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Explosives
What might be flying with you – or even with your IB exam scripts, extended essays or IA samples for moderation as they are sent round the world as cargo courtesy of DHL? On 29 October 2010 two parcels...
Sticky tape & a pencil
So you need fancy electronic data loggers or university analytical machines to do real research these days? Not so – all you need is a pencil and a roll of sellotape® (sticky tape). The Nobel Prize has...
How 'International' is IB Chemistry?
Is IB Chemistry truly international? When I worked just in the British system teaching A level Chemistry I did not realise at the time how anglocentric my view of Chemistry was. I only used British (as...
Women in Chemistry
Two thirds of people living in the UK cannot name a single female scientist either living or historical. For 18-24 year olds this figure rises to 88%. These shocking figures from a recent survey by the...
Agricultural chemistry - an option?
In the early 1970s when I first started teaching the 16-19 age range I worked at a comprehensive school in Whitby in Northern England and lived in a small fishing village called Staithes in Yorkshire....
Objective 3?
Consider the following typical IB question for HL Option C: Chemistry in industry and technology. “Discuss the properties needed for a substance to be used in liquid-crystal displays.” Discuss is an Objective3...
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Isotopes in teeth
It seems strange to me that in Topic 2.1.7 you will need to discuss the use of radioisotopes and yet the theory of radioactivity as such is not on the syllabus. The examples listed in the teacher’s notes...
Chemistry & politics
The chemical industry is big business and inevitably involves national and local politics. As teachers we are concerned not to bring our own political views into the classroom but this can mean that...
Developments in MRI
In the past year there have been two important new developments in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). 1H NMR was developed for use in body scanners by Nobel Prize winner Sir Peter Mansfield of Nottingham...
Plant food or drug?
Very sadly the BBC reported that two British students (aged 18 and 19) died on Monday 15 March 2010 after taking a substance called mephedrone. They were not doing anything against the law as at that...