Welcome to the final instalment of the 9 week series highlighting the schools and public events that were organised by our Local Section committees during the International Year of Chemistry! This week we take a look at some of the work the Local Sections in the North West have been doing during 2011.
North West
The Cumbria Local Section organised a schools lecture
The Art and Science of Trapped Air, at Workington Sixth Form Centre in March. This was hosted by Steve Wilson with upwards of 30 attendees and good feedback from all.
In Liverpool members of the Local Section committee together with the Liverpool Younger Members Network supported the
Chemistry at Work week at the Catalyst Centre in Widnes during June. This event attracted ~750 secondary school pupils and was designed to showcase the real-life examples of how useful chemistry is to our everyday lives, with various demonstrations by companies representing the local chemical and chemistry-using industries. During the week the stand run by RSC members included demonstrations of ‘dry water’ and how clays are used as thickeners in everyday products from paints to shower gels.
Continuing with this theme to promote chemistry to the public, the Liverpool Local Section along with Liverpool and Manchester YMN’s ran a ‘Chemistry Show’ at the Catalyst Centre on 9th July. They ran some fun experiments for a group of under 16’s and their families, such as wine to water, walking on custard (non-Newtonian fluid), plasma generation by heating a grape in a microwave and the “elephant’s toothpaste” (yeast and hydrogen peroxide) reaction. There were approximately 30 people in attendance from the Saturday Science Club and even the adults learned a thing or two!
The Catalyst Centre offers regular family visits and Saturday Science Club takes place every month (see
http://www.catalyst.org.uk/ for more details).
