I must admit, I feel somewhat of an imposter in the chemistry world as I have a Master’s degree in geology. While my research was in the field of geochemistry, I (like most geologists) have a deep and abiding love for rocks and minerals. If you walk in my classroom, you will find various rock samples on my desk, a poster of minerals from around the world and of course, boxes full of rocks! I have only taught a geology class once, so I have needed an outlet for all this pent up love for rocks. The great thing about geology is, it's all about chemistry! I want to share one of my favorite links between geology and chemistry that my students think is pretty cool too.
If you use Modeling Instruction, you might be familiar with the “Crystal Structures” activity using Mercury software. I wrote about my switch from Mercury to MolView on my blog a few years back and Michelle Okroy wrote about the program in her blog post, MolView: An App to View Structural Formulas and Models, as well. This activity allows students to see how different types of compounds vary at the particulate level. I like to extend this activity to show students how microscopic observations impact macroscopic observations. You can show these structures to students as part of a whole class discussion or have your students open MolView and manipulate the structures themselves. Alternatively, you might consider using the Tools tab in MolView to copy the embed code of specific structures and insert them into your own website so students don't need to figure out how to use the website. You can see samples of the interactive structures that can be embedded below (Figures 1B & 2B).
The first example I show is graphite and diamond (see Figure 1).
Figure 1A - Particle view of graphite (left) and diamond (right)
Figure 1B - Interactive 3D particle view of graphite
Graphite works great in pencils because it breaks off in sheets as you write. Diamond is made of the same atoms, but a completely different structure gives it completely different properties.
The next example is sodium chloride (table salt), also known in the geology world as halite (see Figure 2).
Figure 2A -Particle view of sodium chloride
Figure 2B - Interactive 3D particle view of sodium chloride
Students quickly see that halite has a cubic crystal structure. With a magnifying glass and some table salt, students can see how the microscopic structure extends to the macroscopic structure (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 - Macroscopic view of table salt
You may already show your students the first examples I have shared. I hope this last one, calcium carbonate, is new to you! It is known in the geology world as calcite (see Figure 4).
Figure 4 - Particulate view of calcium carbonate
Students usually describe the shape of calcite as a slanted rectangle. The geology term is for that shape is rhombic. This is when I get out my sample of optical calcite and use my iPevo camera to show how the rhombic structure of calcite produces double refraction of light that passes through it (see Figure 5).
Figure 5 - Sample of optical calcite that shows double refraction of light
Students really love seeing the double refraction. What students love even more is when I nonchalantly pull a rock hammer out of my desk and smash a piece of calcite (not my optical sample!) so they can see that not only does calcite grow as a rhomb, it breaks in rhombs as well (see Figure 6). Students are always surprised to learn that the optical calcite was not cut to be that shape.
Figure 6 - Calcite broken into bits still shows rhombic shape
Most students will never take a geology course so I like to throw in some Earth Science tidbits wherever I can. Calcite makes a reappearance in my acids and bases unit because the field test for determining if a rock contains the mineral calcite is dropping dilute hydrochloric acid on it to see if it fizzes!
If you are looking for a new way to show your students that chemistry rocks, hopefully geology can give you hand! If you are logged into ChemEd X, you can find directions to help you get started using MolView in the Supporting Information.
