The Poly Density Bottle1 is a fascinating demonstration primarily due to the phenomena being counterintuitive to what one would expect. The bottle containing white and blue beads suspended in a clear and colorless liquid is shaken vigorously, distributing the beads randomly throughout.
If you have a student who really likes chemistry and excels in your class, you may want to know more about the kind of questions asked in our national competition. This article presents four examples of questions that were given in part A (multiple choice) and part B (essay-type) of the 2012 Canadian Chemistry Contest (CCC).
In this article two example applications of gravimetric titration — acid content of fruit juices/soft drinks and pH titration curves — are presented. Both are suitable for laboratory experiments in senior secondary school chemistry courses or in college general chemistry courses.
As part of the grade 12 equilibrium unit, I have my students perform a very traditional lab activity demonstrating Le Châtelier's principle. They rotate through a series of stations where they use a semi-microlab approach to investigate a different equilibrium system at each one.
The “Burning Steel Wool” demonstration is an engaging means to illustrate that increasing the amount of available oxygen increases the rate of combustion. A 9-volt battery is used to ignite a small piece of steel wool, first in air, and then in an oxygen-enriched environment.
The “Whoosh Bottle” demonstration has proven to be very popular with audiences of all ages. A small amount of alcohol is placed in a plastic bottle, which is then capped and shaken to allow the alcohol to evaporate and mix with the air.
IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) has officially approved the name flerovium, with symbol Fl, for the element of atomic number 114 and the name livermorium, with symbol Lv, for the element of atomic number 116.
The initial response of the Fourth Form Chemistry Group (14/15-year-olds) to the prospect of writing a chemistry poem for homework was one of bemused horror and disbelief.
Sometimes errors appear in textbooks and are propagated like memes. It is unfortunately common for textbook writers to assume that previous texts are correct and that the facts no longer need to be checked. In the case of the combustion of magnesium ribbon in air, the “fact” that a mixture of magnesium oxide and magnesium nitride is formed has become “common knowledge” and appears never to be questioned.