George Lisensky, Lauren E. Kueffer, Corbin Livingston, Laura E. Parmentier
{"title":"Intermolecular Forces and the Languages of Chemistry","authors":"George Lisensky, Lauren E. Kueffer, Corbin Livingston, Laura E. Parmentier","doi":"10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00515","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The concept of intermolecular forces is challenging because students often revert to intramolecular explanations when discussing macroscopic properties. This set of activities from our general chemistry course aimed to use the different languages of chemistry to help build a more solid, multilevel understanding of intermolecular forces. Through the symbolic language of graphing, students were first asked to explore the relationship among melting point, molecular weight, and structure. Macroscopic language was used during a lab activity where students hydrogenated common kitchen oils and saw a change from liquid to solid. In another activity, students employed atomic/molecular/particulate language in building models and thinking about the interactions between molecules. They were asked to make use of all three languages in examining the intermolecular forces relevant to the melting points of fatty acids and triglycerides.","PeriodicalId":43,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Chemical Education","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00515","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The concept of intermolecular forces is challenging because students often revert to intramolecular explanations when discussing macroscopic properties. This set of activities from our general chemistry course aimed to use the different languages of chemistry to help build a more solid, multilevel understanding of intermolecular forces. Through the symbolic language of graphing, students were first asked to explore the relationship among melting point, molecular weight, and structure. Macroscopic language was used during a lab activity where students hydrogenated common kitchen oils and saw a change from liquid to solid. In another activity, students employed atomic/molecular/particulate language in building models and thinking about the interactions between molecules. They were asked to make use of all three languages in examining the intermolecular forces relevant to the melting points of fatty acids and triglycerides.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Chemical Education is the official journal of the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society, co-published with the American Chemical Society Publications Division. Launched in 1924, the Journal of Chemical Education is the world’s premier chemical education journal. The Journal publishes peer-reviewed articles and related information as a resource to those in the field of chemical education and to those institutions that serve them. JCE typically addresses chemical content, activities, laboratory experiments, instructional methods, and pedagogies. The Journal serves as a means of communication among people across the world who are interested in the teaching and learning of chemistry. This includes instructors of chemistry from middle school through graduate school, professional staff who support these teaching activities, as well as some scientists in commerce, industry, and government.