The South Plains Section of the American Chemical Society hosted a meeting for local chemistry teachers to learn about the benefits of membership in the ACS by engaging in two activities that they can use with their students in celebration of National Chemistry Week. Local Section members (research and industrial chemists) would be invited to partner with a teacher and perform the activities. Snacks and non-alcoholic beverages were provided during an icebreaker activity. The event was made possible with a grant from the American Chemical Society (https://www.acs.org/funding/grants/local-section-mett-grant.html).
Activity #1: Make a cyanotype using ammonium iron(III) citrate and potassium hexacyanoferrate(III). The participants painted watercolor paper with the solutions, allow them to dry, place opaque objects or stencils on the paper, expose the paper to UV light. The details of the redox chemistry and history of Prussian Blue were discussed. The lab instructions: Cyanotype Lab
Activity #2: IMF observations. Participants mixed isopropyl alcohol with distilled water in a vial, added a drop of green food color and mix, added a few mL of saturated potassium carbonate solution and mixed. Participants made models of water, isopropyl alcohol, and potassium carbonate and use them to model the result. IMFs , solubility and miscibility were discussed. The lab instructions: Solubility and Miscibility Lab
