A suitable combined laboratory experiment can involve more chemical disciplines and form students' views on practical connections. A laboratory experiment has been prepared focusing on the adsorption of the dangerous Co(II) ion using natural adsorbents representing waste material of a polysaccharide and keratin nature. Efficiency of Co(II)…

As green chemistry and engineering are being integrated into chemical processes in academia and industry, it becomes equally important to equip students with the relevant tools in the fields of sustainable chemistry and processes. In this context, continuous flow technology has been identified as one of the promising strategies. Herein, we…

In a chemistry course for students not majoring in science, there is more to learn than some memorized facts: the student can find, in most non-major chemistry texts, the definition of atomic number, something about chemical bonding, and names of some classes of chemical compounds. Where facts come from and how accurately they are known are often…

This article is about the development of an Internet-based remotely-controlled physical experiment, this is a part of the Remotely Controlled Laboratory at the University of Applied Sciences of Cologne known as TH Köln. The main experimental set-up is based on Pohl's Torsion Pendulum which was enhanced by a PXI measurement system and a webcam. In…

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) represent a novel type of adaptive immune system found in eubacteria and archaebacteria. CRISPRs have recently generated a lot of attention due to their unique ability to catalog foreign nucleic acids, their ability to destroy foreign nucleic acids in a mechanism that shares some…

Synthesis of quantum dots is a valuable experiment for demonstration and discussion of quantum phenomena in undergraduate chemistry curricula. Recently, a new class of all-inorganic perovskite quantum dots (QDs) with a formula of CsPbX[subscript 3] (X = Cl, Br, I) was presented and attracted tremendous attention. Here we adapt the synthesis of…

Quantum mechanics is a notoriously difficult subject to learn, due to a lack of real-world analogies that might help provide an intuitive grasp of the underlying ideas. Discrete energy levels and absorption and emission wavelengths in atoms are sometimes described as uniquely quantum phenomena, but are actually general to spatially confined waves…

We propose to attach a small stroboscopic light source to a moving object and connect the source to a pulse generator with the help of insulated thin flexible multi-cored wires. Students can assemble such a device independently in a school laboratory. The device can be used to obtain trajectories with time marks in students' research projects in…

Laboratory experiments were developed to introduce students to the quantitation of drugs of abuse by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Undergraduate students were introduced to internal standard quantitation and the LC-MS/MS method optimization for cocaine. Cocaine extracted from paper currency was…

The nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction and thia-Michael addition using thiourea as an odorless, cheap, and easy-to-handle sulfur source in water are described, which can be used to teach upper-division undergraduates the role of thiourea in the formation of C-S bonds and the principles of green chemistry. The use of a cheap, nontoxic…

The role of practical work in the training of student teachers is central to the development of their future pedagogy and practice. However, not all laboratory based activities give sufficient challenge in the development of both cognitive and practical skills. The activity proposed in this paper helps reinforce an understanding of reaction…

Additions to the popular evaporation rate determination laboratory of alcohol-based hand-rub sanitizers are described here. Significantly, inquiry-driven protocols for formulating hand-rub sanitizers, falling-ball viscometry, and sanitizer efficacy are included. Incorporation of familiar substances ("molecular relevance") enables…

In 1849, Hippolyte Fizeau determined the speed of light in a famous experiment. The idea was to measure the time taken for a pulse of light to travel between an intense light source and a mirror about 8 km away. A rotating cogwheel with 720 notches, that could be rotated at a variable speed, was used to chop the light beam and determine the flight…

The practice of RNA isolation in undergraduate experimental courses is rare because of the existence of robust, ubiquitous and stable ribonucleases. We reported here modifications to our original protocol for RNA isolation from plant tissues, including the recovery of nucleic acids by ethanol precipitation at 0 degrees C for 10 min and the…

To facilitate learning advanced instrumental techniques, essential tools for visualizing biomaterials, a simple and versatile laboratory exercise demonstrating the use of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in biomedical applications was developed. In this experiment, the morphology of heat-denatured and amyloid-type aggregates formed from a low-cost…