This week, we took part in the IUPAC Empowering Women in Chemistry Global Breakfast event. It happened during a time when I’m swamped in grading (which reproducibly happens from week 2 to week 15 of each semester). Nevertheless, I thought it would be worthwhile to record some thoughts about the event. Plus, I want to learn how to embed tweets in a blog post.
Continue readingTomorrow starts the new semester for me, and I finished my course prep (well, tomorrow’s activities anyway) so I figured I would celebrate with a little creativity. Not too long ago, I came across the activity where you can make a t-shirt iron on by drawing on sandpaper. I have sandpaper, some old t-shirts and I splurged on an 8-pack of crayons ($0.67 at Walmart) so I figured I would give it a go.
This year is all about the periodic table, so I wanted a periodic table design. One trend that I particularly like is the number of stable isotopes, which very clearly shows off my favorite element – technetium – because it is the lightest element without any stable isotopes. Technetium’s claim to fame is that it’s the first element to have been synthesized (in 1937) and therefore it is, in my opinion, the element of makers.
DON’T FORGET! Stop by the Smith Lounge (if you happen to be on the Brockport Campus) Tuesday the 12th at 8:30 AM for breakfast and networking. Bring along your friends and be sure to post to your social media sites #GlobalBreakfast #IUPAC100 #ACS.
On February 12th, 2019, we’ll be hosting a Breakfast honoring women in Chemistry. During the breakfast, we’ll have time to talk about the women who have won nobel prizes in Chemistry and – in honor of the 150th anniversary of the periodic table – the women who are credited with discovering elements.
Want to know more about what this event is and why it’s important? See this editorial by Marcy Towns in the Journal of Chemical Education. (I’m not sure if it is behind a paywall.)
Continue readingCertainly, I am not the only person who makes resolutions in the new year, only to break them in the bleak cold winter and have them pop up periodically throughout throughout spring, possibly summer, only to be completely forgotten in the fall. It is a trend that I have repeated for many years. This year will be no different, and yet it will be quite different. There will be trends, and periodicity in this year’s resolutions, but all of them will be intentional. (Ok, have I drained this ridiculous chemistry pun of what little humor it once had?)
This year, I’m making New Year’s resolutions in honor of 2019 being the International Year of the Periodic Table. I’ve been thinking about this event since it was announced early last year and have come up with a number of projects and activities that I’d like to complete. Usually, I keep my resolutions private, so that if (uhhh when) I break them, I can pretend they never existed. (If a resolution falls in the woods, and there’s no one there to hear my thoughts….) However, this year’s resolutions are more important than my fruitless desires to lose weight or kill off bad habits. I plan to better myself through chemistry (periodically). Ok, I’m done with that. Here’s my list of resolutions for 2019:
Continue readingI came across this video on the interweb; it’s an interesting overview of paper-restoration process applied to an historical periodic table from Germany. There is at least one error in the dialog; perhaps you can spot it?
There are some neat lesson-plan hooks in this video, if that’s your thing. What chemical property is the conservationist trying to adjust? What chemical(s) are used to do this? What two elements play an important role in paper restoration? Additionally, where do these elements appear on the (current) periodic table? Does that surprise you? Can you propose a chemical reaction that is happening during the restoration process?