Why do some chemical reactions oscillate?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM/chemistry clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 chemistry and is also internationally relevant.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• A chance discovery of an unusual oscillatory reaction by a Russian chemist nearly 70 years ago has paved the way for some potentially exciting, modern applications. Professor Irving Epstein at Brandeis University, USA, is investigating the mysteries behind this very special chemical reaction.

• This resource also contains an interview with Irv and his career path. If your students (or you) have questions for Irv you/they can send them to him online. All you need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Irv will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Irv’s research and challenges them to make a pH indicator.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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