Chemical Education Today
Especially for High School Teachers by Diana S. Mason
The World According to Nanotechnology Nanotechnology basically attempts to “build” things with atoms. Wouldn’t we call these molecules? Yes, but these manuSecondary School Featured Articles factured molecules have very specific functions and we’re de䊕 JCE Classroom Activity: #72. Nanopatterning with signing them to fit our needs. (On p 693 there is a listing of Lithography, by Christy L. Haynes, Adam D. the articles found in this issue on nanotechnology.) Keeping McFarland, Richard P. Van Duyne, and Hilary A. up with this emerging Godwin, p 768A. technology is exciting and 䊕 Analysis of OxiClean: An Interesting Comparison of intimidating. We hear a lot Percarbonate Stain Removers, by Jeffrey D. Bracken about nanotechnology in and David Tietz, p 762. the popular press, but do you really know what it is all about, and do you know how you can intro- An atomic force micrograph of silver Are Diodes” (5). Our students are likely to have heard duce your students to the nanoparticles fabricated using nanosphere of nanocomputers, nanogears, nanorobots, and nanosurgery. Are we ready to help them understand? “nanoworld”? It’s all about lithography (p 768B). “seeing” atoms and knowing how they are arranged. As a reference, think about the naSummer Is Almost Here nometer (a billionth of a meter) scale. Have you ever heard of And, it is time for spring cleaning…with OxiClean! nanoparticles (pp 769, 771, 775), nanocontainers (p 666), Using household chemicals to do chemistry can serve to ennanotubes (pp 669, 745), nanowires (p 765), or nanoville (p gage your students with products that they are accustomed 746)? The Journal can provide some insight. ICE, the Instito seeing. Bracken and Tietz (p 762) present a very interesttute for Chemical Education, has an activity kit available that ing analysis for learning about decomposition reactions, molar targets several experiments in “Exploring the Nanoworld”. mass, stoichiometry, and empirical formulae. Check it out! For more information, see the ad on page 669 of this issue Communicating to the public is a goal that Kroto recomor visit the Web site at http://ice.chem.wisc.edu (accessed Mar mends we work overtime to achieve (p 755), and that Payne 2005). Another resource is the JCE Featured Molecules that et al. attempt to accomplish through a University–Museum will provide you with interesting insights to more than 100 Partnership (p 743). The University of Wisconsin–Madison molecules that you can integrate easily into your own lecinterns (graduate and undergraduate students) team activities tures. The collection may be found at http://jce.divched.org/ of IPSE (Internships in Public Science Education) by can be JCEWWW/Features/MonthlyMolecules/index.html (accessed found on pp 743–750, and will give you excellent ideas to Mar 2005). It is all quite fascinating in that we are experishare with your local museums for various outreach programs. encing the birth of this new world, but where did it all start? Hipps (p 694) also reminds us that summer is a great time to For the groundwork history, you might want to read the impact the wider chemistry community. interview with Sir Harold Kroto (p 751). Kroto’s research proDon’t forget that ChemEd 2005 is just around the corgram in the 1980s with Richard Smalley and Robert Curl of ner. Hope to see you in Vancouver, Canada, July 31–August Rice University led to the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 4. For further details see http://nobel.scas.bcit.ca/chemed2005/ their discovery of buckminister fullerenes (bucky balls). Was (accessed Mar 2005). the prize really for the discovery of this allotrope of carbon or something bigger? Sometimes it’s not just the discovery, but what the discovery leads to that earns one a Nobel Prize. This Literature Cited discovery has influenced so many avenues of research and given rise so many opportunities to advance science and the world 1. McFarland, A. D.; Haynes, C. L.; Mirkin, C. A.; Van Duyne, that the Nobel committee deemed the advent of bucky balls R. P.; Godwin, H. A. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 544A–544B. worthy of this ultimate acknowledgment. How do we bring 2. Margel, H.; Eylon, B-S.; Scherz, Z. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, this knowledge into the classroom? On pages 768A–B, see the 558. JCE Classroom Activity on “Nanopatterning with Lithography.” 3. Campbell, D. J.; Freidinger, E. R.; Hastings, J. M.; Querns, Other references that might be of value for you to include are M. K. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 201–202. “Color My Nanoworld” (1), “We Actually Saw Atoms with Our 4. Chanteau, S. H.; Ruths, T.; Tour, J. M. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, Own Eyes” (2), “Spontaneous Assembly of Soda Straws” (3), 80, 395–400. “Arts and Sciences Reunite in Nanoput: Communicating Syn5. Lisensky, G. C.; Condren, S. M.; Widstrand, C. G.; Breitzer, thesis and the Nanoscale to the Layperson” (4), and “LEDs J.; Ellis, A. B. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 1664A–1664B.
www.JCE.DivCHED.org
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Vol. 82 No. 5 May 2005
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Journal of Chemical Education
665
