Cool Starter --- The burning bill Using a Bunsen burner and a piece of paper money from one

of your students, scare the bejesus out of them and set it on fire without burning the money. How, you ask? Dip the bill into beaker of water so it is dripping and then put it in the Bunsen flame. It will not burn. Next say something like I think there is a problem with your money. It could be counterfeit. Lets put it through the fire test or something silly like that and then dip the money in water and then in a 1:1 water:ethanol solution. Then place the bill in the Bunsen flame and it will light on fire, burning only the ethanol and not the money itself. It dazzles the students and scares the heck out of whoever gave you the bill. This can used as a POE exercise, to show water as a heat sink, show the different properties of similar liquids etc Remember to practise though, as I had to pay out one time when I missed a water step! Brain Teasers

e.g., a sealed room has a light bulb that is activated by one of the three switches which are outside the room. How can you determine which switch turns on the light if you can only open the door to the room once to determine if the light is on? (Answer: turn on the 1st switch for a few minutes, turn it off, turn on the 2nd and check the bulb. If the bulb is off but warm, the 1st switch is the one that works; if the bulb is off but cold its the 3rd switch)

Hands-on activities

6 glasses in a row, the 3rd, 4th and 5th full of water: challenge is to arrange the glasses so that they alternate empty and full, by only moving or touching one glass (soln: pour the contents of the 4th glass into the 2nd glass)

What is it?

Leave an interesting "object" out for the students to identify (i.e., animals in formaldehyde, bones) "Zoom" pictures from Owl or Chickadee magazines (extreme close-ups of common objects)

Chemopoli

Using the 2-letter chemical symbols, attempt to create words. Symbols may be used forwards or backwards but cannot be halved {e.g., Fe Ar (Iron, Argon); P O aC H (Phosphorus, Oxygen, Calcium, Hydrogen)}

Why does a voice sound funny when you ingest helium?

Sound is the result of vibrations transmitted through air or other media. Low frequency sounds produce a low pitch (deep voice). High frequency sounds have a higher pitch (higher voice). When the medium is less dense there is a greater frequency (faster rate of vibration) and therefore a higher pitched sound. The density of a gas is directly related to the molecular weight of that gas. Helium (MW=4) has a density less than that of air (nitrogen MW=28, oxygen MW=32) so the vocal cords vibrate more quickly. A person can lower the pitch of their voice by inhaling a gas more dense than air such as Xenon (MW= 131.29). See http://educ.queensu.ca/~science website for humor links