Need Guidance in a Chemistry Related Project

[roym6]

Hello,
I am a student with a chemistry project. However, I am not quite sure what I would like to do the project on. I am fairly ignorant when it comes the recent findings and happenings of the chemistry world. Some of my areas of interest would be biochemical, nuclear, and energy related fields. However, I should probably tell you my prompt :D

-The project should use science publications/journals
-The project must focus on chemistry, deviation will result in loss of points
-Presentation should be 15 minutes long and have an introduction as well as a discussion of the specifics

Basically, what I'm asking for are some suggestions for a project and a nudge in the general direction(links to journals and publishings).

One of my first ideas was to research chemical reactions that occur in the brain, but I wasn't able to find many articles that went into detail as well as my lack of in-depth knowledge on the workings of the brain. So I'm looking for something a bit simpler, unless someone can point me to some articles and help clear up the questions that I have.

If you need me to clear up questions surrounding the project please feel free to ask.

PS I didn't know if this could be posted in the Chemistry forum so I posted in the HW help section. If a moderator could please move it to the correct location if this is not it, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jorriss]

This is for a college class, yes? If so, your school has access to, say, Gaussian? If so, you could do a computational project. Those are very approachable.

 

[roym6]

No, I probably should have specified, forgive me. I am a junior in High school. My resources are the internet, the library, and my Thomson 8th Edition Chemistry book.

 

[Jorriss]

No, I probably should have specified, forgive me. I am a junior in High school. My resources are the internet, the library, and my Thomson 8th Edition Chemistry book.

I just figured if they wanted you to use publications/journals it meant college. Did your teacher give an example of the journals she expects you to use?

You could look through 'Science' for topics that interest you. Those are nontechnical journals.

Another project idea is to discuss water and its different forms. Water is known to have about (dont quote me on the exact number) 17 different phases and there is currently a lot of research into figuring out more about how water bonds in bulk. One interesting example is the water hexamer (H2O)6 - it's the smallest water network that has a cage structure as a stable state.

 

[roym6]

I just figured if they wanted you to use publications/journals it meant college. Did your teacher give an example of the journals she expects you to use?

You could look through 'Science' for topics that interest you. Those are nontechnical journals.

Another project idea is to discuss water and its different forms. Water is known to have about (dont quote me on the exact number) 17 different phases and there is currently a lot of research into figuring out more about how water bonds in bulk. One interesting example is the water hexamer (H2O)6 - it's the smallest water network that has a cage structure as a stable state.

Well, it is an AP class so that might be the reason why.

Well, he asks for original journal article references, I'm not 100% sure on what that might mean.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely look into it. However, if you have another suggestion then please post it, the more the merrier :D

 

[roym6]

As I was researching I came across an article that mentioned nano-techonology, and I wanted to know if there is a link between chemistry and nanotechnology. Any input would be appreciated, especially links to journals or articles.

Thank you.Edit: I have finally decided on a subject-Nuclear Fusion. I will ask my teacher how in-depth my project will have to be, but i want to tie in the sun and future use of nuclear fusion for energy.

 

[chemisttree]

I'd look into one of the newest, neatest ways I've seen to generate hydrogen by splitting water. Dan Nocera at MIT has been doing some very interesting work.

 

[roym6]

That looks very interesting! Although your second link doesn't work.

 

[Borek]

Link corrected.