It is crucial nowadays to predict in a fast and simple manner physical-chemical behaviors like, the size-dependent optical properties of gold nanospheres (Au NSs). The idea behind this experiment is trying to replace (as much as possible) robust and expensive microscopy techniques with UV-vis spectrophotometry and friendly simulations. Students…

Computational and atmospheric chemistry are two important branches of contemporary chemistry. With the present topical nature of climate change and global warming, it is more crucial than ever that students are aware of and exposed to atmospheric chemistry, with an emphasis on how modeling may aid in understanding how atmospherically relevant…

An activity supporting the PhET interactive simulation, Models of the Hydrogen Atom, has been designed and used in the laboratory portion of a general chemistry course. This article describes the framework used to successfully accomplish implementation on a large scale. The activity guides students through a comparison and analysis of the six…

This article describes the High-Adventure Science curriculum unit "Is There Life in Space?" This free online investigation, developed by The Concord Consortium, helps students see how scientists use modern tools to locate planets around distant stars and explore the probability of finding extraterrestrial life. This innovative curriculum…

The near-UV spectrum of benzene is used to illustrate the effects of variations in instrument spectral bandwidth on absorbance and molar absorptivity measurements and on the independence of values of quantities such as the oscillator strength that are based on integrated absorptivity. Excel-based computer simulations are provided that help develop…

In this undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory experiment, students acquire a high-resolution infrared absorption spectrum of carbon dioxide and use their data to show that the rotational-vibrational state populations follow a Boltzmann distribution. Data are acquired with a mid-infrared laser source and infrared detector. Appropriate…