The chemistry crowd at Southam Hall was a little younger than usual Feb. 25, as kids and their families attended the chemistry department’s fifth annual magic show.
The interactive show had kids laughing and intrigued at different experiments performed by Carleton professors Jeff Manthorpe, Jeff Smith, and Bob Burk.
The show brings in crowds of people every year eager to watch explosions, witness spontaneous combustion and wild chemical reactions, Manthorpe said.
“Our major goal here [is] to get young people interested in science,” he said. “For the adults in the crowd, we want them to think about how chemistry impacts their lives on a daily basis.”
Lisa Rambout said she heard about the show from her 12-year-old daughter’s school.
“Even though I don’t think [my daughters] will remember the details about it, I think that visually it leaves an impression with the kids, so I think that’s very awesome,” she said.
“It certainly has a positive impact on our lives everyday,” Manthorpe agreed.
He said he started the show with his colleagues five years ago because he was doing “fun” experiments and wanted to perform them for the community.
Getting the kids in the crowd involved and seeing them enjoy themselves is why Smith said he performs.
“We try to tailor it to six to 10-year-old range so we keep it moving fairly quick with lots of different demonstrations and we try to throw in as much chemistry in terms of the actual theory behind what’s going on,” Smith said.
Although this particular show is only in its fifth year, Smith said the chemistry department has held similar events for quite some time.
“We’ve had kids come in and say that they remember when coming to this show as kids and it formed a favourable impression of what Carleton and science was all about,” he said. “Lots of kids are young but they do remember these things, especially when they have to cover their ears for crazy loud bangs.”
Sometimes the show is held at elementary schools, but not as often as Manthorpe said he’d like.
“We won’t do that too often simply because it’s a lot of time and many of these things are not portable.”
The big crowd-pleasers this year involved flames, which sent children in the audience into fits of laughter.
The department tries to change the show a bit every year, bringing in experiments they may have not done in a while, Manthrope said.
Following the show, the university’s littlest scientists went to a “fun lab” in Steacie Building where they created their own slime and ice cream, among other things.
The professors said they’re always delighted to have a full crowd participating.
“It’s lots of fun on my end,” Smith said. “When you get a whole room this big with everyone laughing and being engaged, it’s just really gratifying.”
