Innovative Uses of Vernier Technology

In addition to our large variety of experiments offered in our curriculum, teachers use their creativity to bring excitement to the classroom. Find out how our sensors have made the ordinary into the extraordinary!

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Showing 25 results in Chemistry, most recent entries shown first.

Title	Excerpt	Products Used
Worm Bin Composting	Our newest environmental project at Vernier is composting with a worm bin. Our worm bin is a large, locally made, unfinished cedar chest with about 60 cubic feet of capacity. The bin is located in a shady spot on the side of our building, and contains a colony of red wiggler worms. We collect food scraps and coffee grounds, along with coffee filters, in a compost pail in our kitchen. Volunteers, called the "worm wranglers," empty the pail into the worm bin several times a day. We also add pape... [more] Science Subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Environmental	CO₂ Gas Sensor Stainless Steel Temperature Probe Vernier LabQuest Logger Pro 3
Thionin Reaction	pH variation in Thionin: The Two-Faced Solution Integrated-Science students Erin Smyers and Nicole Loughner from Homer-Center High School in Homer City, PA, worked with their science team leader, Mark Shopland, to investigate the pH changes in an oxidation-reduction reaction. The students chose to work with Thionin based on the demonstration "Thionin � The Two-Faced Solution" published by Flinn Scientific Inc. (Publication No. 0815.00). According to the Flinn Chem-Fax, Thionin is an organic ... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	pH Sensor Go!Link Logger Pro 3
In The Best Light	Study sheds light on merchandise appeal using spectroscopy Have you ever noticed that the bananas you bought look different in the store than they do when you get them home? This is because not all lights used in grocery display cases are the same. The main reason for having different lighting is to improve shelf life of perishable products. Nevertheless, you can be sure some research has gone into determining the best light to entice you to make a purchase. Spectrum in grocery depa... [more] Science Subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Physics	Vernier Spectrometer Vernier LabQuest Logger Pro 3
Investigating Periodic Trends	Using Vernier technology to help teach the structure of the Periodic Table may seem strange to some, but not to Jacklyn Bonneau, teacher at the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science. For years, Jackie has been having her students graph the physical properties of the elements versus atomic number to look for patterns related to period and group. Jackie modified her activity to use LabQuest. In this activity, students investigate an assigned physical property using the LabQuest Period... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Vernier LabQuest Logger Pro 3
High CO₂ Levels Putting You to Sleep?	Roland Stout, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, challenged his environmental chemistry class to find an interesting and environmentally significant carbon dioxide source or sink and to verify their findings using a CO2 sensor. Roland asked his students to follow the scientific method and design a sampling protocol appropriate for their measurement. The only help he gave them was to explain how to use the probe, and he helped them to program the L... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry, Environmental	CO₂ Gas Sensor LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
Drop Counter as Fraction Collector	Although the Drop Counter was developed to record drops during titration, attaching the Luer-lock stopcock to the outlet of a chromatography column adapts it for use as an inexpensive fraction collector for column chromatography. Although column chromatography is an essential part of the undergraduate biochemistry laboratory curriculum, most undergraduate programs cannot afford to purchase a class set of fraction collectors, and many protocols call for the students to collect each fracti... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Vernier Drop Counter LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
Creative Classroom Solutions	Peter O'Connor, a teacher from Boonsboro High School in Maryland, described a situation facing many teachers�lots of students and only a few computers. "Having used Logger Pro for many years dating back to the ULI days, my school has been happy using it in our labs. However, as class size increased, we have had issues with maintaining a small lab group size for each lab. This is a large issue when it comes to doing Vernier labs with computers. We only have 8 computers ... [more] Science Subjects: AP/IB, Chemistry	pH Sensor LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
Spectrophotometric Analysis of the Metals in a U.S. Five-Cent Coin	A number of methods have been developed to determine the composition of a binary mixture spectrophotometrically. Most of these are directed at mixtures where one component can be isolated from the other or they require a Beer's law experiment to measure the molar absorptivity of each of the substances in the mixture. Vernier consultant, Walter Rohr, came across an article published in the February 1989 Journal of Chem Ed that described a method of resolving mixtures with overlapping spect... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Vernier Spectrometer Logger Pro 3
Heat Conduction	Bernard Zalewski from Marianist Province USA sent us some information on how he uses our Go!Temp to do experiments on thermal conductivity. He uses several different metals. Here are some of his results. ... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry, Physics	Go!Temp Logger Pro 3
Investigating an Acid Mixture	An interesting and challenging problem for AP Chemistry students is the investigation of a mixture. We have a great chemistry experiment available in which the student analyzes a mixture of hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid. This lab presents the student with the task of conducting a seemingly routine acid-base titration. However, the student must analyze the titration data to determine how much HCl and how much H3PO4 were mixed. As an added bonus, the student will determine the Ka2... [more] Science Subjects: AP/IB, Chemistry	Logger Pro 3
An Oscillating Reaction	Each year, Joan Pease, AP Chemistry teacher at Hall High School, West Hartford, CT, has her students participate in a Chemistry Fair. She has her students design a unique experiment testing a topic that was studied during the year. Last year, two of her students, Douglas Dell'Accio and David Leer, designed a project that investigated the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Oscillating Reaction. Their novel approach was to use a Vernier Conductivity Probe to investigate the reaction. The variation o... [more] Science Subjects: AP/IB, Chemistry	Conductivity Probe LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
Testing Heat Packs	Investigating single-use heat packs A popular, inexpensive, product sold in northern climes is a single-use packet that warms up upon "activation" and stays warm for a few hours. They come in different sizes, most are small enough to fit in an adult palm, and they're advertised as "hand warmers," "feet warmers," or generically as heat packs. The label of these heat packs tells the user to simply open the outer package before use, ... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	O₂ Gas Sensor LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
Mercury Fingerprint	Spectrum from a "green" fluorescent lamp Did you know that even if a fluorescent lamp is labeled "green" it may still contain some mercury? We used a Vernier Spectrometer to study the emission spectrum of a modern fluorescent tube. It had a very strong peak at 546 nm, one of the characteristic emission wavelengths of mercury. Dispose of your old lamps properly, even if they are marked as "green." You can also use a cool new Logger... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry, Physics	Vernier Spectrometer Logger Pro 3
Determination of Chlorophyll in Olive Oil	Chlorophyll absorbance We bought some fresh spinach to add to our salad for a healthy lunch, and saved a few of the leaves. We then chopped up the spinach leaves and soaked them in ethanol for an hour, to extract chlorophyll. By filtering the liquid and diluting it with distilled water, we had our chlorophyll sample. We ran two tests. The first test was similar to the food dye/mouthwash investigation; we measured adsorbance as a function of wavelength. T... [more] Science Subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental	Logger Pro 3 Vernier Spectrometer
Spectral Analysis of Food Dyes Revisited	The new Vernier Spectrometer allows students to do a wide variety of new lab investigations. To highlight some of its many capabilities, we walked down to the nearest grocery store and picked up a few products to test. We analyzed the visible light absorbance spectrum of various food colorings to see if we could identify the FD&C dyes used in a popular brand of mouthwash. By comparing the "fingerprint" of the food colorings with the absorbance spectrum of mouthwash, it was easy to deter... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Vernier Spectrometer Logger Pro 3
Making the Invisible Visible	Reprinted with permission from the author Roger Delpech and the publication School Science Review. School Science Review (the ASE�s journal for science education 11 - 19), ASE, March 2006, 87 (320) Abstract This paper introduces the use of a gaseous CO2 sensor and data logging equipment, for a variety of purposes in the school laboratory, including measurements of respiratory and photosynthetic rates of animals, plants and microbes. Suggestions are made for taking... [more] Science Subjects: Biology, Earth Science, Chemistry, Life Science	CO₂ Gas Sensor LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
Determining the Mass of a Copper Atom	In order to determine the mass of a copper atom, students in William Green's AP Chemistry class at E.O. Smith High School, Storrs, CT, follow a procedure similar to the lab "Determining Avagadro's Number" found in Advanced Chemistry with Vernier. His students use an electrolytic cell having copper wire for both the anode and the cathode. During data collection, the current passing through the cell is measured using a Vernier Current Probe. Using the average current, t... [more] Science Subjects: AP/IB, Chemistry	Current Probe LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
Spectral Analysis of Food Dyes	Creating the absorption spectrum of an aqueous sample is easy and fast with the Vernier Spectrometer. The graph below represents the spectral analysis of the four common food dyes. (The color of the line represents the color of the dye.) Students are often surprised to see that yellow dye peaks in the blue wavelengths and red dye peaks in green wavelengths. This activity is a great way to introduce spectral analysis, as it helps students understand the relationship between the ... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Vernier Spectrometer Logger Pro 3
The Chemistry of Bathtub Tints	A cute bath product made by Crayola�, called Bathtub Tints, offered us an interesting opportunity to conduct a few simple chemistry activities. The ads that we have seen for this product describe it as effervescent water color tablets. The first three ingredients listed on the label of a container of Bathtub Tints are sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, and citric acid. It may not be bath time, but it�s time to do some investigations with these little bundles of fun. (NOTE: ... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Colorimeter Conductivity Probe pH Sensor LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
The Volume of a Person	Eric Koser and his 9th grade physical science students at Mankato West High School in Mankato, Minnesota, had spent a lot of lab time doing experiments studying mass, volume, and density with overflow cans. When the discussion of the density of a person came up, Eric took on the challenge to measure it. Fortunately, one of Eric�s colleagues is married to a welder, and she had her husband build a human-sized overflow can out of a 55 gallon drum. Eric placed four Vernier Force P... [more] Science Subjects: General Science, Life Science, Physical Science, Physics, Chemistry	Force Plate LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
Experimenting with a Thermocouple	Thermocouples are one of the most common types of temperature sensors. They are inexpensive, rugged, and quite versatile, as they can measure a wide range of temperatures from very low (-250�C) to very high (1700�C) values. Since they can be made from very fine wire, they also allow for very fast response times. In 1821 a German physicist, Thomas Johann Seebeck, accidentally discovered that the junction between two dissimilar metals generates a voltage that is a function of the ... [more] Science Subjects: Physics, Chemistry	LabPro Interface Thermocouple Logger Pro 3
Molar Mass of Metals	Here is a nice lab idea by James Gordon, Amber Boyce, and Thoren Maule (Central Methodist University, Fayette, MO) that was published in The Chemical Educator (2004, 9, 1-2). Their experiment uses our Gas Pressure Sensor to collect data using the DataMate program and a TI calculator, but it can be easily adapted for Logger Pro, EasyData, or Data Pro software. In the described experiment, small samples of manganese (0.0500 g) and zinc (0.0600 g) were reacted with 10 mL of 6.0 M HCl in ... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Gas Pressure Sensor
Vernier at Antarctica	Vernier sensors have been used for exciting data-collection activities in some interesting locations over the years. We can now count Antarctica among these. From January 5 to February 7, 2001, chemistry teacher Kevin LaVigne from Hanover HS, NH, participated in a program called �Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic.� Kevin joined a research team under the direction of Drs. Ross Virginia (Dartmouth College) and Diana Wall (Colorado State University) that is studying life i... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry, Earth Science, Environmental	pH Sensor LabPro Interface
Four-Color Oscillating Reaction	Not only does this exciting reaction change from green to blue to purple to red, in less than a minute, but then it repeats the four color sequence continuously for over an hour! This very famous reaction is known as the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction, or simply the B-Z reaction. We thought it might be interesting to see if our sensors could be used to detect the repeating behavior of the chemical reaction. Some of the most interesting results came by using a Stainless Steel Temperatur... [more] Science Subjects: AP/IB, Biology, Chemistry	Colorimeter ORP Sensor pH Sensor Stainless Steel Temperature Probe LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3
Insulative Quality of Tumblers	Parker Moreland, Danbury, CT, has come up with many clever uses of our products over the years. This time, he performed a simple experiment using Logger Pro, LabPro, and four temperature probes. It is a study of how well various insulated tumblers keep a liquid warm. The best was an expensive, vacuum tumbler, followed by an inexpensive, polystyrene double-walled tumbler, then a polypropylene double-walled mug, and finally a thin, glass tumbler. Eight ounces of hot water was poured into each t... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry, Earth Science, Integrated, Middle School Science, Physics, Physical Science	Stainless Steel Temperature Probe LabPro Interface Logger Pro 3