Chemical Education Today
Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 8
A common use of helium is to fill blimps left). A gas discharge lamp filled with helium is shown through a diffraction grating (top right). The atomic emission spectrum of helium appears at the bottom right.
Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 8
Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 4
Helium-Related Videos and Images…
… from JCE Software
National Historic Chemical Landmarks: A Resource To Make Chemistry Real by Judah Ginsberg and Erica K. Jacobsen
Places and Faces Chemistry has a rich history of people who have made exciting discoveries and important contributions to society. Achievements include the development of well known items such as Tide laundry detergent and Scotch Tape as well as less familiar happenings such as the discovery of helium in natural gas. The American Chemical Society (ACS) National Historic Chemical Landmark program identifies and pays homage to this history. ACS has declared more than 60 places, discoveries, and achievements historic chemical landmarks. This is fertile ground for teachers to find examples relevant to their teaching. The Landmark program connects the story of the achievement and the faces of those involved with the place where it happened. For example, the discovery of helium in natural gas is connected with Dexter, Kansas, where in 1903 a newly-drilled well unleashed a “howling gasser”. Samples of the escaping gas were analyzed at the University of Kansas by Hamilton P. Cady and David F. McFarland. Instead of being the hoped-for rich source of natural gas, their research showed that there was helium present. Before this helium was thought to be rare on Earth but abundant in the Sun; now it was available in plentiful quantities from the Great Plains of the United States. Use in the Classroom Teachers can combine a Landmark with other resources to enrich a particular topic. For example, those who use the Chemists Celebrate Earth Day 2009 theme “Air—The Sky’s the Limit” could connect the Landmark discovery of helium described above with the Mylar balloon JCE Classroom Activity in this issue (p 224A) and helium resources from JCE Chemistry Comes Alive! Vol. 4 and 8 (1 and images above). Students could also uncover further details through online research (2, 3). Other Earth Day themed Landmarks focus on Priestley and Lavoisier and their work with oxygen. Teachers and students who live near a Landmark might take a field trip to the actual location to make the history come alive. Or, use the ACS information to take a virtual field trip. All Land-
marks, some with photos of the related places and faces, can be viewed at http://www.acs.org/landmarks (accessed Dec 2008). Action! Take Part and Nominate Somewhere near you there could be an unmarked site, artifact, or collection that is a key part of our chemical heritage. A few chemical professionals may know of it, but the public—and many science educators—are probably unaware that it exists. Designation of its importance, documentation to support its significance, literature to explain to teachers, students, neighbors, visitors, and publicity to create public awareness could bring this piece of history to life and encourage its preservation. ACS asks Local Section and Division members to identify chemical milestones in their cities or regions, document their importance to the history of chemical achievement, and nominate them for official National Historic Landmarks Program recognition. For more information, visit http://acswebcontent.acs.org/landmarks/ program/program.html (accessed Dec 2008). Literature Cited 1. Search for helium among the JCE Software resources by going to http://www.jce.divched.org/jcesoft/jcesoftsubscriber/cca/index.html. There are also resources in this Journal, to be found at http://www. jce.divched.org/Journal/Search. 2. Dexter, Kansas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter,_Kansas 3. Town of Dexter, Kansas. http://skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/Dexter/
Supporting JCE Online Material
http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/Issues/2009/Feb/abs161.html Abstract and keywords Full text (PDF) with links to cited URLs and JCE articles
Judah Ginsberg is Manager, National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036;
[email protected]. Erica K. Jacobsen is Editor, Secondary School Chemistry, Journal of Chemical Education;
[email protected].
© Division of Chemical Education • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 86 No. 2 February 2009 • Journal of Chemical Education
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