ANCQ CHEMICAL RESOURCE CENTRE

 In 1968 a book was published in which a very personal account of the discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule was presented. It was a popular book aimed at a wide range of readers. The book was entitled "The Double Helix', and was written by James D. Watson, one of the participants in the discovery of a DNA model. It was published by At...

 Introduction: The materials used to make things that we use can be grouped into three classes:​MetalsCeramicsPolymersThese are related to the classification based on the type of chemical bonding (See figure 1): metals (including alloys) involve metallic bonding: ceramics include materials with both ionic and covalent bonds forming network str...

 Introduction Some years ago as an 11th or 12th grade student puzzling over a particularly difficult physics or chemistry problem, I used to wonder whether the study of science was so important. I guess many of you ask yourselves the same question regularly. The decision I made is obvious, but I believe that the question is even more critical ...

In 1985 David W. Ball published an article in the Journal of Chemical Education on "Elemental Etymology: What's in a Name?"(1). He presented translations of the names of elements. In this present article the etymology and the reason scientist(s) coined a specific name for a newly discovered element are surveyed. The variation in naming customs thro...

 A number of recent articles in chemical education have expressed a need for less abstract and a more intuitive approach to the teaching and learning introductory thermodynamics. This article summarises these, and suggests additional strategies for making thermodynamics more user-friendly to the neophyte chemistry student. Gone are the days wh...

IntroductionThis paper is based on the lecture given to the RACI Chemical Education Division conference held in Queensland in June 1998. The theme was 'Bridging the gap' and three strands were identified -'Bridging the gap between chemistry and the community', 'Bridging the gap between secondary and tertiary 'and 'Bridging the gap to industry'. I h...

 Introduction Ira Remsen (1846-1927) has often been described as the father of chemical research in America, and it is both amusing and constructive to read about one of his early experiments(2):"While reading a textbook on chemistry, I came upon the statement 'nitric acid acts upon copper'. I was getting tired of reading such absurd stuff and...

 Part 1: The Problem of Enzymic Browning in Foods When most, but not all, fruit and plant tissue is bruised, cut, or damaged it rapidly turns brown or even black; this is seen when you eat an apple or peel a potato. This discolouration is caused by an enzyme called diphenol oxidase (DPO) and this enzyme catalysed reaction is usually highly und...

 Introduction The previous article in this series looked at the development of the atomic theory of matter. The process began with the ancient Greeks and their thoughts on matter and its composition. Experimental results obtained by many people through the succeeding centuries eventually led to the acceptance of atomic theory. A key point in i...

Galvani and animal electricity Some history​ Luigi Galvani was an Italian biologist in the 18th century. While performing experiments involving frogs, he made some interesting observations. While cutting a frog's leg, his steel scalpel touched a brass hook that was holding the leg in place. The leg twitched. Galvani was convinced the movement was c...