After a time away from the classrooms and laboratories due to the global pandemic, the return to teaching activities during the semester represented a challenge to both teachers and students. Our particular situation in a Microbial Physiology course was the necessity of imparting in shorter time, laboratory practices that usually take longer. This…

Photochemical reactions are initiated by the absorption of light, triggering the chemical reactions and resulting in the formation of products. These reactions are generally performed using a freely available renewable source of energy-solar energy. Solar simulators mimic both the ultraviolet and visible regions of sunlight and hence can serve as…

The rapid growth of personal electronics has promoted a surge of e-waste worldwide. Among the e-waste stream, waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) contain a lot of recyclable valuable metals that can incentivize the recycling operation when recovered. This pedagogical exercise demonstrates a simple electrocatalytic metal recovery strategy that…

Here, a relatively simple laboratory experiment of a physical pendulum, suitable for students of science and engineering in the first courses of university physics, is presented to illustrate its dynamic behavior and to determine its inertia moment. To this end, a long wooden rod of length L = 99.8 cm and cross-section radius R = 1.73 cm was used…

We have developed a guided-inquiry laboratory exercise in which students perform viscosity measurements to infer the structure of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in aqueous solution. The activity combines both experiments and modeling. In the experimental portion of the exercise, students measure the viscosity of several solutions of PVA with differing…

Instruction in quantum mechanics is becoming increasingly important as the field is not only a key part of modern physics research but is also important for emerging technologies. However, many students regard quantum mechanics as a particularly challenging subject, in part because it is considered very mathematical and abstract. One potential way…

An understanding of structure-function relationships in proteins is essential for modern biochemical studies. The integration of common freely accessible bioinformatics tools available online with the knowledge of protein-engineering tools provide a fundamental understanding of the application of protein structure-function for biochemical…

An efficient synthesis of the exorbitantly priced Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome drug amifampridine was developed and applied in the second-semester undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. The two-step synthesis entails a nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction of commercial 4-chloro-3-nitropyridine with methanolic ammonia to afford…

Hydrogels are soft water-rich materials with physical properties that can be easily tuned by modifying their network structure. For instance, increasing or decreasing the cross-linking density has a profound effect on their water absorption capabilities and mechanical strength. These physical changes are showcased in a new experiment for organic…

A procedure to purify anthocyanin, a natural pigment, following a green approach by using macroporous resin and its encapsulation for the maintenance of its stability is described. This laboratory experiment, which describes the benefits of using resin for the purification, is a learning tool for students working in the field on nutraceuticals.…

Apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP or abasic) sites are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) lesions that result from the loss of a nucleobase by hydrolysis of the "N"-glycosyl bond. AP sites are the most frequent lesions in cells and are caused by environmental and cancer therapeutic genotoxins. Herein, the bicinchoninic colorimetric assay, typically…

For single-slit diffraction and double-slit interference experiments, commercially made slits can be the most expensive parts, especially since the prices of laser pointers have become very low. One option is to use a razor blade to cut slits in either paint or electrical tape on microscope slides. However, this takes practice, and there is some…

In this paper I describe an interactive Gauss's law computer simulation using the GlowScript programming environment. The simulation calculates a point charge's electric field at locations on the surface of a Gaussian cube and displays the electric field in GlowScript's 3D graphics window. The point charge can be moved, and the electric field…

This manuscript describes a laboratory exercise that allows students to use conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) for the analysis of electrodeposited, metallic structures. In addition to nanoscale electrical characterization with CAFM, this laboratory exercise also provides students with an opportunity to explore nanofabrication by…

For the present lab demonstration, we have developed fluorescent indicators to detect the end point in microscale redox titration of ferrous ions in permanganometry, cerimetry, and dichrometry. Microscale redox titrations were carried out effectively in micromolar(µM) concentrations and semi-microvolumes of the analytes. At the end point,…