As science teachers at a suburban California high school, the authors were concerned about the lab report conclusions written by their upper-level chemistry, biology, and ecology students--which were consistently of poor quality. Their work lacked inferences derived from data and support for their concluding statements. Working as part of a…

An existing industrial hydrogen generation and distribution infrastructure is described, and a number of large-scale investment projects are outlined. All of these projects have the potential to generate significant volumes of low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen. The technologies concerned range from gasification of coal with carbon capture and storage…

As students progress towards their PhD degrees, they will become more independent and practitioner-like; for those moving into academia, it is often assumed the programs of their PhD mentors will serve as prototypes for their own successful research programs. However, the author's research program as an Assistant Professor led him in directions…

A spectroscopic experiment is presented that reveals that the hydrophobically end-modified water-soluble polymeric fluorophore, pyrene end-capped poly(ethylene oxide) (PYPY), interacts differently with [alpha], [beta], and [gamma]-cyclodextrins (CD) to form supramolecular inclusion complexes. The emission spectrum of PYPY in aqueous solution shows…

Twelve pentagons are sufficient and necessary to form a fullerene cage. According to this structural feature of fullerenes, we propose a simple and efficient method for the construction of I[subscript h] symmetrical fullerenes from pentagons. This method does not require complicated mathematical knowledge; yet it provides an excellent paradigm for…

This demonstration, if done in the original way, can lead to fires in waste containers (sometimes in the middle of the night after the experiment has been conducted), because pyrophoric zinc is generated by suspending powdered zinc in hot sodium hydroxide. This is avoided by using hot ZnSO[subscript 4].

Orbital exponent optimization in the elementary ab-initio VB calculation of the ground states of H[subscript 2][superscript +], H[subscript 2], He[subscript 2][superscript +], He[subscript 2] gives a fair description of the exchange-overlap component of the interatomic interaction that is important in the bond region. Correct bond lengths and…

In this demonstration, the students use their knowledge of electrochemistry to determine that tarnish can be removed from silverware by electrochemically converting it back to silver using items commonly available in the kitchen: aluminum foil and baking soda. In addition to using this system as an example of a galvanic cell, an electrolytic cell…

In the described experiment, the regiochemical outcome of the addition of "HOBr" to [alpha]-methylstyrene is investigated. Although both "classic" qualitative analysis and instrumental techniques are described, the emphasis of this experiment is on the utilization [to the thirteenth power]C and DEPT-135 NMR spectroscopy to determine the…

The linear molecule N[subscript 2]O is presented as an alternative gas-phase species for the ubiquitous undergraduate physical chemistry rotation-vibration spectroscopy experiment. Utilizing a 0.5 cm[superscript -1] resolution teaching grade FTIR spectrometer, 15 vibrational bands, corresponding to 1229 rotation-vibration transitions, have been…

A simple molecular approach is described that aids students in learning challenging stereochemical terms, definitions, and concepts, particularly when chemical structures are drawn in two dimensions. The approach starts with a structurally diverse family of natural compounds ([alpha]-amino acids) and gradually increases in complexity. The recently…

We present a safe and efficient technique to generate HCl/DCl gas for use in the classic physical chemistry experiment that introduces students to ro-vibrational spectroscopy. The reaction involves thionyl chloride and a mixture of water and deuterium oxide to produce HCl/DCl gas with SO[subscript 2] gas as a byproduct. The entire reaction is…

To visualize what takes place in a chromatography column, enlarge the molecules to human size and expand the columns to keep the ratio of size of molecule to size of column the same. If we were molecules, what would the columns be like? A typical gas chromatography (GC) capillary column would be 50 x 10 [superscript 6] 6 km (31 million mi) long,…

Congress, the news media, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) continue to cast a wary eye on the compensation of nonprofit leaders. Hence, any college or university board that falls short of IRS expectations in its procedures for setting the president's compensation is putting the president, other senior officials, and board members at…

An exercise on structure elucidation for advanced undergraduate students is described. To determine the structure of an unknown product, students are required to use spectra together with an organic chemistry mechanism. This exercise exemplifies the procedure commonly used in research, thus helping students develop problem-solving skills. In…