A longitudinal study of students (n=250) following the Salters Advanced Chemistry course probed a range of chemical ideas including the exothermicity of bond formation and the development of thinking about covalent, ionic, and intermolecular bonds. At the start, many students demonstrated misunderstandings about these chemical ideas, but their…

Analyzes the language used to introduce forms of energy in order to determine possible inconsistencies and limitations of validity judged from the viewpoint of thermodynamics. (Author/MM)

Describes an experiment that involves the determination of the enthalpy change for a single reaction of the decomposition of aqueous hydrogen peroxide. (CCM)

Introduces a demonstration that can be used to explain elementary chemical thermodynamics of heating and boiling. (YDS)

The molecular modeling was used to reinforce more general skills such as deducing and drawing reaction mechanisms, analyzing reaction kinetics and thermodynamics and drawing reaction coordinate energy diagrams. This modeling was done through the design of mechanistic puzzles, involving reactions not familiar to the students.

Einstein, who had already developed the light-quantum theory, knew the inadequacy of Maxwell's theory in the microscopic sphere. Therefore, in writing his paper on special relativity, he had to set up the light-velocity postulate independently of the relativity postulate in order to make the electromagnetic foundation of physics compatible with…

In this paper, a didactical proposal is presented to introduce the variational methods for solving boundary value problems to engineering students. Starting from a couple of simple models arising in linear elasticity and heat diffusion, the concept of weak solution for these models is motivated and the existence, uniqueness and continuous…

A lab rotary experiment using the pH measurements of an aqueous solution to monitor the course of a solvolytic reaction was conducted. This experiment allowed the students to gain experience in taking precise pH measurement, to use nonlinear analysis techniques for analyzing kinetic data and to use the Arrhenius equation for determination of…

A laboratory experiment is presented for the upper-level undergraduate physical chemistry curriculum in which the ternary phase diagram of water, 1-propanol and n-heptane is measured using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The experiment builds upon basic concepts of NMR spectral analysis, typically taught in the undergraduate…

The kinetics experiments on the ligand-C[subscript 60] exchange reactions on (dihapto-[60]fullerene) pentacarbonyl tungsten(0), ([eta][superscript 2]-C[subscript 60])W(CO)[subscript 5], form an educational activity for the inorganic chemistry laboratory that promotes graphical thinking as well as the understanding of kinetics, mechanisms, and the…

Surveys the major areas of discovery in physics for the past two hundred years. Attempts to predict future discoveries from analyses of past trends. (CP)

Several questions (and answers) regarding the effect of environmental variables on organisms are presented. (RH)

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)

An undergraduate experiment is described which employs a relaxation method for the measurement of the thermal conductivity and specific heat of a metallic sample in a temperature range of 0-100 degrees centigrade. (Author/CP)