The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report. This way the teacher has the option! Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout.
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:
“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals…this is the lab book for you.
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what i was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now. It’s a great resource!
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget
http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
“In 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie, two of the most prominent pioneers in researching radioactivity, discovered the element radium. Radium was particularly intriguing because it glowed in the dark…
Soon enough, the radium craze was on. After it was observed that radium could treat cancer, many people mistakenly thought it could also be used to treat other diseases as well. Before long, radium was widely considered a ‘miracle’ substance, sold in pharmacies for all kinds of ailments. It was also widely believed that radium could prevent aging, and companies sold radium toothpaste, radium cosmetics, and even radium water.”
https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/radium-girls
“…American inventor William J. Hammer went to Paris and obtained a sample of radium salt crystals from the Curies. Hammer discovered that by mixing the radium with glue and zinc sulfide, he could make glow-in-the-dark paint. His discovery would soon be used by the U.S. Radium Corporation to manufacture wristwatches with radium-painted dials. Advertisements for the product, which they called Undark, boasted of how it was all ‘made possible by the magic of radium!’ U.S. Radium would also receive government contracts during World War I to produce watches and airplane instruments for American soldiers.”
“The Waterbury Clock Company experienced an increased demand for watches after the First World War, and to turn a profit, they hired women at low wages to work seven days a week. The company called for women with ‘nimble fingers’ to paint the dials and numbers onto watches in assembly-line fashion.
https://connecticuthistory.org/waterburys-radium-girls/
“The women in each facility had been told the paint was harmless, and subsequently ingested deadly amounts of radium after being instructed to "point" their brushes on their lips in order to give them a fine point; some also painted their fingernails, face and teeth with the glowing substance. The women were instructed to point their brushes because using rags, or a water rinse, caused them to waste too much time and waste too much of the material made from powdered radium, gum arabic and water.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls
“In the 1920s, a young working-class woman could land a job working with the miracle substance. Radium wristwatches were manufactured right here in America, and the U.S. Radium Corp. was hiring dial people to paint the tiny numbers onto watch faces for about 5 cents a watch.
They became known as the radium girls…
In 1924, a woman named Mae Keane was hired at a factory in Waterbury, Conn. Her first day, she remembers, she didn't like the taste of the radium paint. It was gritty.
‘I wouldn't put the brush in my mouth,’ she recalled many years later.
After just a few days at the factory, the boss asked her if she'd like to quit, since she clearly didn't like the work. She gratefully agreed…
Other women weren't so lucky. By the mid-1920s, dial painters were falling ill by the dozens, afflicted with horrific diseases. The radium they had swallowed was eating their bones from the inside…
Dozens of women died. At a factory in New Jersey, the women sued the U.S. Radium Corp. for poisoning and won. Many of them ended up using the money to pay for their own funerals.
In all, by 1927, more than 50 women had died as a direct result of radium paint poisoning.”
https://www.npr.org/2014/12/28/373510029/saved-by-a-bad-taste-one-of-the-last-radium-girls-dies-at-107
“Vindication came too late for most of the radium girls. Many died young, usually in horrible pain and fear, while others lived many years with weakened bones, lost teeth, and various forms of cancer, which may or may not have been caused by their exposure to radium as teens.
After a typically protracted and ugly court battle, some of the girls were compensated, others weren’t, and life went on.”
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/radium-girls/6
There are a few books written about this series of events.
These include:
“The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women” by Kate Moore
“Radium Girls” by D.W. Gregory
“Radium Girls” by Amanda Gowin
“Radium Girls: Women and Industrial HealthReform, 1910-1935” by Claudia Clark
You may want to check your school library to see if they have any of these titles or if they can be requested from other libraries in your school system.
Some blog posts that may be useful include:
02/11/2015 Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry
02/18/2015 Nuclear Chemistry -- Part II
(Fission, Fusion & Half-Life)
10/30/2015 Current Event -- Radioactive Waste
from WWII
09/01/2017 Radon in Houses
Most of you are travelling during the Holiday Break. There will not be a blog post next week on 12/29/17. The next blog post will be next year on 01/05/18.
Many you have received gift cards, etc. for holiday gifts -- the book "Chemistry on a Budget" is available at amazon.com and lulu.com. It's a great resource for your Chemistry classroom. Buy yourself a copy!
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom. Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.
Have a great holiday and safe travels!
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report. This way the teacher has the option! Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout.
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:
“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals…this is the lab book for you.
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what i was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now. It’s a great resource!
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget
http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
“In 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie, two of the most prominent pioneers in researching radioactivity, discovered the element radium. Radium was particularly intriguing because it glowed in the dark…
Soon enough, the radium craze was on. After it was observed that radium could treat cancer, many people mistakenly thought it could also be used to treat other diseases as well. Before long, radium was widely considered a ‘miracle’ substance, sold in pharmacies for all kinds of ailments. It was also widely believed that radium could prevent aging, and companies sold radium toothpaste, radium cosmetics, and even radium water.”
https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/radium-girls
“…American inventor William J. Hammer went to Paris and obtained a sample of radium salt crystals from the Curies. Hammer discovered that by mixing the radium with glue and zinc sulfide, he could make glow-in-the-dark paint. His discovery would soon be used by the U.S. Radium Corporation to manufacture wristwatches with radium-painted dials. Advertisements for the product, which they called Undark, boasted of how it was all ‘made possible by the magic of radium!’ U.S. Radium would also receive government contracts during World War I to produce watches and airplane instruments for American soldiers.”
“The Waterbury Clock Company experienced an increased demand for watches after the First World War, and to turn a profit, they hired women at low wages to work seven days a week. The company called for women with ‘nimble fingers’ to paint the dials and numbers onto watches in assembly-line fashion.
https://connecticuthistory.org/waterburys-radium-girls/
“The women in each facility had been told the paint was harmless, and subsequently ingested deadly amounts of radium after being instructed to "point" their brushes on their lips in order to give them a fine point; some also painted their fingernails, face and teeth with the glowing substance. The women were instructed to point their brushes because using rags, or a water rinse, caused them to waste too much time and waste too much of the material made from powdered radium, gum arabic and water.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls
“In the 1920s, a young working-class woman could land a job working with the miracle substance. Radium wristwatches were manufactured right here in America, and the U.S. Radium Corp. was hiring dial people to paint the tiny numbers onto watch faces for about 5 cents a watch.
They became known as the radium girls…
In 1924, a woman named Mae Keane was hired at a factory in Waterbury, Conn. Her first day, she remembers, she didn't like the taste of the radium paint. It was gritty.
‘I wouldn't put the brush in my mouth,’ she recalled many years later.
After just a few days at the factory, the boss asked her if she'd like to quit, since she clearly didn't like the work. She gratefully agreed…
Other women weren't so lucky. By the mid-1920s, dial painters were falling ill by the dozens, afflicted with horrific diseases. The radium they had swallowed was eating their bones from the inside…
Dozens of women died. At a factory in New Jersey, the women sued the U.S. Radium Corp. for poisoning and won. Many of them ended up using the money to pay for their own funerals.
In all, by 1927, more than 50 women had died as a direct result of radium paint poisoning.”
https://www.npr.org/2014/12/28/373510029/saved-by-a-bad-taste-one-of-the-last-radium-girls-dies-at-107
“Vindication came too late for most of the radium girls. Many died young, usually in horrible pain and fear, while others lived many years with weakened bones, lost teeth, and various forms of cancer, which may or may not have been caused by their exposure to radium as teens.
After a typically protracted and ugly court battle, some of the girls were compensated, others weren’t, and life went on.”
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/radium-girls/6
There are a few books written about this series of events.
These include:
“The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women” by Kate Moore
“Radium Girls” by D.W. Gregory
“Radium Girls” by Amanda Gowin
“Radium Girls: Women and Industrial HealthReform, 1910-1935” by Claudia Clark
You may want to check your school library to see if they have any of these titles or if they can be requested from other libraries in your school system.
Some blog posts that may be useful include:
02/11/2015 Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry
02/18/2015 Nuclear Chemistry -- Part II
(Fission, Fusion & Half-Life)
10/30/2015 Current Event -- Radioactive Waste
from WWII
09/01/2017 Radon in Houses
Most of you are travelling during the Holiday Break. There will not be a blog post next week on 12/29/17. The next blog post will be next year on 01/05/18.
Many you have received gift cards, etc. for holiday gifts -- the book "Chemistry on a Budget" is available at amazon.com and lulu.com. It's a great resource for your Chemistry classroom. Buy yourself a copy!
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom. Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.
Have a great holiday and safe travels!
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