Collective motion in living matter is highly intriguing but can also be observed in charged colloidal systems. Collective motion observed in colloidal systems requires extensive material synthesis, external stimuli, and advanced characterization methods that might be highly costly to be employed for teaching. Besides that, colloidal systems can…

We report an educational tool for the upper level undergraduate quantum chemistry or quantum physics course that uses a symbolic approach via the PySyComp Python library. The tool covers both time-independent and time-dependent quantum chemistry, with the latter rarely considered in the foundations course due to topic complexity. We use quantized…

A five day activity that involves the construction and characterization of a small car whose motion is controlled by the vitamin C clock reaction is presented. The purpose of the activity is to engage first-year Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students not majoring in the chemical sciences. Throughout the activity students…

The principles of chemical kinetics comprise one of the core topics that appear throughout chemistry. Standard kinetics lessons typically cover reaction rates and relative rates, rate laws, integrated rate laws, half-lives, collision theory, and the Arrhenius equation. They can also introduce a discussion of mechanisms as well, which may be the…

Ludic-didactic material has systematically been proven to be a useful tool that enhances teaching and learning processes, at practically any educational level by reducing the stress level of students and creating a feeling of team spirit and trust. In chemistry courses, significant efforts have been made to improve the learning of intermolecular…

With many universities now admitting students into their science programs with little or no prior knowledge of the relevant field, significant challenges arise in the way these fields are introduced. Challenges mount with various preconceived ideas regarding the levels of difficulty, thus necessitating introductory concepts be presented in…

Students in an upper-level physical chemistry course used a polarimeter to measure the molar optical rotation of different optically active amino acids to confirm the Clough, Lutz, and Jirgensons (CLJ) rule. This rule states that an amino acid is in the l-configuration if the molar optical rotation becomes more positive upon the addition of acid…

An introduction to digital stochastic simulations for modeling a variety of physical and chemical processes is presented. Despite the importance of stochastic simulations in chemistry, the prevalence of turn-key software solutions can impose a layer of abstraction between the user and the underlying approach obscuring the methodology being…

The ready availability of interactive platforms has produced a new generation of students able to utilize computer-based learning tools with ease and comfort. The potential to better "explore by yourself" the lecture material permits students to have an enhanced learning experience and stimulates them to tinker with equation parameters…

The cannon boring experiment of Count Rumford, where eight kilograms of water were boiled by metal on metal friction, is investigated. Consideration of this dramatic demonstration can enrich classroom discussions of calorimetry, units of measure, elements, and thermodynamics. A section pertaining to use of the article in the classroom appears…

First order processes are of paramount importance for chemical kinetics. In a well-established demonstration experiment, the flow of water out of a vertical glass tube through a capillary simulates a chemical first order process. Here, a digital version of this experiment for lecture hall demonstrations is presented. To this end, water flowing out…

Laboratories studying the anisotropic rotational diffusion of bromobenzene using nuclear spin relaxation and molecular dynamics simulations are described. For many undergraduates, visualizing molecular motion is challenging. Undergraduates rarely encounter laboratories that directly assess molecular motion, and so the concept remains an…

The expansion or compression of gas confined in a piston-and-cylinder device is a classic working example used for illustrating the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. The balance of energy and entropy enables the estimation of a number of thermodynamic properties. The entropy generation (also called entropy production) resulting from this…

The Paterno`-Bu¨chi photocycloaddition reaction is used as the basis for physical-organic final-year undergraduate laboratory experiments designed to emphasize the multidisciplinary approach to modern-day chemical practice. These reactions are performed using commercially available LED-based light sources, which offer a convenient and safe tool…

Meaningful learning requires the integration of cognitive and affective learning with the psychomotor, i.e., hands-on learning. The undergraduate chemistry laboratory is an ideal place for meaningful learning to occur. However, accurately characterizing students' affective experiences in the chemistry laboratory can be a very difficult task. While…