Thomas Graham discovered the law that bears his name while studying gas diffusion into air and other gases. He also found that the same relationship held with gas effusion, the movement of gases through a pinhole into a vacuum. Modern understanding of diffusion and effusion is based on kinetic-molecular theory, and it is generally accepted that…

An application for visualizing the dynamic properties of an equimolar binary mixture of isotropic reactive particles is presented. By introducing a user selectable choice for the activation energy, the application is useful to demonstrate qualitatively that the reaction rate depends on the above choice and on temperature. The application is based…

We present an interactive discovery-based approach to studying the properties of real gases using simple, yet realistic, molecular dynamics software. Use of this approach opens up a variety of opportunities for students to interact with the behaviors and underlying theories of real gases. Students can visualize gas behavior under a variety of…

The RRKM Theory of Unimolecular Reactions and Marcus Theory of Electron Transfer are here briefly discussed in a historical perspective. In the final section, after a general discussion on the educational usefulness of teaching chemistry in a historical framework, hints are given on how some characteristics of Marcus' work could be introduced in…

In this study, we investigated students' understanding of concepts related to the microscopic model of gas. We thoroughly reviewed the relevant literature and conducted think alouds with students by asking them to answer open-ended questions about the kinetic molecular theory of gases. Thereafter, we transformed the open-ended questions into…

Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, is gaining popularity in a variety of applications and has recently become routinely available. Today, 3D printing services are not only found in engineering design labs and through online companies, but also in university libraries offering student access. In addition, affordable options for…

A unique homework assignment has been designed as a review exercise to be implemented near the end of the one-year undergraduate organic chemistry sequence. Within the framework of the exercise, students derive potential mechanisms for glucose ring opening in the aqueous mutarotation process. In this endeavor, 21 general review principles are…

The hydrogenation of alkenes by heterogeneous catalysts has been studied for 80 years. The foundational mechanism was proposed by Horiuti and Polanyi in 1934 and consists of three steps: (i) alkene adsorption on the surface of the hydrogenated metal catalyst, (ii) hydrogen migration to the beta-carbon of the alkene with formation of a delta-bond…

A rigorous definition of mass in special relativity, proposed in a recent paper, is recalled and employed to obtain simple and rigorous deductions of the expressions of momentum and kinetic energy for a relativistic particle. The whole logical framework appears as the natural extension of the classical one. Only the first, second and third laws of…

Proton beams have been colliding at 7 TeV in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) since 30 March 2010, meaning that the LHC research programme is underway. Particle physicists around the world are looking forward to using the data from these collisions, as the LHC is running at an energy three and a half times higher than previously achieved at any…

In this article I support and extend the ideas presented by J. Brent Friesen in his article "Saying What You Mean; Teaching Mechanisms in Organic Chemistry" ("JCE" November, 2008). I emphasize "telling the truth" about proton transfers. The truth is that in aqueous acid most reactions are subject to "specific" acid catalysis: the only kinetically…

Two important questions concerning cosmic rays are: Why are electrons in the cosmic rays less efficiently accelerated than nuclei? How are particles accelerated to great energies in ultra-high energy cosmic rays? In order to answer these questions we construct a simple model of the acceleration of a charged particle in the cosmic ray. It is not…

A classroom exercise is described to introduce enzyme kinetics in an undergraduate biochemistry or chemistry course. The exercise is a simulation in which a student acts as an enzyme that "catalyzes" the unscrewing of a nut from a bolt. With other students assisting, the student enzyme carries out reactions with bolt-nut substrates under different…

This experiment involves an esterification synthesis to study reaction kinetics where students explore these topics utilizing the sense of smell rather than the traditional approach of using spectroscopic methods. Students study the effects of various factors including the concentration of the carboxylic acid and the amounts of the catalyst or…

The trajectories of the molecules in an ideal gas and of the ball in a soccer game are compared. The great difference between these motions and some similarities are discussed. This example could be suitable for discussing many concepts in kinetic theory in a way that can be pictured by students for getting a more intuitive understanding. It could…