The Atomic Building
Description
Description: This is an in class activity I use for first year general chemistry students to understand the relationship between quantum numbers and the structure of the atom.
m&m Language
Description
This in-class activity is intended to help visualize the meaning of the subscripts and coefficients in molecular formulas that appear in balanced chemical equations. It has been my experience that students in 2nd semester general chemistry can sometimes still be confused about this fundamental aspect of chemical language. It substitutes edible candy for the atoms in a molecular model kit, thus allowing students to eat the atoms at the end. (My philosophy is that if students are eating, they're probably awake and could be learning!)
Five Slides About a Simple powder XRD Analysis
Description
These slides walk students through a solid state synthesis with a simple powder XRD analysis. This presentation was made to answer the question “How do I know what came out of the furnace?” for a general chemistry audience, assuming very little XRD knowledge. Specifically this shows using XRD with database searching to determine phase purity through pattern matching.
(This does not cover the fundamentals of XRD, please see related links for that.)
Brief introduction to local surface plasmons (LSPRs) for nanoparticle color
Description
This is a very brief introduction to the origin of color in nanoparticle systems. A link to a video is included in the slides that shows the addition of the reducing agent to the gold precursor solution. The link is also available as a Web Resourse (below).
Cmap: Concept Mapping Tool
Description
Cmap Tools is a powerful free program that can be used to create concept maps. The program works on any platform.
Thanks to Kurt Birdwhistell for posting the link to this tool to the forum a while back.
Introduction to Synchrotron Radiation
Description
This 5 slides about gives a basic introduction to synchrotron radiation. Information includes how the particles are accelerated, how they travel to the individual instruments, and where synchrotrons in the USA are located.
Building hybrid nanoparticles
Description
This in-class activity was created at the NSF-TUES sponsored workshop at Penn State, June 2013. It is based on the article from Ray Schaak’s group (Buck, Matthew R.; Bondi, James F.; Schaak, Raymond E. “A total-synthesis framework for the construction of high-order colloidal hybrid nanoparticles” Nature Chemistry 2012, 4, 37-44, DOI: 10.1038/NCHEM.1195), which Ray presented at the workshop.
Kool-Aid analysis: Visible Spectroscopy and Paper Chromatography
Description
This lab experiment is designed to introduce the electromagnetic spectrum to non-science majors in a food chemistry course by using everyday food (i.e. Kool-Aid packets). Students will use a spectrophotometer to correlate wavelength to color, as well as determine the mass percent of certain colored dyes in a Kool-Aid sample. Paper chromatography is also introduced to determine the number of dyes in a Kool-Aid sample. This lab is adapted from Sigmann, S; Wheeler, D. J. Chem. Ed., 2004, 81, p. 1475.
Chimera - A Molecular Modeling Program
Description
Chimera is a program for interactive visualization and analysis of molecular structures and related data, including density maps, supramolecular assemblies, sequence alignments, docking results, trajectories, and conformational ensembles. High-quality images and animations can also be generated. Chimera includes documentation and tutorials, and can be downloaded free of charge for academic, government, non-profit, and personal use. Chimera was developed at UCSF and was funded by the National Institute of Health.
Synthesis and Analysis of the POM Ammonium Decavanadate, (NH4) 6V10O28*6H2O
Description
Synthesis of ammonium decavanadate, and analysis via IR, UV-Vis and quantitative titration. Time: 1.5 lab periods
Purpose
The purpose of this lab experiment is to expose students to the synthesis of a colored POM, and to connect the use of standard analytical techniques to this new type of compound. It introduces the use of IR spectroscopy of inorganic materials.
Introduction