Home laboratories

The terms laboratory work and practical work are used in the literatrrre without precise defirrition to embrace mtmerous activities in science irrstructioa According to Hodson (1990), the term practical work means tasks in which students observe or manipirlate real objects or materials for themselves (individually or in small groups) or by witnessing teacher demonstratiorrs. In an extended sense, practical work involves not orrly work in the formal chemistry laboratory or demonstratiorrs, but also ar r type of activity that involves tangible objects, and provides students the opportrrrrity to manipirlate and interact with chemicals and observe chemistry in action corrsequently, home laboratory kits and computer simulations of experiments are also included. 

It is expected that, in the future, inquiry, project-, problem- and context-based approaches will be given more emphasis. Cooperative forms of laboratory instmc-tion must surely be further and systematically explored, taking into account the research-based recormnendations. Lecture demonstrations, effectively designed and performed, will also be useful. Other nonconventional methods can be effectively employed, such as the use of home-laboratory kits to teach general chemistry through distance education (Kermepohl, 2007). 

Kennepohl, D. (2007). Using home-laboratory kits to teach general chemistry. Chemistry Educa-tion Research and Practice, 8, 337-346. 

Charles Hall was inspired by his chemistry professor at Oberlin College, who observed that whoever perfected an inexpensive way of producing aluminum would become rich and famous. After his graduation. Hall set to work in his home laboratory, trying to electrolyze various compounds of aluminum. He was aided by his sister Julia, who had studied chemistry and shared Charles interests. Julia helped to prepare chemicals and witnessed many of the electrolysis experiments. After only eight months of work. Hall had successfully produced globules of the metal. Meanwhile, Heroult was developing the identical process in France. 

Nursing alcohol lamps and charcoal fires in his tiny home laboratory during the Easter vacation of 1856, a teenager slowly teased out the constituents of a black and tarry goo. Working nights, weekends, and holidays on chemistry, he was searching for a test-tube substitute for quinine, the antimalaria drug derived from plants. The black precipitate he had made was obviously not quinine, but the youth was well trained in chemistry, so he did not throw it out. Instead, he treated it with alcohol, and a fabulously intense purple appeared. Then he tested the purple on a piece of silk. 

Until he discovered the joys of scientific experimentation in high school chemistry and physics classes, Paul was only an average student. Afterward, his grades fell even lower because he spent all his free time in his little home laboratory. Paul s mother and school principal lectured him sternly to raise... 

Perkin, W. H. J. Chem. Soc. 1868, 21, 53. William Henry Perkin (1838—1907), bom in London, England, studied under Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry. In an attempt to synthesize quinine in his home laboratory in 1856, Perkin synthesized mauve, the purple dye. He then started a factory to manufacture mauve and later other dyes including alizarin. Perkin was the first person to show that organic chemistry was not just mere intellectual curiosity but could be profitable, which catapulted the discipline into a higher level. In addition, Perkin was also an exceptionally talented pianist. 

Further reductions in exposure time and hence radiation damage in virus crystallography may accrue from the use of white beam (modified) Laue methods preliminary work on this is in progress (Bloomer and Helliwell (1985), unpublished at the SRS and Rossmann et al. at Cornell unpublished (1986)). Data collection on some virus crystals is virtually impossible in the home laboratory. 

Figure 7.3 Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is manufactured in illicit home laboratories. The chemicals above were confiscated from a GHB lab in Germany.

In your home laboratory, three considerations are of the greatest importance SAFETY, NEATNESS, and EXACTNESS. 

Simplified analytical procedures for determination of gas-phase organic acids would be very beneficial. Currently, the acids are collected by using impregnated filters, denuder tubes, or water absorption techniques and then an ion chromatographic analysis. Normally, the collection and analysis steps are decoupled in time (i.e, samples collected at a field site are returned to a home laboratory for IC analysis). Once again, blank samples must be utilized to compensate for contamination during transport and storage prior to analysis. 

PCP (PHENCYCLIDINE) Also known as angel dust, a powerful and toxic synthetic chemical developed in home laboratories. 

The purity and strength of GHB are difficult to determine because the drug can be made from a number of chemical formulas that produce different amounts of GHB when the user s body metabolizes it. The fact that the drug is typically made in home laboratories increases its unpredictability, according to the DEA. A teaspoon of the drug may contain between 0.5 g and 5 g of GHB. 

Metamfetamine has been abused for more than 80 years. It is easily synthesized in home laboratories and has a low street price, more prolonged effects, and a high potential for abuse/dependency. It is therefore not surprising that there has been a worldwide surge in its use in recent years. It is often sold as crank , speed , shabu , meth , chalk , crystal , glass , or ice. ... 

Because all three of these dyes were derived from natural sources, they were difficult to obtain, making them expensive and available only to the privileged. This all changed when William Henry Perkin, an 18-year-old student with a makeshift home laboratory, serendipitously pre-... 

Sulphuric acid is used in making many other acids. As an example, nitric acid— tremendously important in manufacturing explosives and cellulose films—may be made in your home laboratory, but use a glass retort as nitric acid reacts on cork and rubber. Through a paper funnel, drop 25 grams of sodium nitrate into the retort. Carefully pour 20 cc. of concentrated sul-... 

Sulphuric acid con be mode in your home laboratory with odds and ends like the apparatus shown in diaoram obove. Commercial manufocture... 

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