Red hot carbon
Declan Fleming shows you how to capture your students’ imaginations with spectacular demonstrations
Teaching the structure and bonding of carbon allotropes can be a little dry; you can spice things up a little by showing some of the key properties of graphite, dramatically destroying a pencil in the process.
This activity coordinates nicely with Keith Taber’s resource The melting temperature of carbon, which helps students overcome difficulties associated with rationalising the structure of graphite, given its simple formula; many think of it as being monatomic like a noble gas.
With an accompanying video, Declan Fleming shows how to demonstrate red hot carbon, from set up to teaching the experiment, and how he utilises Keith Taber's resources to best support learning.
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