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video --  uranium: twisting the dragon's tail

3/2/2018

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Welcome back to school!  Just a reminder, this can be the longest part of the school year without a vacation – plan a fun activity for your class!
 
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 !
 
The video “Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail” is a 2015 PBS series narrated by Dr. Derrick Muller.  It is 2 parts, about 50 minutes each.  You may want to use it in shorter segments, or have it available for substitute teacher use.
 
I have included some recommendations below for shorter segments.

Part 1 is titled “The Rock that Became a Bomb” – it’s 53 minutes w/o the credits at end.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNoRLf8w87g&list=PLfcSeHXDHfaXNvecXjfHtO-RfdEjOHmow
 
0-28 minutes:  Discusses history of naming, Henri Becquerel’s 1896 experiment, Marie Curie’s work and discovery of radium, mention of Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy
Some atomic structure review, transmutation, Einstein in Bern, Switzerland
 
28-53 minutes (25 minutes): Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard à idea of the chain reaction
Fission of Uranium-235, The Manhattan Project –> use of atomic bombs, acute radiation syndrome
 
This contains some interesting history with some facts about transmutation and the development/use of the first atomic bombs in World War II.
 
May want to work with the Social Studies Department about the development and use of the first atomic bombs, asking questions such as:
Why did America drop the atomic bomb?  Why did America drop the 2nd atomic bomb?
 
Part 2 is titled “The Rock That Changed The World” and is 54 minutes without credits at the end.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duyUQVhXiw8
 
0-28 minutes
US knows how to use atomic energy, 1949 Soviets test an atomic bomb beginning of Cold War, Tom Lehrer song “We Will All Go Together When We Go” (remember that he sang The Element Song), Titan II, accident at Chernobyl, half-life
 
28 – 54 minutes (26 minutes)
nuclear medicine, low level radiation appears to not have long-term health effects, Fukushima, nuclear waste, Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant in Tennessee which can run on nuclear waste, concluding comments
 
To keep students on task, require that students record/submit 10 facts during the video.
 
Previous related blog posts include:
02/26/2014      Isotopes and empirical/molecular formulas
02/04/2015      Atomic Structure Revisited
02/11/2015      Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry
02/18/2015      Nuclear Chemistry -- Part II
                            (Fission, Fusion & Half-Life)
04/01/2015      NOVA video "Hunting the Elements" (2012)
08/06/2015      Post-Fukushima Restarts
10/22/2015      The Future of Nuclear Fusion​
10/30/2015      Current Event -- Radioactive Waste
                           from WWII
02/20/2016      Nuclear Waste and Lake Huron
03/26/2016      Nuclear Waste Storage
05/01/2016      30th Anniversary of Chernobyl  
05/29/2016      New Uses for Waste Glass
07/31/2016      Cost of Nuclear Shutdown in Germany
09/30/2016      Videos for the Chemistry Classroom
10/28/2016      Nuclear Power Plant Closure 
11/18/2016      Chernobyl New Safe Confinement
11/25/2016      Tsunami Near Fukushima
02/10/2017      High Fukushima Radiation Levels  
03/17/2017      Nuclear Waste in Batteries
05/26/2017      Radioactive Truffles?
06/02/2017      Swiss Nuclear Power Ban
07/28/2017      Current Fukushima Underwater Footage
12/22/2017       The Radium Girls
 
There are 23 topics in the Blog posts – You may wish to offer Extra Credit to students who research/summarize one of these topics or blog posts.
 
*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.

I hope you had a great vacation!


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    Marjorie R. Heesemann is a chemistry teacher with 15 years of experience who is now working to develop resources for the Chemistry classroom.

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