Monthly Archives: November 2012
ChemMatters: Demystifying Everyday Chemistry for high school students
ChemMatters is a magazine for high school students and high school teachers published by the Education Division of the American Chemical Society.
The magazine, which appears four times a year, contains articles that feature real-world applications of chemistry concepts introduced in the classroom. Latest issues cover themes such as the application of nanotechnology, great discoveries in chemistry, and the science behind weather folklore.
The site provides a Teacher’s guide, videos, material for the classroom and more.
Check out the ChemMatters web site for the latest issue!
View the lastest Episode on ChemMatters: “Episode 10: Graphene: The Next Wonder Material?” on carbon allotropes and the applications of graphene.
Happy Halloween! (with a fullerene twist)
(Image by Fabiola Barrios Landeros, carved by Ivan Tubert Brohman)
The 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been won by Harold W. Kroto, Robert F. Curl and Richard E. Smalley for their discovery in 1985 of a new form of carbon, in which the atoms are arranged in hollow spheres like this pumpkin! The new form was named Buckminsterfullerene, after the architect Buckminster Fuller who designed geodesic domes in the 1960’s.
A fullerene is any molecule composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid or tube. Spherical fullerenes are also called buckyballs, and they resemble the balls used in soccer. Cylindrical ones are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes.
- Structure of a fullerene. (Source: Wikipedia)
- Carbon nanotube. Click on the image for an animation. (Image by Evi Gkeka)
Life is Chemistry 