About Hal Harris

Hal works closely with secondary school teachers and supervises the preservice education of chemistry and physics teachers at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, visiting schools on a regular basis.

"I am very interested in the appropriate application of computers in chemical education, but I don't believe that they address some of the most important challenges facing educators. High school teachers may enjoy reading my eclectic recommendations for books and current articles about science in "Hal's Picks of the Month", a column I write in the Chemical Education Resource Shelf, http://www.umsl.edu/~chemist/books."

Articles

Goal

The goal of this feature column is to provide ideas for the construction and use of inexpensive laboratory apparatus or electronic devices, especially those that would be of interest to high school or introductory college chemistry teachers.

Mission Statement

This feature brings to light inexpensive materials for laboratories and demonstrations, especially those that would be of interest to high school or introductory college teachers. Articles describing the construction and use of apparatus or electronic devices should be based on materials that are readily available at relatively low cost. Techniques required for fabrication or assembly should be relatively simple. Tools required should be items that are likely to be accessible, such as a soldering iron, multimeter, electric drill, or scroll saw. Techniques requiring the use of more sophisticated instruments such as a wave form generator or digital caliper would be less appropriate for this feature. Diagrams and illustrations describing construction details must be clear and crisp so that they reproduce well.

I also encourage the submission of articles describing the use of available materials that do not require fabrication or assembly. All manuscripts should contain specific information about how the authors have used the materials. The advantages of using the materials, compared with other approaches to teaching the same concepts, should be described.

Articles Published

Use of Pom Pons To Illustrate Cubic Crystal Structures by Susan G. Cady; p794 (Jul 1997).

Low-Cost Constant Temperature Heating Block by Charles G. Shevlin, Ward Coppersmith, Christopher Fish, Stanley Vlock, and William Vellema; p958 (Aug 1997).

Challenges of Everyday Spectra by Stephen F. Jacobs; p1070 (Sep 1997).

Low Cost Science Teaching Equipment for Visually Impaired Children by H. O. Gupta and Rakshpal Singh; p610 (May 1998).

Experimentally Determining the Molecular Weight of Carbon Dioxide Using a Mylar Balloon by Barbara Albers Jackson and David J. Crouse; p997 (Aug 1998).

An Inexpensive, Disposable Cannula Filtration Device by Brian K. Bennett and Thomas G. Richmond; p1034 (Aug 1998).

Using Plastiline in the Laboratory by Francisco J. Arnaiz; p1418 (Nov 1998).

Practical Origami in the Microscale Organic Lab by Daryl L. Ostercamp; p1456 (Nov 1998).

CD-ROM Spectroscope: A Simple and Inexpensive Tool for Classroom Demonstrations on Chemical Spectroscopy by Fumitaka Wakabayashi, Kiyohito Hamada, and Kozo Sone; p1569 (Dec 1998).

Animating Reactions: A Low-Cost Activity for Particle Conceptualization at the Secondary Level by Robert W. Milne; p50 (Jan 1999).

Equipment for a Low-Cost Study of the Naphthalene-Biphenyl Phase Diagram by David Calvert, Michael J. Smith, and Eduardo Falcao; p668 (May 1999).

A Simple Device to Demonstrate the Principles of Fluorometry by Néstor J. Delorenzi, Cesar Araujo, Gonzalo Palazzolo, and Carlos A. Gatti; p1265 (Sep 1999).

A Simple Supplementary Offset Device for Data Acquisition Systems by Thomas Kappes and Peter C. Hauser; p1429 (Oct 1999).

A Surface Chemistry Experiment Using an Inexpensive Contact Angle Goniometer by Madalena Dionísio and João Sotomayor; p59 (Jan 2000).

Easy-to-Make Ag/AgCl Reference Electrode by Gaston A. East and M. A. del Valle; p97 (Jan 2000).

Inexpensive Digital Monitoring of Signals from a Spectronic-20 Spectrophotometer by John R. Amend, Matthew E. Morgan, and Alex Whitla; p252 (Feb 2000).

Inexpensive Pipet or Buret Jar and Washer by Henry Brouwer; p254 (Feb 2000).

An Inexpensive Convenient Press for KBr and CsI Pellets in Infrared Studies by Chris Kalberg and Paul J. Ogren; p391 (Mar 2000).

Cubic Unit Cell Construction Kit by Bruce Mattson; p622 (May 2000).

Dry-Ice Bath Based on Ethylene Glycol Mixtures by Do W. Lee and Craig M. Jensen; p629 (May 2000).

In Praise of Latex Gloves by Francisco J. Arnaiz; p1354 (Oct 2000).

A Ten-Dollar Stirring Device for the Microscale Laboratory by Jeffrey John Willemsen; p1476 (Nov 2000).

Hand-Held Conductivity Meter and Probe for Small Volumes and Field Work by Barry R. Ganong; p1606 (Dec 2000).

An Efficient and Inexpensive Apparatus for Hot Filtration by Carlos C. Romao and Herminio P. Diogo; p65 (Jan 2001).

Application of Light Emitting Diodes to Chemical Analysis: Determination of Copper in Water by Juan D. Mozo, Manuel Galán, and Emilio Roldán; p355 (Mar 2001).

Safe and Efficient Flash Chromatography Equipment for the Research/Teaching Lab by Fritiof Pontén and Ulf Ellervik; p363 (Mar 2001).

A Preparative TLC Applicator by Tom Lyons Fisher and Charles P. Gilman; p367 (Mar 2001).

Build a Simple Polarimeter by Frank E. Stary and Norman Woldow; p644 (May 2001).

A Simple Solution for Leaking Polarimeter Cells by Gene A. Hiegel; p648 (May 2001).

Using a Diode Laser for Laser-Induced Fluorescence by Yang Tran and J. E. Whitten; p1093 (Aug 2001).

Simple Measurement of Magnetic Susceptibility with a Small Permanent Magnet and a Top-Loading Electronic Balance by Yoshinori Itami and Kozo Sone; p1002 (Aug 2002).

A Film Canister Colorimeter by James Gordon, Alan James, Stephanie Harman, and Kristen Weiss; p1005 (Aug 2002).

A Convenient Storage Rack for Graduated Cylinders by Brian Love; p701 (May 2004).

Deionizing Water Watchdog by Gregory J. Edens; p841 (Jun 2004).

A Simple, No-Cost Rack for Holding Small Test Tubes in a Constant Temperature Bath by Kathryn R. Williams; p846 (Jun 2004).

A Small-Scale and Low-Cost Apparatus for the Electrolysis of Water by Per-Odd Eggen and Lise Kvittingen; p1337 (Sep 2004).

Construction of a Small-Scale and Low-Cost Gas Apparatus by Lise Kvittingen and Richard Verley; p1339 (Sep 2004).

A Simple, Inexpensive Water-Jacketed Cuvette for the Spectronic 20 by Jonathan E. Thompson and Jason Ting; p1341 (Sep 2004).

Sink Inserts for Flood Prevention by Fraser F. Fleming, Daniel J. Bodnar, David L. Hardesty; p1344 (Sep 2004).

Low-Cost "Vacuum Desiccator" by Frederick Sweet; p1500 (Oct 2004).

Measuring Viscoelastic Deformation with an Optical Mouse by T. W. Ng; p1628 (Nov 2004).

Weighing Paper Substitute by Ben Ruekberg; p620 (Apr 2005).

A DVD Spectroscope: A Simple, High-Resolution Classroom Spectroscope by Fumitaka Wakabayashi and Kiyohito Hamada; p56 (Jan 2006).

Demonstration of Absorbance Using Digital Color Image Analysis and Colored Solutions by Shane K. Kohl, James D. Landmark, Douglas F. Stickle, p644 (Apr 2006).

A Simple Method for Rapidly Obtaining Absorption Spectra with a Spectronic-20D+ Spectrophotometer by Jonathan E. Thompson; p913 (Jun 2006).

A Better Method for Filling Pasteur Pipet Chromatography Columns by Ben Ruekberg; p1200 (Aug 2006).

Small-Scale and Low-Cost Galvanic Cells by Per-Odd Eggen, Truls Grønneberg, and Lise Kvittingen; p1201 (Aug 2006).

A Novel W-Tube for Microscale Experiments in Chemistry by H. O. Gupta; p321 (Feb 2007).

Small-Scale and Low-Cost Electrodes for "Standard" Reduction Potential Measurements by Per-Odd Eggen, Lise Kvittingen, and Truls Grønneberg; p671 (Apr 2007).

Enthalpy of Vaporization and Vapor Pressures: An Inexpensive Apparatus by Rubin Battino, David A. Dolson, Michael R. Hall, and Trevor M. Letcher; p822 (May 2007).

Fluorescence Spectroscopy in a Shoebox by M. Farooq Wahab; p1308 (Aug 2007).

Easy-To-Make Cryophoruses by Rubin Battino and Trevor M. Letcher; p561 (Apr 2008).

An Inexpensive Solution Calorimeter by Emma Kavanagh, Sam Mindel, Giles Robertson, and D. E. Peter Hughes; p1129 (Aug 2008).

An Updated Equilibrium Machine by Emeric Schultz; p1131 (Aug 2008).

A Computer-Interfaced Drop Counter as an Inexpensive Fraction Collector for Column Chromatography by Barbara T. Nash; p1260 (Sep 2008).

A Non-Mercury Thermometer Alternative for Use in Older Melting Point Apparatuses by Lois K. Ongley, Clayton S. Kern, and Barry W. Woods; p1263 (Sep 2008).