Advertisement

This site uses cookies to enhance your user experience. By continuing to use this site you are agreeing to our COOKIE POLICY.

ACCEPT AND CLOSE

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

The key to knowledge is in your (nitrile-gloved) hands

Already an ACS Member?  

Basic

$0 Community Associate

ACS’s Basic Package keeps you connected with C&EN and ACS.

  • Access to 6 digital C&EN articles per month on cen.acs.org
  • Weekly delivery of the C&EN Essential newsletter
JOIN NOW
Standard

$80 Regular Members & Society Affiliates

ACS’s Standard Package lets you stay up to date with C&EN, stay active in ACS, and save.

Eligibility restrictions apply. Review ACS Membership Packages to see if you qualify.

JOIN NOW
Premium

$160 Regular Members & Society Affiliates
$55 Graduate Students
$25 Undergraduate Students

ACS’s Premium Package gives you full access to C&EN and everything the ACS Community has to offer.

  • Unlimited access to C&EN’s daily news coverage on cen.acs.org
  • Weekly delivery of the C&EN Magazine in print or digital format
  • Access to our Chemistry News by C&EN mobile app
  • Significant discounts on registration for most ACS-sponsored meetings
ACS offers discounts for some countries outside the United States. This discount is shown at checkout, if applicable.

JOIN NOW

Thank you!

Your account has been created successfully, and a confirmation email is on the way.

Your username is now your ACS ID.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Outreach

Chemistry In Pictures

Chemistry in Pictures: DIY chemistree ornaments

by Manny I. Fox Morone
December 4, 2020
Advertisement

Most Popular in Education

 

A glass ornament with a gray solution inside it held in a blue gloved hand.
Credit: Jon Grimm
A round reflective silver ornament hanging from a white artificial pine tree branch.
Credit: Jon Grimm

Last year, chemists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus decided to bring some holiday cheer to their colleagues and let them make their own silver ornaments. Janelia’s Head of Molecular Tools and Imaging Luke Lavis gave Janelia researchers clear glass ornaments loaded with Tollens’ reagent, a silver complex created by mixing silver nitrate, potassium hydroxide, and ammonia. Tollens’ reagent takes part in a striking reaction with aldehydes that coats the inside of its container with a thin layer of silver metal. So after the Janelia researchers added glucose to the solution of Tollens’ reagent and shook the mixture, the result was these mirrored ornaments.

A box of about 20 round, reflective, silver holiday ornaments arranged in rows.
Credit: Jon Grimm

Submitted by Jon Grimm

Do science. Take pictures. Win money. Enter our photo contest here.

Click here to see more Chemistry in Pictures.

Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society

You might also like...

Serving the chemical, life science, and laboratory worlds
Chemistry in Pictures: The littlest chemistree?
Serving the chemical, life science, and laboratory worlds
Chemistry in Pictures: Mixing mix-up
Serving the chemical, life science, and laboratory worlds
Chemistry in Pictures: A spooky separation

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

2 /3 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.
GET MORE
GET MORE