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boonshoft museum of discovery
Program demonstrates fun of chemistry
Kids conduct their own experiments and learn how chemistry affects everyday life at ChemFest 2007.
Monday, November 05, 2007
DAYTON — Drew Sanders, a 13-year-old Troy Junior High student, said he learned "tons of things" during ChemFest 2007 on Sunday afternoon at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery.
"I learned how to get pigments out of food. I learned about density," he said. "And I learned that I need to wash my hands."
Extras
To demonstrate how much bacteria remains on our skin even when we think we're clean, students rubbed their hands with a lotion containing a chemical that is sensitive to ultraviolet light and absorbed by bacteria.
Under a black lamp, the bacteria glow in splotches of ghastly white.
"The kids say, 'Oooh, Mommy!' They want to wash their hands right away and come back,'' said Casie Kilgore, a 14-year-old volunteer from Alter High School.
"That's OK, because that's actually
the same thing we did," said classmate and fellow volunteer Brianna Johnson.
About 350 Dayton-area children attended the two-day event that ended Sunday at Boonshoft, said Bev Baker, the museum's physical sciences coordinator. ChemFest is part of National Chemistry Week observances, sponsored by the American Chemical Society.
"The idea is to get kids excited about chemistry — about chemistry in your everyday life," Baker said. "You don't have to be a chemist to appreciate chemistry."
Joy Haley, who works at Wright-Patterson Air Force Research Laboratory, coordinated the event for the chemical society. She also worked the exhibit showing kids how to remove color pigment from spinach and carrot shavings.
"Dyes are not water soluble, they're fat soluble," Haley said. "So we're using baby oil and butter, and also a little bit of alcohol to help speed up the process. We mix it up and strain it through a piece of cheese cloth."
Drew Sanders and his 12-year-old brother Nick left Sunday with glass Christmas ornaments they etched with decorative touches using acid. They also had made their own lip balm.
"We come here all the time," Drew said. "There's always fun stuff to do."
Many younger kids at ChemFest got their first introduction to the scientific method.
Angela Plummer, a ninth-grade volunteer from Alter, mixed water in test tubes with different soap liquids and had the kids try to predict which of the mixtures, or water alone, would pass through a funnel the fastest.
The faster the liquid disappears through the funnel, the higher its density.
"Most of the people say water (will be the fastest), but it has the least density," Plummer said.
Baker said ChemFest will be back again next fall for those who missed it this weekend.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com.
