A new detection method is applied to a classic experiment in which gaseous atmospheric oxygen in a test tube is reacted with the iron in steel wool to produce rust. A gas pressure sensor interfaced to a calculator-based data collection system was used to measure the percent of oxygen in the air as the reaction proceeded. The results from the calculator-based experiment were compared to the results from a more traditional water-measurement experiment. The average percent of oxygen obtained using the calculator system was 19.4 ± 0.4%.
Supplement
Instructions for the students and notes for the instructor are available.
Our Secondary School editors work hard to distill all the JCE materials to produce a fraction of particular interest to high school teachers. We call it CLIC.
In recent years we have worked hard to better match our advertisers with our readers. When shopping for chemistry education materials, visit our advertisers' WWW sites first.
Take JCE along on your outreach missions. Copies of the Journal, guest access to JCE Online, our publications catalog, and more are available for your participants.