This paper demonstrates how the transcendental number "e" may be arrived at by observing the discharge of a capacitor through a fixed resistor and then modelling the system using a simple step-wise procedure. The experimental phase makes use of the Arduino microcontroller, while simple modelling of the system is carried out by means of…

Most forensic chemistry experiments focus on the usual suspects involving criminal scenarios: illicit drug identification, gunshot residue detection, blood and fingerprint analysis, and arson investigations. However, environmental forensics involves chemical techniques that can expand the breadth of experience for forensic chemistry students. An…

To prove that oxygen is irreversibly consumed in the blue bottle reaction, a manometer or a plastic bottle was used to show a permanent reduction in the gas pressure in a reaction vessel. This demonstration may be misleading because the change in gas pressure can be attributed to a number of other factors such as temperature change and involvement…

Polymers and nanochemistry are important facets of chemistry. In this experiment, students synthesize monodispersed poly(methyl methacrylate) nanospheres from the addition or chain polymerization of a rapidly stirred aqueous mini-emulsion of methyl methacrylate. The 2,2'-azobis(2-methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride serves as a heat activated,…

What if "every breath you take, every move you make" (Sting 1983) could be harnessed to produce renewable energy? Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are state-of-the-art devices researchers are studying to do just that--convert kinetic energy into electrical energy at the source (Saurabh Rathore 2018). This type of electrical energy is…

In this laboratory experiment, the synthesis and characterization of H[subscript 5]PV[subscript 2]Mo[subscript 10]O[subscript 40]@Cu[subscript 3](BTC)[subscript 2] (denoted as NENU[subscript -9], H[subscript 3]BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid) and its application in fuel desulfurization were performed. This experiment is designed for advanced…

We present a computer-based experiment that simulates the accretion process and generates fluffy aggregates with fractal nature. The Box Counting is performed without the aid of an image processing tool by using the coordinate information of the constituents of the aggregate. A simple algorithm to create aggregate and calculate box-dimension will…

This article describes a simple setup of electrospinning using widely available resources. The Arduino board, an electronic platform that is commonly accessible was adapted for a controller. Specifically, recycled parts consisting of plastic gears and a lipstick case were incorporated for the construction of a syringe pump. A cheap DC-DC converter…

Chemistry of the environment has been a long-standing and important area of scientific research. Atmospheric chemistry is of particular interest in society due to the impact that rising levels of pollutants are having on the climate. It is well-known that combustion processes create CO and NO[subscript x], which leads to the creation of other…

Every day we deal with chemistry in various forms, but sometimes we don't see that. An example is biosensors that help us to evaluate health conditions, monitor environmental pollution and ensure food freshness. The most well known (and most widely sold) is the biosensor for blood glucose measurement, used every day by people with diabetes.…

Huygens' principle in which every point on a propagating wave acts like a point source of radiation is a foundation principle of physics. Normally, Huygens' principle is demonstrated by passing a wave, for example a water or light wave through an aperture comparable in size to the wavelength. In this paper, an experiment is described in which a…

When a new topic is introduced in the curriculum, teachers seek various ways to teach students the related concepts. For the novel topic 'materials' in the revised Dutch curriculum, I developed an experiment in which students determine Young's modulus using a guitar string. The experiment not only covers several concepts related to 'materials' it…

Experimental results are presented on the collision of a superball with two different wood blocks. The results are in reasonable agreement with a simple collision model where kinetic energy is conserved, but better agreement is obtained if a small loss of kinetic energy is assumed, as observed. The physics is slightly more complicated than the…

Newton's cradle is a well-known physics toy that is commonly used by teachers to demonstrate conservation laws in mechanics. It can also be used to investigate the physics of colliding objects, by recording motion of the balls on video film. Various experiments are described using 3-ball and 5-ball cradles, showing how different types of collision…

The vertical bounce of a plastic egg was investigated by dropping the egg on a horizontal surface and filming the result with a video camera. If the egg is dropped on one end then it bounces just like a spherical ball. If the top end of the egg is pointing forwards or backwards when it lands on the surface, or if the egg is spinning when it lands,…