Steve Casper
Catalina Foothills High School
Microwave Spectroscopy Measurements of Spectra and 3-D Structures of Transition Metal Complexes
Q. Tell us about your school.
I teach honors chemistry and AP chemistry at Catalina Foothills High School. Last year I had three sections of each of those, and the classes each had 24 to 28 students. One of the goals of this project is to bring things back to the classroom, and I've already got one of my students working in the lab with me this year. He's got to do everything from distillations to being exposed to the moments of inertia.
Brian: It's been really interesting, because even at the high-school level, AP chemistry, it's a general outlook on everything. But when you really get into something like microwave spectroscopy, it gets really specific and interesting. I've learned a lot about a little of everything. If someone asked me to explain microwave spectroscopy, I could give them the general idea, but there's so much that I still don't know.
Q. Would you encourage other kids to do what you've done this summer?
It's great if you're someone like me - I know I want to major in chemistry or math, so it's a good experience just to see the different fields. You learn what it feels like to work in an actual research lab instead of just a classroom environment. The real world is a lot different than the classroom.
Q. Steve, what is the most exciting part of your research?
It's proving to myself that I can think in three dimensions. And it turns out I'm pretty good at it. I understand what I need to as far as quantum mechanical principles pertaining to atoms -- discrete energy levels and electron -jumping levels. But this knowledge also applies to molecules in the microwave region. They absorb that radiation, and if they have a dipole moment it actually causes a torque to be put on the molecules and that spins them. They have discrete allowed energies of rotation, kinetic energy. Most people run away screaming from this stuff and don't want anything to do with it. But I'm going through my second year here and the picture is starting to come together for me. I've been doing lots of math, I've been thinking in three dimensions, I've been working with the software to make the computer do the real complicated stuff. I can personally handle the straightforward, simple molecules. But when you start adding in 10 or 12 atoms, it gets crazy.
Q. What do you hope to bring back to the classroom?
I want to be able to produce really nice graphics for my students, to be able to help them on units of molecular structure and talking about polarity and interactions among molecules. And I've learned a lot about those things.
I've got GaussView, a software program that allows you to build molecules. At just a very basic level, it's fairly quick to build a molecule and see it in three dimensions, and rotate it around. And there are many more advanced functions beyond the rudimentary ball-and-stick approach. My students spend a lot of time on molecular structure, polarity and interactions, all of that. So any kind of visual tool that helps demonstrate these principles beyond our classical little model sets is a good thing.
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