The preparation of ethyl acetoacetate is a distinctive, century-old classic organic chemistry laboratory project. Ethyl acetate and sodium metal (sodium ethoxide) are reacted by Claisen ester condensation to produce the sodium salt of ethyl acetoacetate and then obtain the refined product by acidification as well as washing, drying, and…

If a ball rolls in a circular path on a horizontal surface at constant speed then its horizontal rotation axis changes direction with time. A simple experiment is presented showing that the torque applied to the ball is equal to the rate of change of its angular momentum, even though the magnitudes of its angular velocity and angular momentum…

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) experiments are an important part of the undergraduate analytical instrumentation laboratory courses and usually use commercial C18 silica-packed reversed-phase columns. In this experiment, a simple method of preparing SiO[subscript 2] core-shell packed columns was developed to enable students to…

The refractive index (RI) is probably the single most important parameter in optical systems. Chromatic dispersion, on the other hand, indicates how the RI depends on the wavelength and is central in, e.g., optical communication systems. Chromatic dispersion also plays an important role when teaching optics due to the captivating natural…

The wave nature of light has been widely demonstrated in a double-slit experiment, which has played a special role in physics teaching. When monochromatic light passes through the double-slit sheet, the diffraction and interference fringes can be observed in the far-field regime. The interference of light causes the beams passing through the two…

Measurements and calculations are presented showing how the trajectory of an object sliding across an inclined plane varies with the launch and incline angles. The trajectory depends on the magnitude and direction of the sliding friction force. The experiment is easy to set up, can be analysed using a video camera, and would be suitable for a…

Four General Chemistry instructors investigated the use of ChatGPT-4 to improve their lessons plans for the historical experiments of Thomson, Millikan, and Rutherford. The instructors varied in their prior knowledge for these experiments and their initial lessons addressed somewhat different learning objectives. This led to different…

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of porous materials that are often crystalline with high surface area and structural tunability. In this laboratory experiment designed for inorganic chemistry students at the undergraduate level, students complete a two-step experiment where they will first (i) synthesize two isostructural…

Applying the idea of green chemistry, we extended an esterification teaching experiment with isoamyl alcohol and acetic acid and reused isoamyl acetate in the transesterification reaction with KOH as the catalyst. As a result, isoamyl alcohol was produced and could be reused for the teaching experiment. The simplified experimental method achieved…

An activity is described that uses simple materials and an easy-to-perform protocol to estimate the Curie temperature of nickel, which is the temperature at which nickel loses its ferromagnetism. To do so, an object made of nickel metal is heated with a lighter until it loses its ferromagnetism. The metal is allowed to drop into a beaker that…

A standard problem for physics students is to calculate or measure the acceleration of an object down an inclined plane. Additional information can be obtained by measuring the angular acceleration as well as the linear acceleration. An experiment is described where a billiard ball was filmed as it rolled down an inclined plane at different…

Science is the study of the world around us, and a scientist's job is to ask questions about the world and then experiment to find the answers. There is not a more natural scientist than the Elementary child, whose reasoning mind is eager to ask questions, investigate, and discuss and compare findings with their peers. In this article, the authors…

The phyphox app has demonstrated itself to be useful and impressive for physics teaching. The app is free to download and has so many features that it seems it may be particularly helpful in this time of distance learning. Phyphox (pronounced to sound like "physics") works for Android and Apple phones, and there are many experiments…

In view of the mounting requirements for courses in nuclear chemistry and radiochemistry, hands-on experience in the separations of radioisotopes is imperative. Three separation techniques commonly used were introduced, coprecipitation, liquid-liquid extraction, and ion-exchange chromatography. Their principles and the associated fundamental…

In chemistry, a eutectic mixture refers to a mixture of two or more components at which the lowest possible freezing point is observed. This phenomenon is covered in a wide range of curricula such as physics, chemistry, chemical engineering, and pharmacy to various depths. Despite the significance of this phenomenon in pharmaceutical compounding…