The COVID-19 pandemic brought in-person chemistry instruction to a halt in March of 2020. The scramble to resume effective learning produced a number of challenges and opportunities, especially in the lab. At first, we developed a lab kit to complete a series of chemistry labs at home. By adding a handheld refractometer to the kit, we soon realized that we could parlay this kit into a set of undergraduate research projects involving the study of the solution properties of household chemicals including coffee, 91% Isopropyl alcohol, horse liniment (sold as 99% DMSO), and Everclear. We present our approach to doing undergraduate research at home and the results of this research.

Conducting undergraduate research during the pandemic at home using household chemicals

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.