Most students enter college without any exposure to polymer science, which leads to the poor understanding and slow implementation of plastic recycling programs in the United States. To address the knowledge gap in chemical recycling, we introduce a 2-part laboratory experiment that was conducted in multiple high schools and public outreach events…

In this brief experiment, students create a superhydrophobic surface as an application of polar--nonpolar interactions and redox chemistry. Half of a zincgalvanized steel strip is coated in copper nanoparticles through electroless deposition. A layer of nonpolar octadecanethiol is added to half of that copper surface. Students classify the three…

A laboratory activity is described for senior high school or first year undergraduate level students that illustrates key concepts linked to extractive metallurgy. This experiment demonstrates preferential binding of a methoxyphenolic oxime ligand to Cu[superscript 2+] in the presence of other transition metal ions in aqueous solution. The…

A safe, convenient, and environmentally benign laboratory experiment for the synthesis of biodiesel from six kinds of vegetable oils has been developed for the introductory organic chemistry laboratory. The experiment uses ultrasonic irradiation in the presence of a base catalyst at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Because of safer and…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, education at all levels has temporarily shifted to remote learning, hobbling an integral component of chemistry courses: the laboratory. The chemistry lab is crucial for developing student engagement and learning with hands-on, relevant experiments in a socially dynamic classroom setting. The transition to remote…

An organic solar cell fabrication kit has been developed for demonstration in both undergraduate teaching classes and high school laboratories to promote the growing field of renewable energy and to facilitate empirical comprehension of solar technology. The laboratory focuses on fabricating organic photovoltaics (solar cells) and testing the…

Chemical reactions far from equilibrium can exhibit oscillatory behavior. Full understanding of this phenomenon is outside of the school curriculum. However, the importance of such processes in life sciences and peculiar spatial and temporal patterns accompanying the reactions can attract the attention of IB Diploma science students. They will…

An inquiry-based laboratory learning unit was designed to enhance high school students' understanding of the application of lipase as a catalyst to synthesize isoamyl and geranyl ester derivatives as well as to promote their understanding and positive perceptions of green chemistry. The learning unit consisted of three laboratories and a final…

We discuss the use of a simple piece of equipment made of a 50 mL syringe attached to a 2 mL graduated pipet to demonstrate Boyle's law and Charles's law. A plot of the hydrostatic pressure against the reciprocal of the volume of the gas read from the equipment is linear as discussed in the paper and gives the atmospheric pressure at the…

Determination of enzymatic activity is a relevant experiment in teaching chemistry and biochemistry to high school and college students. A method for measuring the kinetic parameters of lactose cleavage by the enzyme lactase is described. This enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of lactose to galactose and glucose. The kinetic parameters can be…

In this article, a low-cost, simple, and rapid fabrication of paper-based analytical devices (PADs) using a wax screen-printing method is reported here. The acid-base reaction is implemented in the simple PADs to demonstrate to students the chemistry concept of a limiting reagent. When a fixed concentration of base reacts with a gradually…

We describe a 2 h introductory laboratory procedure that prepares a novel magnetic antimicrobial activated carbon nanocomposite in which nanoscale sized magnetite and silver particles are incorporated (MACAg). The MACAg nanocomposite has achieved the synergistic properties derived from its components and demonstrated its applicability as an…

Lab-on-a-chip technology is brought into the classroom through development of a lesson series with hands-on practicals. Students can discover the principles of microfluidics with different practicals covering laminar flow, micromixing, and droplet generation, as well as trapping and counting beads. A quite affordable novel production technique…

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is one of the basic analytical procedures in chemistry and allows the demonstration of various chemical principles in an educational setting. An often-overlooked aspect of TLC is the capability to quantify isolated target compounds in an unknown sample. Here, we present a suitable route to implement quantitative…

Coffee cup calorimetry, performed with calorimeters made with styrofoam coffee cups, is a familiar experiment in the general chemistry laboratory. These calorimeters are inexpensive, easy to use, and provide good insulation for most thermodynamics experiments. This paper presents the successful substitution of paper coffee cups for styrofoam cups…