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January 27 th marks the passing of David M. Cowie. Cowie was a medical researcher who was instrumental to the addition of iodine in table salt in the United States. Cowie was investigating the high incidents of goiter in the United States Great Lakes and Pacific Northwest areas. Goiter is a swelling of a thyroid gland in the neck and was recognized as a national health problem during the draft preceding World War I. Several young men were disqualified from service because of the condition. The main reason for the development of goiter is the lack of iodine in a person's diet. The amount of iodine necessary to ward off these effects was very small and finding an effective means to administer iodine to people was needed. Cowie was aware of a Swiss process of adding sodium iodide to table salt (sodium chloride) and managed to convince Michigan salt producers to include minute quantities of sodium iodide to their salt for consumption locally. This type of salt was ident...

Learning how to balance chemical equations is an essential skill for chemistry class or work in chemistry. Mastering this skill takes practice. Here are some resources that show you, in written and video tutorial form, how to balance equations, some examples of balanced equations and a printable practice sheet so you can see if you understand the concepts. Balancing Chemical Equations A chemical equation describes what happens in a chemical reaction. The equation identifies the reactants (starting materials) and products (resulting substance), the formulas of the participants, the phases of the participants (solid, liquid, gas), and the amount of each substance. Balancing a chemical equation refers to establishing the mathematical relationship between the quantity of reactants and products. The quantities are expressed as grams or moles.

Here a Lytro light field photo of chemistry glassware for you. Good glassware is important for a positive outcome in the lab. Poor glassware will break when exposed to temperature extremes or even while mixing chemicals and may not indicate accurate volume measurements. When you're buying glassware, look for borosilicate glass. This glass becomes brittle with time and use, so it's best to get new glass if you can afford it. It's also important to get the right glassware for your purpose. This image shows a few staples of the chemistry lab. Can you name them?

Colored gold alloys are seen in jewelry and gold is often added to glass to give it color (e.g., ruby glass), but this project is a little different. You'll be performing any of a number of chemical reactions to make a gold chloride solution turn purple. What You Do Mix together a dilute gold chloride solution (0.01%) and a 1% Rochelle salt (potassium sodium tartrate) solution. It's best if you use distilled water to prepare your solutions, as contaminants in tap water may affect your results. Another option is to make "Purple of Cassius". This is a purple gold made by introducing tin to a very dilute gold solution. The author of the article posted at The Alchemy Website attempted to produce this color by reacting a dilute solution of gold chloride with stannous chloride. He obtained an amber solution, but not the desired purple coloration. Gold may be reduced using formaldehyde. Add some sodium bicarbonate to a gold chloride solution to make the s...