This article aims to simplify and facilitate the process of practical teaching of enzyme kinetics by utilizing minimal teaching laboratory requirements. Simultaneously, it ensures that students comprehend the enzyme kinetics experiment effectively. The focus is on teaching students how to estimate the maximum velocity (Vmax) and Michaelis constant…

Enzymes are nature's catalysts, mediating chemical processes in living systems. The study of enzyme function and mechanism includes defining the maximum catalytic rate and affinity for substrate/s (among other factors), referred to as enzyme kinetics. Enzyme kinetics is a staple of biochemistry curricula and other disciplines, from molecular and…

We are living in the Big Data era, and yet we may have serious troubles when dealing with a handful of kinetic data if we are not properly instructed. The aim of this paper, related to enzyme kinetics, is to illustrate how to determine the K[subscript m] and V[subscript max] of a michaelian enzyme avoiding the pitfalls in which we often fall. To…

This practical is aimed at students who have been introduced to the tableting process, drug delivery systems, and dissolution. The student can design and manufacture a tablet investigating the effect of excipients and their role in tablet design and then generate a release profile of the tablet by using a dissolution apparatus, flow-through cell,…

Although kinetics forms a foundational part of the chemical curriculum, laboratory experiences with the subject are often limited and lack relevance to the actual practice of chemistry. Presented is an inquiry-based lab focused on Michaelis-Menten kinetics, implemented in an upper-level, university physical chemistry laboratory. Student learning…

A virtual catalytic reactor laboratory (VCRL) experiment, which can be used in most browsers, is described. Students select feed conditions and use the VCRL to take data for a gas-phase catalytic reaction and fit kinetic parameters to a Langmuir-Hinshelwood rate expression. The VCRL contains instructions, equipment descriptions, an animated…

"Beer Brewing: Chemical and Biochemical Principles" is a 15 week laboratory and lecture course specifically designed for nonscience majors as an introduction to science literacy via structured laboratory experiments that encourage student engagement. It provides students with a foundation in chemical and biochemical principles using a…

The so-called Diet Coke and Mentos experiment is initiated by dropping Mentos candies into a bottle of Diet Coke or other carbonated beverage. This causes the beverage to rapidly degas, causing foam to stream out of the bottle. Simple application of the gas laws leads to the straightforward prediction that ejection of greater foam volume is…

The study of buoyancy becomes very interesting when we measure the apparent weight of the body and the liquid vessel weight. In this paper, we propose an experimental apparatus that measures both the forces mentioned before as a function of the depth that a cylinder is sunk into the water. It is done using two load cells connected to an Arduino.…

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…

Many university and high school introductory physics courses include a laboratory portion where students follow a manual to conduct "cookbook" experiments. Here, we present an authentic research project for introductory physics students that focuses on kinematics that can be done outside a formal laboratory space. This experiment can be…

Science students need exposure to activities that will help them to become familiar with phenomena exhibiting exponential decay. This paper describes an experiment that allows students to determine the rate of thermal energy loss by a hot object to its surroundings. It requires limited equipment, is safe, and gives reasonable results. Students…

An effective way of teaching undergraduates a full complement of research skills is through a multiweek advanced laboratory experiment. Here we outline a comprehensive set of experiments adapted from current primary literature focusing on organic and inorganic synthesis, catalysis, reactivity, and reaction kinetics. The catalyst,…

This paper reports an undergraduate laboratory experiment to measure heterogeneous liquid/gas reaction kinetics (ozone-oleic acid and ozone-phenothrin) using a flow reactor coupled to an attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectrometer. The experiment is specially designed for an upper-level undergraduate Physical…

The enthalpy of vaporization (?H[subscript vap]) of salt solutions is not easily measured, as a certain quantity of pure water has to be evaporated from a solution, at constant composition, and at a fixed temperature and pressure; then the corresponding heat input has to be measured. However, a simple bubble column evaporator (BCE) was used as a…