News

This is a reprint from the February 2015 issue of Chem 13 News.

The inspiration for making pictures from droplets of chemicals first came from a Chemistry Club session at our school. 

This is a continuation of the Thought labs used as review for AP Chemistry. This style of review allows students to incorporate the skills they have acquired throughout their course experience in AP Chemistry while providing a platform for them to increase their comfort level in situations where they are asked to apply their learning to a new lab setting. 

A couple of years ago, with the re-write of the AP Chemistry test and the increased focus on inquiry...

This is a favourite of the students. On the front cover, the pink colour in the test tube comes from cobalt(II) ions in water, Co(H₂O)₆²⁺. The blue colour is the result of cobalt chloride complex ions (CoCl₄^2–) in less dense acetone. This classic Le Châtelier’s Principle lab explores the reversible chemical reaction.

Students often struggle with the difference between a solution that is buffered and one that is not.

Equilibrium is a challenging topic for high school chemistry students to understand. This year I decided to tackle the conceptual understanding of equilibrium first with three different analogies and a Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) activity before even mentioning the words "equilibrium expression".

In August 2015, Educational Innovations was able to bring back goldenrod paper. For years, this paper had been discontinued, apparently because goldenrod paper was not able to be recycled. The fibers in the paper were saturated with golden colored dye.

Part 1 of this article was published in Chem 13 News in November 2014. This second part presents three titration exercises of increasing sophistication, suitable for students with some titration experience. Citric acid and sodium hydroxide are used for all three presented titrations. 

We know that acids dissolve our pearly whites, but where does this acid come from and what chemistry is really going on in our mouths to make this happen? If your mouth hosts biofilms of certain bacteria, especially Streptococcus mutans that are feeding off sugars, the teeth will be in contact with acid.