Has The Swine Flu Affected Your School? | Glo Germ Lotion

November 16, 2009

Tami O'Connor, Educational Innovationsby: Tami O’Connor

Is swine flu spreading like wildfire in your community? In my hometown of Redding, Connecticut, the high school’s homecoming dance and the Halloween parties at the elementary school were both canceled. The middle school social was also postponed until flu season is officially behind us.

What better time than now to teach your students about the benefits of proper hand washing techniques and how diseases are actually transmitted from one person to another? Educational Innovations carries a full line of products designed to help you educate your students about germ transmission and how best to reduce the spread of harmful microbes. Let Educational Innovations help you to keep your students more mindful of easy things they can do to stay healthy.

Glo GermGlo Germ is a fantastic product which safely and graphically demonstrates to students and adults alike how germs are spread.

Used throughout the United States in schools, hospitals and food services, Glo Germ consists of an odorless lotion or powder which glows brightly when exposed to ultraviolet light. This product is perfect for your health curriculum. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Biology, Elementary level, Middle School level | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

Chemistry of Ultraviolet Detecting Beads with Video

November 13, 2009

Ron Perkins, Educational Innovationsby: Ron Perkins

Ultraviolet detecting beads contain pigments that change color when exposed to ultraviolet light from the sun or certain other UV sources. The electromagnetic radiation needed to affect change is between 360 and 300 nm in wavelength. This includes the high-energy part of UV Type A (400-320 nm) and the low energy part of UV Type B (320-280 nm). Long wave fluorescent type black lights work well; incandescent black lights and UV-C lamps will not change the color of the beads.

The dye molecules consist of two large, planar, conjugated systems that are orthogonal to one another. No resonance occurs between two orthogonal parts of a molecule. Imagine two planes at right angles to one another, connected by a carbon atom. When high energy UV light excites the central carbon atom, the two smaller planar conjugated parts form one large conjugated planar molecule. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments | Chemistry, energy, High School level | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

Ammonite, The Fibonacci Fossil!

November 12, 2009

Sarah Brandtby: Sara Brandt

Ammonite was once thought to be the petrified remains of snakes! Modern science, however, tells us that these fascinating fossils are actually the remains of an ancient aquatic mollusk.  A mollusk is an invertebrate with a soft, unsegmented body.  The soft body of an ammonite was protected by a hard outer shell. The shells of ammonites ranged from an inch to nine feet! Each shell is divided into many different chambers. The walls of each chamber are called septa. The septa were penetrated by the ammonite’s siphuncle, a tube-like structure that allowed the ammonite to control the air pressure inside its shell. Ammonites were aquatic creatures, and being able to control the air pressure inside their shells meant being able to control their buoyancy.

What is the Fibonacci sequence?

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2 Comments | Biology, College level, Earth Science, Elementary level, experiments, High School level, Middle School level | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

Goldenrod Paper

October 1, 2009

Ron Perkins, Educational Innovationsby: Ron Perkins

Color changing goldenrod paper has been exciting students of all ages for decades to the wonders of chemistry! Imagine the enthusiasm of the first student or teacher who spilled a few drops of ammonia on a piece of yellow paper and observed it turn bright red! One can only image them exclaiming: “Super, Wow, Neat!!!”

Place the paper in a solution of household baking soda and the paper turns red; immerse it in vinegar and the red turns back to yellow! This goldenrod paper is colored with a dye that is an acid/base indicator: red in base and yellow in acid. The paper is similar to litmus paper that is blue in base and red in acid. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments | Chemistry, College level, Elementary level, experiments, High School level, Middle School level | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

Heat-Sensitive Paper

September 11, 2009

Ron Perkins, Educational Innovationsby: Ron Perkins

A short time ago I received the following inquiry regarding our Heat-Sensitive Paper. One of the joys of being the president of Educational Innovations is having the opportunity to answer questions like this.

Q: What chemical coats your Heat-Sensitive Paper that makes it change color? My chemistry class wants to know the chemistry of what is happening on our heat-sensitive periodic tables. Can you pleaseHeat Sensitive Periodic Tables help us?

A: Some of the characteristics of our heat-sensitive periodic tables are easy to understand and some more challenging. The inks used provide color at lower temperatures and are colorless at higher temperatures. The change over temperature is called the “critical temperature.” Adding heat to the paper causes the paper to loose its color, an “endothermic” reaction. The reverse, going from colorless to colored, is an “exothermic” reaction and returns the heat.

To manufacture this paper, long rolls of white paper are unwound, coated on one side, dried, cut, and finally stacked into reams. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments | Chemistry, College level, Elementary level, High School level, Middle School level | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor

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