Ideas for Project Topics

The research topic is your choice, as long as it conforms to the guidelines put forth on this web page. You will need to present a topic in writing and it must be signed by the instructor. The topic must try to answer a question to a problem posed by the group, not just make a bunch of measurements. The instructor may have available and can suggest many different resources. You may select a topic from the list or use it to help you begin to brainstorm ideas.

• What are the reaction orders of . . .  ? (Fill in the blank - perhaps the bleaching of dyes such as food coloring, the escape of CO₂ from soda, etc. Be creative.)
• What happens to the nitrates in rural well-water supplies near a farm where fertilizers are used?
• What happens to the amount of carbon dioxide and dissolved oxygen in a body of water throughout a typical day?
• Is there any relation between the pH and/or buffer capacity of a shampoo and the type of hair for which it claims to work best?
• Do biological systems (try using tissue homogenates, milk, plants, or blood) have a natural built-in buffering system?
• Are shampoos buffered? If so, what is the buffer capacity of various types of shampoos?
• Which ions do water softeners remove or replace? How well are the ions removed?
• Is it better to wash a precipitate with hot water or cold water? One large rinsing? One small rinsing?
• What is the effect of concentration or temperature on the chemiluminescent oxidation of luminol? Is it possible to make it glow brighter and/or longer? What is the reaction order?
• What are some factors that affect the rate of oscillations in an oscillating reaction? Can you speed up or slow down the oscillations? What is the effect of concentrations of each reactant? temperature? pH?
• How do various factors affect the rate of the iodine clock reaction? concentrations of each reactant? temperature? pH?
• What is the best solvent system for separating the dyes found in marking pens (or M&M's or Kool-Aid or ??), using paper chromatography? using thin-layer chromatography?
• Can you develop a procedure using gas chromatography to determine the percent of ethanol in various samples of gasoline?
• Is there a correlation between the color of a solution and the wavelength of maximum or minimum absorbance? Do solutions of colorless substances have the same absorption spectrum? Why or why not?
• Does the water at the top of a container cool at the same rate as the water at the bottom of a container, when cooled to freezing? Does the water at the top of a container warm at the same rate as the water at the bottom of a container, when heated? Extend your observation to larger bodies of water.
• Can you design a simple model fuel cell? Which configuration works best?
• Can you design a simple electrochemical cell that delivers the most current? that delivers the greatest electric potential?
• What happens to the pH of a carbonated beverage over time after it is opened? Does the buffering capacity or shape of the titration curve change? Why?
• How do various water quality measurements change before or after ice-out?
• Does soil pH vary with different types of vegetation?
• How do different antacids compare?  Which one neutralizes the most acid? Which one neutralizes acid the fastest?
• How much calcium or magnesium is in various samples of hard water?  What factors affect the hardness of water?
• Is it possible to measure the speed of sound and the rate/degree to which heat travels from an exploding hydrogen balloon? Related to physics, too...cool!
• Create a project based on one probe, or a variety of probes, that have not found much use yet in our labs experiments: see equipment list.
• Conduct an experiment utilizing a video/webcam. Webcam videos may be integrated into data collected by LoggerPro.
• Other ideas related to your interests: soil, geology, meteorology, biology, medicine, pharmaceuticals, physics, foods, cosmetics, environment, etc. The focus of the project must still be on the chemistry associated with your topic.

Here are some topics that were available in Chem 1061 on which you may choose to elaborate.