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    Chemical Curiosity on Campus: An Undergraduate Project on the Structure and Wettability of Natural Surfaces

    Year: 2019

    Journal: J. Chem. Educ., Volume 96, SEP, page 1998–2002

    Authors: Katselas, Anthony; Motion, Alice; O'Reilly, Chiara; Neto, Chiara

    Organizations: Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre

    Keywords: Upper-Division Undergraduate; Inquiry-Based/Discovery Learning; Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary; Physical Chemistry; Materials Science; Surface Science; Hands-On Learning/Manipulatives

    An experiment which investigates the wettability of natural surfaces was developed for undergraduate students, which allows them to explore concepts of surface structure, wettability, superhydrophobic surfaces, and self-cleaning. The students choose their own samples of leaves and flowers present in their local environment, examine their surface structure and chemistry by microscopy and contact angle measurements, and, using their understanding of the literature on the wettability of rough surfaces, relate the two. The experiment is student-focused in that it gives students agency in choosing the samples to study, increases their confidence, and develops curiosity in their local environment.
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