About Ron

Ron is a professor of chemistry at Middle Georgia College and is currently the head of the Chemistry Department. He earned his Bachelor of Science from St. John's University, his Master of Science and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Post Doctorate at Duke University. Among his many other scientific activities, he has written a weekly science column for children appearing in The Macon Telegraph, a newspaper with a circulation of 100,000.

Articles

Goal

This feature presents a collection of descriptive applications and analogies designed to help students understand some of the difficult concepts frequently encountered in chemistry.

Mission Statement

What do I mean by "Applications"?

"Applications", as used in this column, refers to unusual, interesting, everyday-life chemical applications of chemistry. Examples of applying chemical principles to obtain new and unusual insights would be deducing the temperature of hell and determining the proper way to open a beer can. Examples of other interesting applications include:

How can you burn thousands of calories by drinking water?
How do people walk on fire?
How is it possible to boil water incorrectly?
Why does oatmeal stick to your ribs?
How did Coke beat Pepsi in the cola space war?
Why do humans kiss?
Why do humans have underarm hair?
Why does smoke go to the ground if rain is due?
How do you tell a person's age from his/her eyes?
Why is electricity free in the winter?
Why do Iowa algae bury themselves before Cape Cod high tides?
How can sand restore eyesight and hearing and predict earthquakes?
How can you cure medical problems with 100% pure water?
Why do teeth, underwear, ice cream, and car batteries explode?
Why are commercial thirst quenchers ineffective?

Articles Published

The following contains articles from Ron DeLorenzo's column that may of interest to high school teachers.

Musk Oxen and Micelles by John W. Hill; p847 (Sep 1996).

Quantum Analogies on Campus by Ngai Ling Ma; p1016 (Nov 1996).

The Photochemistry of Sunscreens by Doris R. Kimbrough; p51 (Jan 1997).

An Analogy To Assist Understanding of Splitting Patterns in NMR Spectra by Dianne A. Thoben and Thomas H. Lowry; p68 (Jan 1997).

The Traveling Electron by Richard Pendarvis; p396 (Apr 1997).

Heat Flow vs. Cash Flow: A Banking Analogy by Charles M. Wynn, Sr.; p397 (Apr 1997).

Why is Bismuth Subchloride Soluble in Acid? by Damon Diemente; p398 (Apr 1997).

The Painting-Sponging Analogy for Chemical Equilibrium by Adoni Gamitz; p544 (May 1997).

Hot and Spicy versus Cool and Minty as an Example of Organic Structure-Activity Relationships by Doris R. Kimbrough; p861 (Jul 1997).

Chemical Behavior by Paul G. Jasien; p943 (Aug 1997).

The Membrane Analogy for Surface Tension in Liquids by Francisco J. Arnaiz; p1358 (Nov 1997).

Heat Capacity, Body Temperature, and Hypothermia by Doris R. Kimbrough; p48 (Jan 1998).

The Electromotive Series and Other Non-Absolute Scales by Gavin D. Peckham; p48 (Jan 1998).

A Closer Look at the Addition of Equations and Reactions by Damon Diemente; p319 (Mar 1998).

An Analogy to Help Students Understand Reaction Orders by Charles J. Marzzacco; p482 (Apr 1998).

Why Do Alcoholic Beverages Have "Legs"? by Todd P. Silverstein; p723 (Jun 1998).

Audience-Appropriate Analogies: Collision Theory by Kent W. Piepgrass; p724 (Jun 1998).

Using Balls of Different Sports To Model the Variation of Atomic Sizes by Gabriel Pinto; p725 (Jun 1998).

Thermal Physics (and Some Chemistry) of the Atmosphere by Stephen K. Lower; p837 (Jul 1998).

Orbital Models Made of Plastic Soda Bottles by Vyacheslav V. Samoshin; p985 (Aug 1998).

Kids in a Candy Store: An Analogy for Back Titration by Arthur M. Last; p1121 (Sep 1998).

Solving the Mystery of the Fading Fingerprints with London Dispersion Forces by Doris R. Kimbrough and Ronald DeLorenzo; p1300 (Oct 1998).

London Dispersion Forces and "The Wave" by C. Jayne Wilcox; p1301 (Oct 1998).

A Cyclist's Guide to Ionic Concentration by Arthur M. Last; p1433 (Nov 1998).

Demonstrations of the Enormity of Avogadro's Number by Damon Diemente; p1565 (Dec 1998).

The Gravity of the Situation by Damon Diemente; p55 (Jan 1999).

Chromatography by Celestyn M. Brozek; p83 (Jan 1999).

Is It Real Gold? by Harold H. Harris; p198 (Feb 1999).

The "Big Dog-Puppy Dog" Analogy for Resonance by Todd P. Silverstein; p206 (Feb 1999).

The Fizz Keeper, a Case Study in Chemical Education, Equilibrium, and Kinetics by Reed Howald; p208 (Feb 1999).

Limiting Reactant. An Alternative Analogy by Zoltán Tóth; p834 (Jul 1999).

An Acid-Base Chemistry Example: Conversion of Nicotine by John H. Summerfield; p1397 (Oct 1999).

Mice in the Box for Zero-Order Kinetics by Francisco J. Arnáiz; p1458 (Oct 1999).

Henry's Law and Noisy Knuckles by Doris R. Kimbrough; p1509 (Nov 1999).

A Chromatographic Parable by Jon F. Parcher; p176 (Feb 2000).

Students as Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Ponnadurai Ramasami; p485 (Apr 2000).

Weak vs Strong Acids and Bases: The Football Analogy by Todd P. Silverstein; p849 (Jul 2000).

A Drop in the Ocean by Damon Diemente; p1010 (Aug 2000).

A Chemical-Medical Mystery: Gold Jewelry and Black Marks on Skin by Barbara B. Kebbekus; p1298 (Oct 2000).

The Escalator - An Analogy for Explaining Electroosmotic Flow by Andrew J. Vetter and Garrett J. McGowan; p209 (Feb 2001).

An Analogy between Fractional Distillation and Separating Physically Fit and Physically Less Fit Persons by Doble Mukesh; p211 (Feb 2001).

Intermediates, Transition States, Butterflies, and Frogs by Trevor M. Kitson; p504 (Apr 2001).

The Household Chemistry of Cleaning Pennies by Laurence D. Rosenhein; p513 (Apr 2001).

The Oxygen Dissociation Curve of Hemoglobin: Bridging the Gap between Biochemistry and Physiology by Julian Gomez-Cambronero; p757 (Jun 2001).

A Known-to-Unknown Approach to Teach About Empirical and Molecular Formulas by P.K. Thamburaj; p915 (Jul 2001).

Fingerprinting: Commercial Products and Elements by DeeDee Allen and Maria T. Oliver-Hoyo; p459 (Apr 2002).

The World's First "Pastarimeter": An Analogous Demonstration of Polarimetry Using Pasta Fusilli by Claire Saxon, Scott Brindley, Nic Jervis, Graeme R. Jones, E. David Morgan, and Christopher A. Ramsden; p1214 (Oct 2002).

Energy as Money, Chemical Bonding as Business, and Negative DeltaH and DeltaG as Investment by Evguenii I. Kozliak; p1435 (Dec 2002).