Classroom Resources: Chemistry Basics
26 – 50 of 98 Classroom Resources
-
Interdisciplinary, Functional Groups, Molecular Structure | High School
Video: Ingenious Video 8: Is the Answer to Overfishing… Algae?
Omega-3s are an essential nutrient that humans have to get from fish. But many of the world’s wild fish species are in crisis because we’ve taken too many of them from the ocean. So the answer is to farm more of our fish, right? While fish-farming relieves some pressure on the ocean’s wild species, it also contributes to that pressure, since farmed fish are fed fishmeal made from wild-caught fish. That’s because fish don’t make their own Omega-3s either. Like us, they get them from their diet. Using technology that came out of the space program, scientists have developed a way to cut out the middle-fish from the food chain and harvest Omega-3s for fishmeal directly from the source: algae.
-
Lab Safety, Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Interdisciplinary, Heat, Temperature, Polymers, Polymers | High School
Activity: Ingenious: This Sandwich Will Save Your Life in an Arc Flash Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, This Sandwich will Save your life in an Arc Flash, from the Ingenious series produced by the American Chemical Society. Each episode investigates a different topic related to how leading-edge chemistry is taking on the world’s most urgent issues to advance everyone’s quality of life and secure our shared future. This episode investigates the composite fabrics that protect lives of many people, like industrial workers, firefighters, and soldiers. When these workers encounter a fiery situation, they rely on protective clothing, designed using multiple layers of chemistry, to keep them safe.
-
Lab Safety, Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Interdisciplinary, Heat, Temperature, Polymers, Molecular Structure | High School
Video: Ingenious Video 3: This Sandwich Will Save Your Life in an Arc Flash
It’s never fun when your clothes catch on fire. And while “stop, drop, and roll” may be a good idea sometimes, in more extreme cases, you need a better plan. Every day, industrial workers, firefighters, and soldiers risk fiery situations that might seem hard to imagine. In an arc flash event, for one, temperatures can jump to metal-melting levels in milliseconds. How can anyone possibly survive that? Well, take a tip from a club sandwich, because it’s all about the layers. The composite fabrics that protect life and limb in these situations rely on some incredible, multilayered chemistry, including the ability to quickly form a protective carbonaceous crust around the wearer.
-
Interdisciplinary, Functional Groups, Molecular Structure | High School
Activity: Ingenious: Is the Answer to Overfishing… Algae? Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, Is the Answer to Overfishing… Algae? from the Ingenious series produced by the American Chemical Society. Each episode investigates a different topic related to how leading-edge chemistry is taking on the world’s most urgent issues to advance everyone’s quality of life and secure our shared future. This episode investigates Omega-3’s, the essential nutrient that humans have to get from fish. However, fish don’t make their own Omega-3’s, and like humans, must get them from an important part of their diet, algae. But with over-fishing considerations and fish-farming limitations, scientists are working to develop a new way to harvest Omega-3’s to maintain stability.
-
History, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Activity: Spellbound Episode 8 Helen Murray Free Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching a video from the Spellbound series produced by ACS. Each episode focuses on a different notable scientist, recounting how their interest in science was sparked in their childhood and how they went on to make great contributions to the scientific community. This eighth episode focuses on the childhood of Helen Murray Free, a former ACS president and pioneering woman in chemistry who developed self-testing diagnostic strips for diabetes and other diseases.
-
History, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Activity: Spellbound Episode 7 Peter Agre Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching a video from the Spellbound series produced by ACS. Each episode focuses on a different notable scientist, recounting how their interest in science was sparked in their childhood and how they went on to make great contributions to the scientific community. This seventh episode focuses on the childhood of Peter Agre, who won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and is noted for his work in the study of malaria, as well as scientific diplomacy and policy.
-
Introduction, Interdisciplinary, Experimental Design, Dimensional Analysis | High School
Project: Food Chemistry Infographic
In this project, students will research the chemical content and nutritional value of their favorite holiday foods, presenting their findings in an infographic. They will also include a recipe, which they will convert to metric units to practice dimensional analysis. As an extension to explore experimental design, they could alter one aspect of the recipe and observe how that change affects the final product.
-
Molecular Structure , Functional Groups, Experimental Design, Interdisciplinary, Chemical Change | High School
Lab: Designing Biomimetic Songbird Preen Oil from Waste Cooking Oil
In this guided-inquiry lab, students will design and test a procedure reacting waste cooking oil in a blue cheese slurry to create a substance that mimics songbird preen oil, which is both antibacterial and hydrophobic. Students will convert the fatty acids in waste oil to methyl ketones, thought to be the principal antibacterial component of preen oil, using the P. roqueforti mold found in blue cheese. Students will expand their knowledge of biomimicry, inherent properties of preen oil, and chemical synthesis by applying the principles of green chemistry. They will also assess their own process through higher-order problem solving and building on their scientific research skills.
-
Molecular Structure, Lab Safety, Identifying an Unknown, Interdisciplinary | High School
Lesson Plan: How Modern Instrumentation Revolutionized the Poison Game
In this lesson, students are introduced to the world of Forensic Chemistry using the prologue of Deborah Blum’s The Poisoner’s Handbook. Discussion revolves around why murder by poison was so prevalent during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and why it is so rare today. Students create their own Safety Data Sheet on a poison of choice, and learn about how mass spectroscopy has helped revolutionize the modern analysis of toxins.
-
Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Interdisciplinary | High School
Project: Working for NASA
In this project, students will take on the role of a NASA employee on a mission to discover what resources humans need in order to survive on another planet inside of our solar system as well as an exoplanet outside of our solar system. Students will research the materials and resources needed to sustain life on Earth and compare these to another planet and exoplanet to determine if they can possibly be habitable and sustain life.
-
History, Interdisciplinary, Chemical Change | Middle School, High School
Video: Spellbound Episode 1—A Sign on the Door: Ahmed Zewail, Ph.D.
Produced for the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, the video series Spellbound, tells the story of scientists whose childhood curiosity about everyday things helped them launch careers in the lab, win Nobel Prizes and make other achievements. Their early childhood experiences may encourage young people into careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This episode features Ahmed Zewail, Ph.D.
-
History, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Video: Spellbound Episode 2 —Finding Her Way: Kristala L. Jones Prather, Ph.D.
Produced for the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, the video series Spellbound, tells the story of scientists whose childhood curiosity about everyday things helped them launch careers in the lab, win Nobel Prizes and make other achievements. Their early childhood experiences may encourage young people into careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This episode features Kristala L. Jones Prather, Ph.D.
-
History, Chemical Change, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Video: Spellbound Episode 3—A Yellow Sweater: Bassam Shakhashiri, Ph.D.
Produced for the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, the video series Spellbound, tells the story of scientists whose childhood curiosity about everyday things helped them launch careers in the lab, win Nobel Prizes and make other achievements. Their early childhood experiences may encourage young people into careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This episode features Bassam Shakhashiri, Ph.D.
-
History, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Video: Spellbound Episode 4—When Girls Didn't "Do" Science: Mamie Moy
Produced for the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, the video series Spellbound, tells the story of scientists whose childhood curiosity about everyday things helped them launch careers in the lab, win Nobel Prizes and make other achievements. Their early childhood experiences may encourage young people into careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This episode features Mamie Moy.
-
History, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Video: Spellbound Episode 5— A Born Chemist: Isiah Warner, Ph.D.
Produced for the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, the video series Spellbound, tells the story of scientists whose childhood curiosity about everyday things helped them launch careers in the lab, win Nobel Prizes and make other achievements. Their early childhood experiences may encourage young people into careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This episode features Isiah Warner, Ph.D.
-
History, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Video: Spellbound Episode 6 —Mentors Made the Difference: Nancy Jackson, Ph.D.
Produced for the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, the video series Spellbound, tells the story of scientists whose childhood curiosity about everyday things helped them launch careers in the lab, win Nobel Prizes and make other achievements. Their early childhood experiences may encourage young people into careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This episode features Nancy Jackson, Ph.D.
-
History, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Video: Spellbound Episode 7—Heroes Made the Difference: Peter Agre, M.D.
Produced for the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, the video series Spellbound, tells the story of scientists whose childhood curiosity about everyday things helped them launch careers in the lab, win Nobel Prizes and make other achievements. Their early childhood experiences may encourage young people into careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This episode features Peter Agre, M.D.
-
History, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Video: Spellbound Episode 8—The Winds of War: Helen Free, Ph.D.
Produced for the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, the video series Spellbound, tells the story of scientists whose childhood curiosity about everyday things helped them launch careers in the lab, win Nobel Prizes and make other achievements. Their early childhood experiences may encourage young people into careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This episode features Helen Free, Ph.D.
-
Periodic Table, Interdisciplinary | High School
Project: Repurpose the Periodic Table
In this project, students will take the principles governing the organization of the periodic table and apply them to a periodic table of their own creation. Students will choose a category of objects and organize them into a “periodic table,” establishing trends across a period and within a group and creating a poster to present their table to the class.
-
History, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School
Activity: Spellbound Episode 2 Kristala L. Jones Prather Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching a video from the Spellbound series produced by ACS. Each episode focuses on a different notable scientist, recounting how their interest in science was sparked in their childhood and how they went on to make great contributions to the scientific community. This second episode focuses on the childhood of Kristala L. Jones Prather, who went on to become a chemical engineer and award-winning professor.
-
History, Interdisciplinary, Chemical Change | Middle School, High School
Activity: Spellbound Episode 1 Ahmed Zewail Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching a video from the Spellbound series produced by ACS. Each episode focuses on a different notable scientist, recounting how their interest in science was sparked in their childhood and how they went on to make great contributions to the scientific community. This first episode focuses on the childhood of Ahmed Zewail, who went on to become the 1999 Chemistry Nobel Laureate.
-
Interdisciplinary, Elements | High School
Activity: Investigating the Chemistry under Your School
In this activity, students investigate the earth chemistry under their school by examining what rocks or other materials are found there use geological maps. Students determine how the rocks are affected by surface conditions, like the weather.
-
Electromagnetic Spectrum, Interdisciplinary | Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Activity: Animation Activity: Electromagnetic Spectrum
In this activity, students will view an animation that explores the electromagnetic spectrum, with a focus on the visible spectrum. The animation addresses the relationship between color, wavelength, frequency, and energy of light waves, as well as how an object absorbs and reflects certain wavelengths of light to contribute to the color we perceive.
-
Electromagnetic Spectrum, Interdisciplinary | Middle School, High School, Elementary School
Animation: The Electromagnetic Spectrum Animation
This animation explores the electromagnetic spectrum, with a focus on the visible spectrum. It addresses the relationship between color, wavelength, frequency, and energy of light waves, as well as how an object absorbs and reflects certain wavelengths of light to contribute to the color we perceive. This animation was featured in the May 2020 issue of Chemistry Solutions. **This video has no spoken audio**
-
Percent Composition, Intermolecular Forces, Interdisciplinary, Elements | High School
Activity: Investigating how the Chemistry of Plate Tectonics Affects Volcanoes
In this activity, students will learn about the impact chemistry has on plate tectonics and volcanoes. Students will analyze graphs and charts in order to better understand these topics during this investigation.