All things bright and beautiful

We are nearing the end of an exciting and colorful unit! We have created alloys, studied the chemistry of color, made stained glass, Prussian Blue, and an array of squishy polymers - all while learning about the complexities of chemical bonding. So much of art is chemistry.

Here's just a small sample of some of this unit's creations:

Brass pennies:

Prussian Blue Painting:

Borax stained glass beads:

Polarity Art w/ shaving cream & food coloring:

Polymers:

Next week I can't wait to see the gallery of artwork that will be coming in. The goal of this unit was to explore the connections between chemical bonds & artwork - now everyone has the opportunity to create a piece of artwork made possible by chemistry! I am amazed year after year at the creativity of my students, and am very much looking forward to seeing how they will blow me away this year!

Who doesn't love setting things on fire?

This unit we are studying atomic structure - and discovering that most people's ideas about what an atom looks like are stuck at about a 1950's understanding:

To understand modern atomic theory, we have been traveling down the rabbit-hole that is quantum mechanics. And a large part of that is understanding the behavior of light as well as the behavior of electrons. The most fun way to do that is by setting things on fire!

Flame tests show us what happens when we add extra energy to electrons. They absorb that energy, putting them in an excited state. This causes them to jump up to higher energy levels - moving further from the nucleus. This is not particularly stable, so they fall back down to their ground state (original energy level), and give off that excess energy in the form of light. Since each element has a unique arrangement of electrons, each element has a different set of energies those electrons can give off. This translates to each element giving off a unique color of light. TL:DR... PRETTY COLORS!! 

Next up - back to the nucleus to look at mass, isotopes, and radioactivity!

Liquid Crystal Presentations are almost here!

I had fun today watching the hustle & bustle of last-minute preparations for the Liquid Crystal Design Challenge. Today was the last class work day to perfect research, design, and presentation plans - so everybody be ready on Tuesday (9/2) to pitch their product!

But I had to share the most entertaining product-testing that I saw...

Creepy Doll Alert!!

The idea was actually pretty clever. They designed a liquid crystal to be used as a foot-arch-tester. But the size limitations I have on the project prevented them from building one big enough for a human foot. So instead, they brought in a doll & a heat lamp. They heated up the doll foot to simulate body temperature, then pressed the doll foot onto the liquid crystal square to show its arch. Great idea....but still....that doll talked, laughed, & sang. It. Was. Creepy.

I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with on Tuesday! 

Enjoy the 3-day weekend =)

Happy 1st Day!!

It was a great first day of class here in U305. We used today as an introduction to what science is all about - experimentation! Did you solve the mystery of the blue bottle?

Don't forget that your tasks for the week are:

• Read the syllabus
• Complete this syllabus survey
• Take this math skills pretest

And while you are at it, why don't you follow me on twitter!  =)
@RiggsChem