Carleton’s chemistry department organized interactive activities and exhibitions for viewers of the university’s first outdoor chemistry magic show, Light Up the Night Sky with Chemistry, May 12 outside Southam Hall.
Compared to February’s indoor show, the Carleton amphitheatre allowed ‘magicians’ to perform larger-scale experiments. As night fell, professors intrigued audiences with experiments full of explosions and glow-in-the-dark objects.
Before the magic show, there were also activities for people to get their hands dirty and create colourful slime.
The creation of liquid nitrogen ice cream was a crowd-pleaser as staff added liquid nitrogen gas to instantly freeze chocolate milk into ice cream.
Nine-year-old Sam Haskins said his favourite part was the smell-o-vision activity, where attendees could guess odours created from combined molecules.
The interactive nature of the event helped make chemistry interesting, organizers said.
“I would like audiences to take away from this event that science is fun, interesting, and it really does impact our daily lives,” chemistry professor Jeffrey Manthorpe said.
Parents appreciated the opportunity for their children to learn about chemistry.
“The public should be informed about what’s going on and the kids should be exposed to science more; that’s everyday life,” said Clarke Pooler, father of two.
When asked will they come back to next year’s chemistry magic show, the little scientist Gabriel March answered with a smile, “For sure!”
