Stephen Said:

provide me with some websites for projects in chemistry above high school level?

We Answered:

here are the sites
http://www.chem1.com/chemed/devproj.shtml

http://www.flipkart.com/51-simple-projects-chemistry-ramanathan/8174786120-0v23faav4c

http://rapidshare-premium-access.blogspot.com/

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/product.asp?pn=BK-VANCHA&bhcd2=1244644471

Gene Said:

What is a good science project for highs school chemistry?

We Answered:

try doing the "oh so original" volcano!

Beatrice Said:

hi friends, Plz post any high school chemistry projects .ur help is most valuable for me.plz.....!!!?

We Answered:

Ice Cream in a bag FOR FUN
Materials

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup whipping cream (heavy cream)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla flavoring (vanillin)
1/2 to 3/4 cup sodium chloride (NaCl) as table salt or rock salt
2 cups ice
1-quart ZiplocTM bag
1-gallon ZiplocTM bag
themometer
measuring cups and spoons
cups and spoons for eating your treat!
Procedure


Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup whipping cream, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla to the quart ziplocTM bag. Seal the bag securely.
Put 2 cups of ice into the gallon ziplocTM bag.
Use a thermometer to measure and record the temperature of the ice in the gallon bag.
Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup salt (sodium chloride) to the bag of ice.
Place the sealed quart bag inside the gallon bag of ice and salt. Seal the gallon bag securely.
Gently rock the gallon bag from side to side. It's best to hold it by the top seal or to have gloves or a cloth between the bag and your hands because the bag will be cold enough to damage your skin.
Continue to rock the bag for 10-15 minutes or until the contents of the quart bag have solidified into ice cream.
Open the gallon bag and use the thermometer to measure and record the temperature of the ice/salt mixture.
Remove the quart bag, open it, serve the contents into cups with spoons and ENJOY!
Explanation

Ice has to absorb energy in order to melt, changing the phase of water from a solid to a liquid. When you use ice to cool the ingredients for ice cream, the energy is absorbed from the ingredients and from the outside environment (like your hands, if you are holding the baggie of ice!). When you add salt to the ice, it lowers the freezing point of the ice, so even more energy has to be absorbed from the environment in order for the ice to melt. This makes the ice colder than it was before, which is how your ice cream freezes. Ideally, you would make your ice cream using 'ice cream salt', which is just salt sold as large crystals instead of the small crystals you see in table salt. The larger crystals take more time to dissolve in the water around the ice, which allows for even cooling of the ice cream.

You could use other types of salt instead of sodium chloride, but you couldn't substitute sugar for the salt because (a) sugar doesn't dissolve well in cold water and (b) sugar doesn't dissolve into multiple particles, like an ionic material such as salt. Compounds that break into two pieces upon dissolving, like NaCl breaks into Na+ and Cl-, are better at lowering the freezing point than substances that don't separate into particles because the added particles disrupt the ability of the water to form crystalline ice. The more particles there are, the greater the disruption and the greater the impact on particle-dependent properties (colligative properties) like freezing point depresssion, boiling point elevation, and osmotic pressure. The salt causes the ice to absorb more energy from the environment (becoming colder), so although it lowers the point at which water will re-freeze into ice, you can't add salt to very cold ice and expect it to freeze your ice cream or de-ice a snowy sidewalk (water has to be present!). This is why NaCl isn't used to de-ice sidewalks in areas that are very cold.

Clinton Said:

High School Chemistry Science Fair Project?

We Answered:

These science fair sites can help:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/

http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/Resources/Gettin…

http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com…

http://www.ipl.org/div/projectguide/

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sci…

http://www.picadome.fcps.net/lab/sci_fai…

http://www.scienceproject.com/

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/i…

http://www.freesciencefairproject.com/

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/article…

Patsy Said:

Can someone find me a website with a bunch of chemistry projects for High School Level students?

We Answered:

dir.yahoo.com/Science/Chemistry/Educatio…

Kathy Said:

Does anyone have a good idea for a high school Chemistry project? "i have to answer a scientific question"

We Answered:

I see long time has passed and no one answered. Perhaps there's too much "recycling" of old ideas. Let me try to be a bit original and offer some new ideas. First, let's begin with old ones.

Most people considering chemistry projects know of a simple way to make a nice, yet somewhat unstable pH indicator based on red cabbage. Red cabbage contains pigments known as anthocyanins. These give it the red/purplish color, but also act as a pH indicator, which means it changes color when it goes from an acidic to basic conditions. There is a number of web sites covering various simple experiments on this; do visit at least the first 20 or 30 hits when looking for "red cabbage indicator" on Google. Some sites include pictures:
http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/demolab/de…

Now, for the original part. It is obvously dull to repeat the same idea. You must have noticed, if You ever drank tea, that it also changes color quite dramatically when acidic lemon juice is added. This could be interesting to investigate. For example, what natural materials could be useful sources of cheap pH indicators? The goal of Your study could be to determine the pH indicator properties of various natural products. Since these are readily available and cheap, this contribution could even prove to be useful. For many educational purposes, such as chemistry demos involving pH, expensive and toxic synthetic indicators can be avoided if You find natural alternatives.

You could collect as many natural sources as possible, and investigate their pH indicator properties. The collected natural products can include various plant leaves, flowers of various colors, dried peeled fruit skins etc. These can be dried for a day or so, and You can cook them for about 5-10 minutes in distilled water as if You were preparing tea. Put a lot of plant material in a small amount of distilled water and mix well. Crush dried material into fine powder prior to boiling, and filter the "tea" afterwards to get clear, coloured solutions. Of course, You don't drink that! It may be poisonous. But, it also could potentially make good indicators. Use various already dried teas that You can buy in stores, and collect some samples on Your own.

Optional:
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Make two types of solutions for every natural material: a solution obtained by boiling in pure distilled water, and a solution obtained by boiling in 96% ethanol. Cover the vessel, esp. while boiling ethanol (as it boils at lower temperatures than water!), but don't seal the boiling container. This is because some chemicals may not be soluble in water, but may be soluble in ethanol. Some synthetic indicators possess this property, so this is Your rationale here. The best way is to bring a solution to a gentle boil, then remove from heat and leave for about 30 min, and then filter.
Notes:
- Don't prepare the solutions until You have all the samples for boiling -- the "teas" would decompose on standing.
- Ethanol is flammable, so heat gently on an electric heater, never on an open flame.
- For the rest of the experiment, use either water-based or ethanol-based solution. The one You choose is the one with more intense color (it dissolves the colored chemical better). Also record the solubility in water and solubility in ethanol data: simply write down which solvent dissolves better (so You chose it over the other), and how much better than the other solvent.
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Prepare solutions of various pH using a strong acid (e.g. H2SO4) and a strong base (NaOH). You can start from around pH 1, up to around pH 13 in increments of 1. (You need to do this in a lab with either a pH indicator paper or a pH-meter; teacher supervision is recommended). You don't need to make super correct pH's, just record the values. Then store these solutions in tight containers to prevent air contact. Also prepare a good digital camera, a white background (paper, for example) and a good light source for photography. Don't use fluorescent light because of its limited spectrum; use either daylight or incandescent (preferably halogen) source.

Pour equal amounts of the various pH solutions into identical test tubes. If You made solutions of pH ranging from 1 to 13 in increments of 1, You'll have 13 solutions in 13 test tubes. Pour the same amount of the same natural product solution in each test tube and stir (very small amount, say 5 or 10 drops per tube). Observe colour changes and document them by photography against white background (paper). Also make photos after 2 mins, 5 mins, 10 mins, 30 mins, an hour and after a day (the test tubes left in room conditions -- record the room temperature). Repeat this procedure using identical test tubes, but with the other natural products You made and the same 1-13 pH solutions. Of course, You don't have to wait for a day to use the next product; use it immediately but in a different test tube holder.

For some extracts, prior to conducting the experiment. it may be advisable to concentrate solutions using a lab vacuum evaporator, or a desiccator. This is possible since You need a very small amount of each of the natural product solutions (on the order of 10-20 mL).

After You finish this, Your results will include information on how the various natural extracts behave as pH indicators, and also their short-time stability. If You made photos at different times, this will be suggestive of the material's short-time stability: how much the chemicals alter in their color as the time passes, and at various pH's (very basic and very acidic conditions may lead to natural molecule decomposition, which You may also observe).

Professional chemists use various indicator combinations to cover pH ranges of interest with sensitive color changes. Thus, a mixture of products which change in colour at close pH points, may be useful. For example, if a change occurs in pH 4.4 in one chemical, and the other one changes color at pH 5.2, then their mixture shall probably be able to detect both changes. You could devise some of Your own, but You don't need to go this far.

Typically, a professional scientific paper contains the following parts: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and References. It should be obvious what goes where in this case. Introduction can cover the chemical basis of colour changes and what is already known about pH indicators. Always include references. State the goal of Your study: to investigate the feasibility of using various natural products as pH indicators. Methods include the description of the materials and procedures You used and how You did the experiment. Results shall give a systematic description of Your experimental results, including the photos (use a colour printer to depict results; You can give just a small square of each test tube's picture to show color, not the entire test tube photo) and the pH ranges where the color changes occur; describe the changes and comment on short term stability. Discussion is where You explain that this is a cost effective and environmentally friendly alternative in cases where synthetic pH indicators are not needed, such as in science demos for educational purposes (high school?). Also state that educational purposes consume large volume of chemicals, so this adds to the importance of Your approach (because of environmental impact and cost).

Abstract is a short resume of what You did and the results obtained. Be careful in listing references. Also include red cabbage as a known reference, and use its solution in Your experiment along with others You find. The paper title could be something like "The pH Indicator Properties of Natural Material Extracts and Their Short Term Stability".