Describes a series of exercises intended to help students develop a better understanding of chromatography that employ plant pigments. A collaborative approach leads students to a level of competence that permits them to complete an open-ended exercise. (WRM)

Describes a game designed to familiarize students with nuclear reactions and the general geography of the table of nuclear isotopes by simulating the nucleogenic process. (CCM)

Illustrates elemental abundance patterns over many orders of magnitude in a way that portrays both abundance and chemical affinities. (CCM)

Summarizes the mechanics of a course designed to give students a structured, guided approach that simulates more closely the way that many students approach learning new material. (CCM)

Describes an easy, inexpensive, and effective classroom experiment to evaluate population distributions. (CCM)

Using questioning strategies to involve students in actually doing and analyzing experimental design can offer useful insights to instructors and students alike. Describes an interactive exploration of Alka Seltzer. (CCM)

Describes three chemistry experiments that link common foodstuffs traditionally and currently harvested by Native Americans in different parts of North America to modern chemical instrumentation and discovery methods. (CCM)