Questions tagged [teaching-lab]
For questions regarding teaching in a laboratory setting.
61 questions
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Distinguishing chemicals from unlabelled beakers [closed]
There's been a mishap at the lab! Three unlabelled beakers have been mixed up. The liquids in question are lithium carbonate, potassium hydroxide, and sodium chloride. They are all clear and look ...
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1
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Risk assessment on handling sodium, lithium, magnesium, mercury and noble gases
I want to do an activity with my students where we study some basic properties of some elements of different groups. I'm concerned about some hazards with some of these elements. I work under a simple ...
6
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2
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Substitute HS Experiment for Synthesis/Decomposition of HgO
In Elements of Chemistry by Antoine Lavoisier, he details a pair of experiments used to determine atmospheric composition:
First, he allowed mercury to simmer in a fixed volume of air over several ...
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High school chemistry/biotechnologies - Topic: "EU and USA a comparison" - seeking advices on lesson plan / assessment [closed]
I am a teacher in an Italian high school, I teach English (second language).
This question is oriented to a classroom of around 20 students (19 years old), the level of English is quite low, probably ...
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2
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Does the side of filter paper matter?
A question has bothered me for quite a long time.
I noticed some filter papers have a smooth side and a rough side. Does it matter (in theory) if I use the smooth side or the rough side for gravity ...
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Does real-world gas phase chemistry use "concentration reaction quotients" (K_c)?
As a theoretical chemist, my entire exposure to reaction quotients and equilibrium constants ($Q$ and $K$) is through thermodynamics ($\Delta G^\ominus = - RT \ln K_{eq}$ and so on).
So as I started ...
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What is happening in experiment coating a copper coin with zinc and turning it to brass?
Today in class we did the "gold penny" experiment, where we put metallic zinc and a penny in a zinc chloride $\pu{1 M}$ solution at $\pu{100 °C}$, which caused the penny to turn silver as ...
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Why isn't my sodium acetate demo working?
So I'm trying to do the sodium acetate tower demonstration that I've seen a ton of videos on. I don't have sodium acetate and I am making it from a liter of 5% distilled white vinegar and pure baking ...
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2
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Looking for terminology for when a hygroscopic chemical gets moisture in it
Scenario: A jar of zinc chloride (which is very hygroscopic) is left on a shelf in a chemistry classroom for several years. You open it and it is hard. What is the word to describe that? It was ...
2
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1
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how to improve self-constructed calorimeter (heat insulation)
Purpose:
My purpose of this project is to use some environmental friendly material to construct calorimeter instead of using styrofoam.
I tried:
I use two different size test tube as my calorimeter(as ...
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2
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409
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Why did anyone invent the concepts of acids and bases? [closed]
I am home-schooling my son in first-year Chemistry, and I am struggling to teach Acids and Bases in a rewarding way.
I am not new to Chemistry. I went to grad school in Physics and I even taught High ...
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1
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Natural Sources for S-(-)-Limonene?
I'm interested in developing an undergrad organic lab that delves deeper into distillation/extraction, optical rotation and enantiomers. Our lab currently does a steam distillation extracting R-(+)-...
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1
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Viewing and capturing real time values of Electronic balance measuring instrument on television set and computer monitor larger screens [closed]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weighing_scale
Is it possible to view and capture real time values of Electronic balance measuring instrument using wired, wireless,CCTV technology on television set or ...
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5
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What are practical examples of simultaneous measuring of quantities?
I am a maths teacher and I'm looking for practical examples of measuring quantities simultaneously, so that mathematically one needs to construct and solve a system of equations. I thought that in the ...
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can i synthesise Bis(tri-tert-butylphosphine)palladium(0) from Sodium tetrachloropalladate and tri(t-butyl)phosphine [closed]
can i synthesise Bis(tri-tert-butylphosphine)palladium(0) from Sodium tetrachloropalladate and tri(t-butyl)phosphine if so how do i isolate the product
1
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1
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What is the correct term of a chemical formula for very large molecules if not just "chemical formula"? [closed]
I know that many molecules, wihch I as a non chemist, might define as "small" if their two dimensional diagram can be sketched on an A4 page, are often formulated;
...
user61828
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Why do we begin an experiment involving solutions of different concentration from the least concentrated solution?
Is there a particular benefit to start any kind of measurement with the least concentrated solution and then work my way up to the more concentrated solution?
In one of my experiment, we measure the ...
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1
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Why does camphor sublimate?
I was doing a laboratory experiment the other day and they asked us to heat a beaker that contained camphor and to cover it with a watch glass with ice on it.
I understand the crystallization ...
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Is it possible to make polyethylene in a high school laboratory?
We learned how to make small amounts of ethene from ethanol using sulfuric acid.
Is there a way to make a visible amount of polyethylene from that using materials I could get for a school lab? We can'...
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How to effectively wash the precipitate or crystals on the filter and why?
My lab manual says that the precipitation on filter should be washed with a few small portions of the washing liquid. Why can't I just completely fill the filter funnel with the solvent instead of ...
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Limiting factor on Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction
In the thin film Belousov-Zhabotinsky reactions (popular on Youtube/in chemistry demonstrations), concentric rings of different colors propagate across a petri dish for minutes to hours as the ...
0
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1
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Are the words "apparatus" and "equipment" synonyms? [closed]
Are the terms "apparatus" and "equipment" synonyms, within a chemistry or physics laboratory? If not, what are distinguishing factors?
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Should data tables be made in pen or pencil? [closed]
For a chemistry lab, I have to make a data table. Should data tables be written in pen or pencil? What is done in the real world of Chemists and why is it done in such a way?
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Making nylon experiment - Questions
I made nylon in a lab with these procedures -
1) Collect 30mL of sebacoyl Chloride dissolved in hexane
2) collect 30mL of 1,6-hexanediamine dissolved in water .
3) Transfer the beaker containing ...
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0
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Wondering how I should have graded this question (freshman lab, about buffer capacity)
I TA the intro freshman lab course. In a lab about buffers and buffer capacity, the students were instructed to make 50 mL of a 0.1 total molar pH 6.70 buffer by dissolving solid $ KH_2PO_4 $ and $ ...
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Why bother to standardize a solution?
I have been preparing lessons for some of my students about preparing acidic and basic solutions, and I keep finding pre-made labs in which the students "standardize a basic solution" by titrating it ...
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How to remove hydrate from Fe(NO3)3 . 9H2O?
I am currently in a dilemma where I need to have pure Iron (III) nitrate, but I have Iron (III) nitrate 9 hydrate in order to do a lab experiment where I investigate voltaic cell. I am pretty sure the ...
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What will Happen if p-nitrophenol is heated with HCl and then cooled?
When working in my Lab with p-nitrophenol ,I added some concentrated HCl and heated until it was fully dissolved. Then I cooled it in ice bath and found a white salt like compound which is not ...
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How to remove sulfuric acid from sample
I have problem with my experiment. My experiment is acid hydrolysis of ethyl benzoate. The acid that I used is sulfuric acid. My problem is when I get the precipitate (impure benzoic acid) I have to ...
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What is a laboratory set-up for the synthesis of ethanol from ethene?
I am doing a chemistry investigation and one component of that requires me to synthesize ethanol from ethene. Ethene itself is gaseous at room temperature and pressure so I was wondering if someone ...
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What is the standard way of reporting/interpreting measurement uncertainty in scientific publications?
As an undergraduate student I was often told in lab classes to report every single measured or calculated quantity with its associated uncertainty in lab classes, in the form $(10.1 \pm 0.1 )~\mathrm{...
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How are solvents chosen in organic reactions?
Just reading through organic chemistry book (Modern Projects in Organic Chemistry by Mohrig, et al.), and it seems like the choice of solvent is usually arbitrary.
One of the experiments designed ...
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How does toluene favor ortho/para in terms of kinetic and thermodynamic control?
If nitration of toluene is carried out at a very low temperature, presumably the reaction would be carried out under kinetic control. During these conditions that favor kinetic products, is more ortho ...
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Are there any common and identifiable hazards to being a Chemistry Teacher? [closed]
I'm a High School Chemistry teacher. I have only been teaching for a few years and know very few other chemistry teachers. Of the ones I do, One has died of cancer, one is a cancer survivor and one is ...
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What's the difference between pipettes calibrated "TD", "TC", "Blow-out" and related terms?
I've never blown-out the last drop of any glass pipette I've ever used during my undergraduate studies. Recently I re-read some notes I had lying around in order to prepare a class I had to give to a ...
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Concentration of NaOH to dissolve glass
I am doing a physics experiment in which it is required to etch the outermost glass layer from a coverslip (regular lab apparatus). What concentration of NaOH should be dissolved in water, and how ...
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Is sulfide ion a stronger base than hydroxide ion?
I received these three responses. They are all, except the last response, incorrect to varying degrees. I am, however, unsure about how to grade these responses because the question itself, in my ...
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What's the reaction here?
I have found a gif photo on the internet and I am very curious what is happening there? What reaction is the reason for that?
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2
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Calcium chloride hexahydrate has separated in jar - is it beyond saving?
I work in a lab where I'm in charge of ordering new supplies. A graduate student brought up a $500~\mathrm{g}$ amber jar of $\ce{CaCl2.6H2O}$ and pointed out that it had separated into a clear liquid (...
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3
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Does there exist a molecule of formule XαYβ where X and Y are elements that are also found in molecule XγYδ? [closed]
I am not a chemist, but I will be explaining chemistry to some third-graders. I want to give the example of how different things can be made of the same parts, but arranged differently. My "real ...
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Is there a generic graphical language to represent chemical reactions?
I want to show a schematic representation of chemical reactions from start to finish in a way that will include more detailed preparation instructions than a plain chemical formula: volumes, ...
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Why does zinc plate copper in silver penny lab
In class, we performed a lab that involved heating a solution of zinc sulfate with zinc strips at the bottom of the beaker. A penny was placed on top of the zinc strips and soon after the penny became ...
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Lab safety - Long vs. Short Sleeves on Lab Coats
I have three lab coats, two with long sleeves, and one with short sleeves.
I saw that the concepts about lab safety vary from country to country; in some places it looks like the short-sleeve coat ...
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1
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How can an inexperienced chemist determine the chemical structure of a molecule?
I'm a fairly inexperienced, but nonetheless interested chemist, currently planning a small project for the coming summer: I want to isolate an unknown chemical from a plant and determine it's chemical ...
user16651
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Why might the O—H stretch in the IR of MY triphenylmethanol product be less intense than expected?
Why might the O—H stretch in the IR of MY triphenylmethanol product be less intense than expected when compared to the expected IR for triphenylmethanol?
I'm interpreting the IR I took of my product, ...
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1
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Possible Synthesis of MVK from 2-Butanone?
My professor wanted me to set up a lab to synthesize Methyl Vinyl Ketone (AKA Butenone) from some MEK we have lying around (2-Butanone).
Now, I know there are multiple ways to do this, but the tricky ...
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How much does the quality of glassware matter, really?
Discussing about the pros and cons of glassware from different manufacturers for chemistry experiments easily becomes a heated debate. Well, that's how it seems if you read the chemistry related blogs,...
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In which country is it allowed to practice non-clandestine amateur chemistry? [closed]
I travel a bit so am flexible where I live, and have taken a recent interest in chemistry to try to gain an understanding of physical reality. I find learning from textbooks to be good, but want to ...
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Creation and Combustion of Nitrocellulose
I am intending to demonstrate the formation and combustion of nitrocellulose with my high school students, however I am concerned about the potential products of the combustion equation. I have been ...
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How to make 0.3% ammonia water from 28-30% ammonia hydroxide
Can someone tell me how to make 0.3% ammonia water from 28-30% Ammonia hydroxide?
I am trying to make a gallon or 3.78 Liters.
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