This exercise introduces students to many chemical resources found on the internet.  Rather than being geared for upper-division chemistry majors, much of the material introduced is appropriate for freshmen and sophomore level students (although more advanced students will also benefit from the exercise).  The “web guide” contains links to many search engines and resources with brief descriptions of each while the “web report” has a number of exercises that asks students to search for chemical information.  The assignment is self-guided; students are encouraged to choose topic of interest t

Many extended structures can be viewed as close-packed layers of large anions, with the smaller cations fitting in between the anions. Larger holes between close-packed anions can hold cations with octahedral coordination. Smaller holes between close-packed anions can hold cations with tetrahedral coordination. The online jsmol resources show these layers and their holes.

In this in-class activity, students will determine the formal oxidation state of transition metal complexes by performing bonding type analysis of ligand−metal bonds. This in-class project is intended for those with little background in inorganic chemistry and aims to provide simple methods to calculate the formal charge of transition metals through bond-type analysis. While there are more sophisticated models already available to assign transition metal oxidation states, such as the LXZ (CBC) model, this exercise is intended for students who are coordination chemistry novices.

This activity was adapted from the J. Chem. Ed. article, “Discrepant Event: The Great Bowling Ball Float-Off.” In this activity students use a bowling ball and some basic materials to predict whether the ball will sink or float in a tub of liquid. 

Equilibrium reactions are those that are dynamic: the reaction can shift to form more reactants or more products depending on the physical or chemical conditions present. They were discovered and described empirically, but have a thermodynamic basis in the Gibbs Energy of the reaction. A reaction at equilibrium has both reactants and products present, and the rate of formation of products is equal to the rate of formation of reactants. A common application of equilibrium is the chemistry of aqueous acids. Acid strength is measured by the pH scale.

Equilibrium reactions are those that are dynamic: the reaction can shift to form more reactants or more products depending on the physical or chemical conditions present. They were discovered and described empirically, but have a thermodynamic basis in the Gibbs Energy of the reaction. A reaction at equilibrium has both reactants and products present, and the rate of formation of products is equal to the rate of formation of reactants. A common application of equilibrium is the chemistry of aqueous acids. Acid strength is measured by the pH scale.

There are many factors to consider when choosing a fuel. In this exercise, your group will work with a set of three different potential fuels and evaluate their performance in terms of price, energy density (per mole, per gram, and per volume) as well as in terms of CO₂ emissions. You will then select which of your three fuels is the “best,” realizing that there are several possible considerations to select the “best” fuel. You will have to defend your choice, as well as your definition of “best!”