A short biography of chemist Fritz Haber is used to personalize the abstract concepts of equilibrium chemistry for high school students in an introductory course. In addition to giving the Haber–Bosch process an historic, an economic, and a scientific background the reading and subsequent discussion allows students for whom the human perspective is of paramount importance a chance to investigate the irony of balance or equilibrium in Haber's life story. Since the inclusion of the Haber biography, performance in the laboratory and on examinations for those students who are usually only partially engaged has dramatically improved.
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Citation
Glickstein, Neil. J. Chem. Educ.2005 82 391.
Keywords
Equilibrium; History / Philosophy; Interdisciplinary / Multidisciplinary; Introductory / High School Chemistry
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