The results of an exercise on electrochemistry for General Chemistry students are presented. The difficulty encountered by students in predicting the shift in the potential of the hydrogen electrode under non-standard conditions prompted a search in textbooks on how the subject is developed. Besides several instances of inconsistencies in defining the standard state, such as including the temperature in the definition, a number of incorrect depictions of the hydrogen electrode were discovered. Of the 28 General Chemistry books, 16 Physical Chemistry books and 24 Internet pages, 30, 20 and 46%, respectively, showed devices that would not work in practice.

As the foundation of the University of São Paulo completes 75 years, this article describes the history of a mansion at 463 Glette Boulevard, in São Paulo city, where several undergraduate courses of the University's Philosophy, Sciences and Letters Faculty operated until 1969. The first building of the school of Chemistry was erected there, 70 years ago. A brief retrospective of the Department of Chemistry at that place is given. The mansion was torn down by the middle of the 1970s, but it remained as a symbol of the school identity in the memory of all those who studied there.

A demonstractive experiment was proposed in order to verify students' habilities in recognizing the presence and nature of ions in solutions, before and after their passage through ion-exchange columns. The students have no previous contact with ion-exchange resins, so they must deduce how they work and explain the experimental facts. The performance of classes, at different stages of learning, is compared and discussed.

A didactic experiment based on the thermal decomposition of sodium bicarbonate using a reagent found in the marketplace is proposed. The reaction products are identified by qualitative tests and stoichiometric calculations. The thermal stability of carbonates and the influence of lattice energies are discussed, emphasizing periodic trends in the alkali and alkaline earth families. The industrial importance of the reaction is also explored.

A didactic experiment is proposed in order to identify inorganic phosphates in home laundry detergents by ascending paper chromatography. Chemical principles related with hard water are also investigated. The role of polyphosphates in detergent formulations is discussed and the softening of hard water by sodium tripolyphosphate is illustrated. Several chemical concepts, related to the daily experience of the students, can be explored in post-lab discussions.