Suggests ways in which the "drinking duck," a seemingly self-propelled duck toy, can be used to illustrate the principles of phase equilibria and thermodynamics. (MLH)

This is the first of a new series of brief ancedotes about materials and phenomena which exemplify chemical principles. Examples include (1) the sea-lab experiment illustrating principles of the kinetic theory of gases, (2) snow-making machines illustrating principles of thermodynamics in gas expansions and phase changes, and (3) sunglasses that…