As nanolithography becomes increasingly important in technology and daily life, a variety of inexpensive and creative methods toward communicating the concepts underpinning these processes in the classroom are necessary. An experiment is described that uses simple CD-Rs, C-clamps, an oven, and a freezer to provide concrete examples and insights…

By adding a large quantity of Cl[superscript -] to an aqueous solution of CoCl[subscript 2][multiplied by]6H[subscript 2]O, a mixture containing a red octahedral cobalt complex and a blue tetrahedral complex is produced. When the solution temperature is modified, the equilibrium constant, K[subscript eq], of the complexation reaction is shifted…

A three-week laboratory experiment, which introduces students in an advanced inorganic chemistry course to air-sensitive chemistry and catalysis, is described. During the first week, the students synthesize RuCl[subscript 2](PPh[subscript 3])[subscript 3]. During the second and third weeks, the students characterize the formed coordination…

Many soils throughout the world are contaminated with metal salts of diverse toxicity. We have developed an experiment to demonstrate the removal of a metal from an insoluble surrogate soil pollutant, CuCO[subscript 3] multiplied by Cu(OH)[subscript 2], by complexation followed by the simultaneous electrochemical recovery of the ligand (i.e.,…

A laboratory experiment aimed at students who are studying coordination chemistry of transition-metal complexes is described. A simple vanadyl acetylacetonate complex can be used as a catalyst in the hydrogen peroxide oxidation of anthracene to produce anthraquinone. The reaction can be performed under a variety of reaction conditions, ideally by…

The physical chemistry laboratory is sometimes constrained to one semester, resulting in pedagogical deficiencies for the students taking the course. The use of a multidimensional laboratory exercise offers students the opportunity to encounter multiple experimental techniques and physical chemistry concepts while not sacrificing a significant…

The Cartesian diver experiment certainly occupies a place of honour in old physics textbooks as a vivid demonstration of Archimedes' buoyancy. The original experiment, as described in old textbooks, shows Archimedes buoyancy qualitatively: when the increased weight of the diver is not counterbalanced by Archimedes' buoyancy, the diver sinks. When…

The purpose of this article is to present the properties of cylindrical lenses and provide some examples of their use in easy school physics experiments. Such experiments could be successfully conducted in the context of science education, in fun experiments that teach physics and in science fair projects, or used to entertain an audience by…

A procedure for teaching green chemistry through laboratory experiments is presented in which students are challenged to use the 12 principles of green chemistry to review and modify synthesis protocols to improve greenness. A global metric, green star, is used in parallel with green chemistry mass metrics to evaluate the improvement in greenness.…

A method for the construction of a Galilean thermometer out of common chemistry glassware is described. Students in a first-semester physical chemistry (thermodynamics) class can construct the Galilean thermometer as an investigation of the thermal expansivity of liquids and the temperature dependence of density. This is an excellent first…

An upper-level mechanistic organic experiment is outlined where undergraduates measure kinetic rate constants for decarboxylation of pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid by the initial-rates method. UV spectroscopy is used to monitor reactant disappearance in both hydrochloric acid and deuterium chloride at different temperatures. Individual data are pooled…

Experiments in mechanics often involve measuring time intervals much smaller than one second, a task that is hard to perform with handheld stopwatches. This is one of the reasons why photogate timers are so popular in school labs. There is an interesting alternative to stopwatches and photogates, easily available if one has access to a personal…

While perusing various websites in search of a more challenging lab for my students, I came across a number of ideas where replacing the string in an Atwood's machine with a simple ball chain like the kind found in lamp pulls created an interesting system to investigate. The replacement of the string produced a nice nonuniform acceleration, but…

This two-part laboratory experiment is designed to be a cost-effective method for teaching basic organic laboratory techniques (recrystallization, thin-layer chromatography, column chromatography, vacuum filtration, and melting point determination) to large classes of introductory organic chemistry students. Students are exposed to different…

The development of syringes having free movement while remaining gas-tight enabled methods in chemistry to be changed. Successfully containing and measuring volumes of gas without the need to trap them using liquids made it possible to work with smaller quantities. The invention of the LuerLok syringe cap also allowed the gas to be stored for a…