2004 Chemistry Features...
12/28/04 - Chemical Reaction Orders
Learn how to classify chemical reactions using kinetics. Identify and define zero, first, second, mixed, and higher order reactions.
12/20/04 - Christmas Chemistry - Make Peppermint Creme Wafers
Chemistry and cooking share a lot in common! You can have some Christmas chemistry fun in the lab making these peppermint cream wafer candies.
12/14/04 - Rules for Assigning Oxidation Numbers
Learn how to assign oxidation numbers to keep track of the distribution of electrons during a chemical reaction.
12/06/04 - Balancing Redox Reactions
Get step-by-step instructions for balancing redox reactions for conservation of mass and charge in electrochemistry.
11/08/04 - How To Grow Purple Chromium Alum Crystals
Learn how to grow purple chromium alum crystals and how to grow clear crystals over a core of colored crystals.
11/02/04 - Salt Formation
Learn about the chemistry behind salt formation, including neutralization and hydrolysis reactions.
10/25/04 - Chemical, Physical, and Nuclear Changes Quiz
Do you understand the differences between the types of changes and the concepts associated with these reactions? Here's a ten question quiz you can take to test your knowledge.
10/18/04 - Solubility Product Constants at 25°C
This is a table of the solubility product constants for some common ions in aqueous solution at 25 degrees Celsius.
10/04/04 - More on Red Mercury
William Yerkes offers insight into red mercury, a material purportedly implicated in fusion-device research.
09/27/04 - Elements Named for Places
Here's an alphabetical list of elements named for places or element toponyms.
09/19/04 - Phases & Phase Changes Quiz
Take this multiple choice quiz to test your understanding of the states of matter.
09/07/04 - Fluoridation of Water - Reasons for Opposing It
Readers ask me why I oppose fluoridation of public drinking water. Here's a summary of my reasons.
09/05/04 - What Is a Chemical?
Here's the answer to this fundamental chemistry question.
08/24/04 - Titration Basics
Learn the basic chemical concepts of titration, a technique used to determine the molarity of an acid or a base.
08/01/04 - Chemistry Laboratory Safety Rules
Make your chemistry laboratory experience safe by following these simple rules.
07/26/04 - Identify an Unknown
Use this chemistry lesson plan to help students use the scientific method to design experiments to identify the components of an unknown mixture.
07/20/04 - How Do Detergents Clean?
Learn about the chemistry behind the cleaning power of detergents.
07/07/04 - How Do Trick Birthday Candles Work?
You blow them out, but these candles re-light themselves. Magic? No, it's simple chemistry!
07/05/04 - Grow Sugar Crystals - Rock Candy
Sugar crystals are also known as rock candy since the crystallized sucrose (table sugar) resembles rock crystals and because you can eat your finished product. You can grow beautiful clear sugar crystals with sugar and water or you can add food coloring to get colored crystals. It's simple, safe, and fun.
07/01/04 - Atom Basics Quiz
Do you understand the basic concepts of atomic theory? Do you have your protons, electrons, and neutrons all sorted out? Here's a ten question quiz you can take to test your knowledge.
06/28/04 - Basic Model of the Atom
Are you confused about atoms, elements, protons, neutrons, electrons, isotopes, and ions? Here's a basic look at the model of the atom. It's a great overview for kids or anyone looking to grasp the essentials of atomic theory.
06/22/04 - Baggie Chemistry
Introduce students to chemical reactions and experimentation using common and safe chemicals and plastic baggies.
06/17/04 - Why Students Fail Chemistry
Worried about failing chemistry? Here's a look at the main reasons why students fail. Avoiding these common problems could be a key to science class success!
06/07/04 - Make Your Own Magic Rocks
Do you remember this classic science project? Magic rocks are used to grow a chemical crystal garden in mere hours. Learn how magic rocks work and find out what you need to make them yourself.
05/30/04 - Alchemical Symbol Index
Here's a look at the alchemical symbols of the elements. Along with the symbol image, you'll find facts about how the element was used in alchemy.
05/24/04 - What Is the Smelliest Substance?
There are some man-made chemicals with a stench well beyond the gentle perfume of dirty gym socks and skunk spray. Do you know the names of these super-stinkers?
05/17/04 - Can You Drink Too Much Water?
It's important to drink plenty of fluids, but can you overdo it? Learn the truth about water intoxication and hyponatremia.
05/10/04 - What Is the Lightest or Least Dense Solid?
I'll give you a hint: it isn't styrofoam! The world's lightest solid resembles a sort of solid smoke, with a density of only 1.9 mg/cm3.
05/07/04 - Water - Wine - Milk - Beer Chemistry Demonstration
Chemistry demonstrations in which solutions appear to magically change color leave a lasting impression on students and help instill an interest in science. Here's a color change demo in which a solution seems to change from water to wine to milk to beer simply be being poured into the appropriate beverage glass.
05/02/04 - Briggs-Rauscher Oscillating Color Change Reaction
The Briggs-Rauscher reaction, also known as 'the oscillating clock', is one of the most common demonstrations of a chemical oscillator reaction. The reaction begins when three colorless solutions are mixed together. The color of the resulting mixture will oscillate between clear, amber, and deep blue for about 3-5 minutes. Let's try it!
04/26/04 - How to Grow Red Potassium Ferricyanide Crystals
Here are instructions for easy red monoclinic crystals. Don't let the 'cyanide' part of the chemical name put you off -- these crystals aren't edible, but neither are they more toxic than most other compounds.
04/21/04 - What Is the Volume & Chemical Composition of Blood?
Do you know how many liters of blood are in your body? How about what's in your blood? Let's learn about the chemistry of human blood.
04/05/04 - What Is Distillation?
Distillation is a common chemistry process used to separate materials by changing their states of matter. Learn more about how the process works and find out about different types of distillations.
03/24/04 - What Is the Most Poisonous Chemical Compound?
How poisonous something is depends a lot on how it's administered and several other factors, but this list will give you a general look at some of the most toxic substances known to man.
03/15/04 - What Is the Sweetest Compound?
Did you know there are sweeteners that are 200,000 times sweeter than table sugar? Take a look at this list to find out how your favorite sweetener rates.
03/12/04 - Element Symbol Matching Quiz
Here's a challenging matching quiz, using elements/symbols drawn from the entire periodic table, with an eye toward matches that tend to be confusing.
03/11/04 - Element Symbol Matching Quiz
Can you match the names of the elements to their corresponding symbols? Here's an easy quiz to test your skill, using 10 of the first 18 elements. Have fun!
03/07/04 - What Is Red Mercury?
Is it a secret, wildly explosive compound used to make deuterium-tritium fusion bombs for use by terrorists? Maybe there's a more conventional explanation...
03/01/04 - What Is the Most Bitter Compound?
I've had some scorched coffee that I'm sure should have qualified for this award, but it turns out there's a real answer to this question of taste. Do you know what it is?
02/29/04 - What Is a Mole and Why Are Moles Used?
No, we're not talking about the small burrowing mammal! Here's a look at a standard unit in chemistry and why it's used.
02/22/04 - Chemistry Fun with Pennies
Use pennies, nails, and a few simple household ingredients to explore some interesting properties of metals.
02/13/04 - What Are Some Careers in Chemistry?
Here's a nice long list of chemistry-related careers, along with a discussion on how your degree impacts your employment options.
02/11/04 - Old Element Names Quiz
There are several elements which have symbols that don't seem to correspond to their names. That's because the symbols come from old names for the elements. Here's a multiple choice quiz to test your knowledge of the element names.
02/10/04 - What Is the Difference Between Baking Powder & Baking Soda?
Learn about the difference between these two common cooking ingredients and find out how you can use baking soda to make your own baking powder.
02/05/04 - Make Ice Cream in a Baggie
Make a tasty treat and learn about freezing point depression, too! All you need are some basic ingredients and two ziploc baggies. Show me how...
02/03/04 - Chemistry Timeline
Find out who did what and when they did it. This timeline chronicles achievements in chemistry and in other disciplines (e.g., physics, mathematics) as they apply to chemistry.
01/30/04 - Crystal Growing - Troubleshooting Common Problems
Are you having trouble growing crystals? Before you throw out your solution, read this list of common problems and fixes.
01/29/04 - Element Symbols
It's easier to navigate the periodic table and write chemical equations and formulae once you know the symbols for the elements. Here's an alphabetical list of element symbols with the corresponding element name.
01/28/04 - How to Grow Great Crystals
Do you want to grow crystals, but you aren't sure where to start or what to do to make sure your crystals turn out well? Here's some basic information on crystal growing. I've provided links to recipes so you can start growing crystals. These instructions are general, so if your recipe calls for something special (like no vibrations or dark), be sure to follow those directions, too.
01/23/04 - You & Your Cat & Mad Cow Disease
Do you think you have a handle on the Mad Cow Disease issue? Here's a detailed guest article, written by microbiologist Eve Riser-Roberts, Ph.D., that may shake things up a bit for you. Although the article is slanted toward dangers in pet food, it contains a lot of controversial information pertaining to human risk and infection.
01/21/04 - What Is Chemistry?
Here's the long and short answer to this Frequently Asked Question.
01/20/04 - Make Frozen Bubbles
Use dry ice to freeze bubbles solid so that you can pick them up and examine them closely. You can use this project to demonstrate several scientific principles, such as density, interference, semipermeability, and diffusion.
01/18/04 - Boyle's Law
Here's an introduction to Boyle's Law, as well as a worked example problem and links to related resources.
01/16/04 - Why the Flu Vaccine Doesn't Work
A new study conducted by the CDC indicates that getting the flu vaccine doesn't protect you against cold, flu-like illness, or even the flu. Surprised? Here are some reasons why the vaccine may not work.
01/11/04 - Types of Crystals - Shapes & Structures
Let's take a look at the two main ways to categorize crystal types. I've described the major crystal structures (e.g., triclinic, hexagonal) and how crystals are classified by their properties (e.g., ionic, covalent) and provided links so that you can see examples of crystal types and learn more about crystallography.
01/08/04 - High School Courses Needed for College Chemistry Major
Are you a middle school or high school student contemplating a college major in chemistry? Here's a look at some of the courses that can help you with your goal!
01/04/04 - Searching for Extraterrestial Life
There's some serious chemistry involved in the search for life on other planets (or gas clouds or asteroids or comets). However, other disciplines come into play as well, such as robotics, aeronautics, biology, geology, and economics. Here's an overview of how we search for ETs.
01/01/04 - Unit of Measurement Hangman Game
This is a challenging hangman game where the words are all units of measurement. I've provided links to tables that list units to help you think of words or so you can find out more about the units.
