Classroom Resources: Organic Chemistry
1 – 17 of 17 Classroom Resources
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Functional Groups, Molecular Structure , Polarity | High School
Activity: Introduction to Functional Groups
In this activity, students will learn about the naming conventions for organic compounds and examine the functional groups of different molecules.
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Molecular Structure , Polymers, Interdisciplinary, Chemical Properties | High School
Activity: Ingenious: Oversexed Moths Are Ruining Apples for Everyone Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video Oversexed Moths are Ruining Apples for Everyone 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 how the larvae of codling moths wreak havoc in orchards—burrowing into fruit and eating them from the inside out. Scientists are developing synthetic, species-specific pheromones as an alternative to pesticides. Pheromones are scented chemical messages that animals release at mating time and can help to prevent male codling moths from finding females to mate with. No mating means no eggs, no larvae and no more bad apples!
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Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Polymers, Molecular Structure , Functional Groups, Polymers | High School
Activity: Ingenious: Kill More Germs by Cleaning … Less? Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, Kill More Germs by Cleaning… Less?, 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 chemistry of cleaning. Unfortunately, clean doesn’t last as long as you might think—this video examines how disinfectants work and also how long they lasts. Scientists share about the next generation of cleaning products, that keeps the germ-killing ingredients in place and effective much longer.
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Molecular Structure, Intermolecular Forces, Polarity, Molecular Structure , Combustion | High School
Activity: Ingenious: Making Shipping Greener with Hairy Ships Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, Making Shipping Greener with Hairy Ships, 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 “fouling” of boats (when aquatic animals like barnacles and tubeworms attach to hulls), and the impact it has on fuel efficiency. Since fouling is a significant contributor to the carbon footprint, this video highlights how scientists were inspired by unique aquatic plants to develop a stick-on silicone coating for ships that prevents animal hitchhikers from getting a foothold.
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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.
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Polymers, Molecular Structure, Molecular Structure , Polymers, Solubility | High School
Activity: Ingenious: How Science Is Fixing Recycling's Grossest Problem Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, How Science is Fixing Recycling’s Grossest Problem, 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 stinky problems associated with polypropylene recycling. Current polypropylene recycling techniques are more down-cycling than re-cycling, but a new technique, called dissolution recycling, is changing all that.
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Molecular Structure, Chemical Bond, Electromagnetic Spectrum, Molecular Structure | High School
Activity: Ingenious: What Birds Know About Color that You Don't Video Questions
In this activity, students will answer questions while watching the video, What Birds Know about Color that You Don’t, 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 structural color, its complexities as well as how it differs from pigments and dyes.
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Molecular Structure, Molecular Formula, Measurements, Significant Figures, Molecular Structure , Saturated vs. Unsaturated | Middle School, High School
Project: Discovering Chemical Elements in Food
In this project, students will analyze nutrition labels of some of the foods and drinks that they recently consumed. They will identify which type of macromolecule (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins) is mainly supplied by the item and they will compare their consumption with the daily recommended intake for that type of macromolecule. Students will also investigate salt and added sugar as well as vitamins and minerals in the item. Finally, students will present their findings through short, spoken messages that are recorded and presented through a QR code. These can become a source of information for the school community at large upon completion of the project.
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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.
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Density, Separating Mixtures, Polymers, Polymers | High School
Activity: Identifying Plastics with Density Data
In this activity, students will familiarize themselves with different types of plastics. Using data analysis, students will determine how to use the density values of a variety of plastic samples in order to separate a specific sample from a mixture.
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Review, Culminating Project, Molecular Structure | Middle School, High School
Activity: Online Meeting Scavenger Hunt
In this activity, students will work in teams on a virtual meeting platform to find as many objects as possible from a comprehensive scavenger hunt list within their homes during a given timeframe. The items on the list provided in this activity are related to organic chemistry topics, however the list can be easily modified for use with many chemistry topics.
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Molecular Structure , Naming Compounds, Molecular Structure | High School
Activity: Naming Alkanes
In this activity, students will learn how to name simple organic structures including alkanes, branched alkanes and haloalkanes.
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Heat of Combustion, Heat, Exothermic & Endothermic, Combustion, Polymers, Molecular Structure | High School
Activity: The Internal Combustion Engine Video Questions
In this activity, students will watch a video and answer related questions about the mechanical and chemical processed used in the internal combustion engine. Additionally they will learn about reactions and fuel types as well as the history and evolution of the combustion engine.
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Molecular Structure , Molecular Structure, Molecular Formula, Naming Compounds, Chemical Bond, Interdisciplinary, Introduction | Middle School, High School
Activity: Modeling Carbohydrates
In this activity, students will identify that organic compounds contain carbon and other elements such as hydrogen and oxygen. They will investigate the structure of different organic and inorganic compounds and model several molecules, including a carbohydrate molecule. They will use their models to help understand how larger molecules are broken down into smaller molecules.
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Pharmaceuticals, Molecular Structure | High School
Project: Organic Chemistry
In this research project, students will demonstrate their knowledge of stereochemistry and present its role in well-known pharmaceutical compounds.
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Polymers, Polymers, Molecular Structure, Physical Properties | High School
Activity: Molecular Spaghetti
In this activity, students will discover how the entanglement in cooked spaghetti depends on the length of the spaghetti strands and relate this discovery to polymeric materials.
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Molecular Formula, History, Functional Groups, Covalent Bonding, Molecular Structure | High School
Activity: Napoleon's Buttons Writing Assignment
In this activity, students read Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson’s book Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History. They discuss the book in class and complete a written assignment based on the chemistry and history highlighted in the book.