Experiential learning is a foundation in chemistry courses from the introductory-level course to upper-level courses through laboratory experiences. Service learning is another type of experiential learning that is slowly gaining momentum in the sciences. There have been several reports in this "Journal" on this pedagogy with respect to student…

The symbolic algebra program Maple and the spreadsheet Microsoft Excel were used in an attempt to reproduce the Gaussian fits to a Slater-type orbital, required to construct the popular STO-NG basis sets. The successes and pitfalls encountered in such an approach are chronicled. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)

An upper-level undergraduate or beginning graduate project is described in which students obtain the Lennard-Jones 6-12 potential parameters for Ne[subscript 2] and Ar[subscript 2] from ab initio calculations and use the results to express pairwise interactions between the atoms in clusters containing up to N = 60 atoms. The students use simulated…

Green chemistry addresses environmental concerns associated with chemical processes and increases awareness of possible harmful effects of chemical reagents. Efficient reactions that eliminate or reduce the use of organic solvents or toxic reagents are increasingly available. A two-week experiment is reported that entails the calcium hypochlorite…

We study the nonlinear oscillations of a forced and weakly dissipative spring-magnet system moving in the magnetic fields of two fixed coaxial, hollow induction coils. As the first coil is excited with a dc current, both a linear and a cubic magnet-position dependent force appear on the magnet-spring system. The second coil, located below the…

Remote sensing of planets evokes using expensive on-orbit satellites and gathering complex data from space. However, the basic properties of clouds in planetary atmospheres can be successfully estimated with small telescopes even from an urban environment using currently available and affordable technology. This makes the process accessible for…

When students are introduced to the ways in which atoms are arranged in crystal structures, transposing the textbook illustrations into three-dimensional structures is difficult for some of them. To facilitate this transition, this article describes an approach to the study of the structure of solids through a well-known monument, the Atomium in…

Doctoral training in the molecular biosciences often fails to prepare students for academic and alternate careers. Several studies of doctoral training have reported a need to improve doctoral education; outlining specific criticisms related to the need to broaden the scope of the doctoral degree in order to prepare students for careers. The…

Current cutting-edge biomedical investigation requires that the researcher have an operational understanding of several diverse disciplines. Biocatalysis is a field of science that operates at the crossroads of organic chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, and molecular biology, and provides an excellent model for interdisciplinary research. We…

Natural product isolation and analysis provide an opportunity to present a variety of experimental techniques to undergraduate students in introductory organic chemistry. Eugenol, anethole, and carvone were extracted from six common spices using steam-distillation and diethyl ether as the extraction solvent. Students assessed the purity of their…

Reversible polymer dehydration and precipitation from water due to the unfavorable entropy of hydration is examined using a melting-point apparatus. The thermoresponsive lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is responsible for these effects. An experiment is described that allows students to…

Laboratories have been a cornerstone in teaching and learning across multiple scientific disciplines for more than 100 years. At the collegiate level, science laboratories and their corresponding lectures are often offered as separate courses, and students may not be required to concurrently enroll in both. In this study, we provide evidence that…

The basic theory of radio broadcasting is discussed from an experimental point of view. First, concepts like wave modulation and tuning are explained with the use of instruments in the physics laboratory. Then, a very basic radio receiver is described and assembled, whose most important feature, like in the old "crystal radios", is the absence of…

A simple experiment using low cost equipment for the determination of the density of granular materials, without immersing them in a liquid, is presented. It is based only on the ideal gas state equation, so it is a good experimental task for undergraduate and high school students. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.)

FriXion erasable pens contain thermochromic inks that have colored low-temperature forms and colorless high-temperature forms. Liquid nitrogen can be used to kinetically trap the high-temperature forms of the ink at temperatures at which ordinarily the low-temperature forms are more thermodynamically stable. (Contains 2 figures.)