April, 2010: Chemistry Educator (1903 - 1960) Mabel Runde was born in 1903 in rural southwestern Wisconsin, the fourth of ten children of August and Louisa Runde, who farmed at Sinsinawa (near Galena). Her grandparents had settled in “the western wilds” during the mid-1800s. Mabel obta...

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May, 2011: A Chemistry Degree in Post-War Germany There are some lucky students whose education is paid for by their fathers. I planned to be one of them. My father had put my older sister through medical school and was ready for me. Unfortunately Herr Hitler aggravated the Russians, and they o...

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Kids, here's a way to use holiday plants for science! Many plants contain pigments that are responsive to changes in acidity. An example is the poinsettia plant, which has colored leaves called bracts (they aren't really flowers). You can extract the red pigment from bright-red colored poinsettias a...

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Kids, what is vinegar? Vinegar is a product of the fermentation of alcohol by bacteria to for the purpose of producing acetic acid. Acetic acid has a tangy taste and it is also useful for household cleaning. Vinegar can be produced slowly from fruit juice or fermented juice. It can be produced quic...

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Kids, what is molecular gastronomy? It's food science that seeks to understand the chemical and physical transformations that occur during cooking. It uses chemistry to put a modern spin on traditional foods. In this experiment, you will combine maltodextrin powder with olive oil to make a powdere...

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Report of Council Meeting in San Francisco The 248th National Meeting of the ACS was held in San Francisco, CA, from August 10 – 14, 2014. The theme of this meeting was “Chemistry and Global Stewardship.” The Chicago Section was represented by Charles Cannon (Local Section Activit...

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Click here to download The Chemical Bulletin for 2014 October

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Kids, make a colorful ice sculpture while learning about freezing point depression. All you need is ice, salt, and food coloring! You can use any type of salt. Coarse versions like rock salt or sea salt work great, as does the finer-grained table salt (all of these are sodium chloride, NaCl). You ...

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Downloadable Newsletter Click here to download The Chemical Bulletin for 2014 September

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“I seem to see things that other people do not see.” These are the words of Ms. Stephanie Kwolek, a DuPont chemist, who recently passed away on June 18, 2014 at the age of 90. Ms. Kwolek’s pioneering spirit and enthusiasm for science, and in particular, chemistry, made her a cham...

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