This paper describes and discusses the unique chemistry course opportunities beyond the advanced placement-level available at a science and technology magnet high school. Students may select entry-level courses such as honors and advanced placement chemistry; they may also take electives in organic chemistry with instrumental methods of analysis;…

This paper describes a problem-based chemistry education model in which students perform scientific research on a local environmentally relevant problem. The project is a collaboration among The University of Montana and local high schools centered around Missoula, Montana. "Air Toxics under the Big Sky" involves high school students in collecting…

Reports on project intended to establish how electrical resistance, Hall voltage, and magnetoresistance change when a thin film specimen is subjected to mechanical strain. Found resistance of semiconducting film of indium arsenide and indium antimonide decreases with tension and increases with compression. (LS)

Inquiry-driven lab exercises require students to think carefully about a question, carry out an investigation of that question, and critically analyze the results of their investigation. Here, we describe the implementation and assessment of an inquiry-based laboratory exercise in which students obtain and analyze novel data that contribute to our…

The merits of involving undergraduates in research activities have been publicized in numerous reports and have been promoted through various programs. Moreover, the value of offering research experiences specifically to first and second year students has been lauded. Undergraduate research is generally accepted to be a vehicle through which…

The two journals devoted to the publication of preliminary accounts of chemical research are not fulfilling their declared aim. The majority of their contributions appear to be short definitive papers of average interest. Less than 30 percent of the papers are followed within 2 to 3 years by a full report. (15 references) (Author/NH)

Element 43 could not be positively identified despite decades of search but the joint effort of two German researchers, led to naming of the element as masurium which was criticized by scientists from other countries. Thus several names were proposed for it like trinacrium, technetium and so on.

Carbon dioxide bubbles in a glass of champagne rise to the surface in fine threads, which are made of bubble groupings that change over time. Researchers from French and Brazilian universities have produced a new model that accounts for the patterns in strings of bubbles in champagne and other effervescent fluids. The research appears in Physical…

The isolation of oxygen by Joseph Priestley is placed in the broader context of the study of nitrogen, oxygen, and the nitrogen oxides. (GS)

Reports that energy required to promote a 4f electron to the 5d level has a profound and predictable influence on the systematics of reactions involving conversion of rare earth atoms from combined to free states. (Author/MA)

Reviewed is the current state of research in the field of nitrogen fixation in plants. Stressed are the potential gains to be realized in the area of increased food production. (SL)

Edward Frankland and Norman Lockyer researched upon a gaseous spectra in relation to the physical constitution of the sun and named it as "helium" (from Greek "helios" meaning "sun"). Since Lockyer apparently never formally proposed the name in print, it is not known why he chose to use a metallic end "ium".

Since the first DNA model was created approximately 50 years ago using molecular models, students and teachers have been building simplified DNA models from various practical materials. A 3D double-helical DNA model, made by placing beads on a wire and stringing beads through holes in plastic canvas, is described. Suggestions are given to enhance…

An electrochemical synthesis of copper(II) carboxylates has been developed and used in the general chemistry laboratory course for chemistry majors. This synthesis, using nonaqueous solutions, supplements the strategy of providing experiences in synthetic chemistry described by Yoder et al. ("J. Chem. Educ." 1995, 72, 267). (Contains 1 table.)

Author recalled simultaneously the scientific lives of Priestley, Franklin, Rumford, Davy, Faraday, and other investigators of "experimental philosophy" (what we now call chemistry), and the life of the Royal Institution, founded in 1797 to promote both research and its practical applications. (Editor/RK)