I can actually take an unlit match and probe
through the center of the flame and the match
didn't light, it caught the wood stick again,
but the match doesn't light.
And that is an example of chemistry.
It's chemistry day here on campus on Saturday.
At 10:30 to 11:30, Wetherill Hall, Room 200.
Paul, how many years has chemistry day been
going and what are people going to get out
of it if they come.
It's been going on for probably close to 40
years here on campus and what we are going
to experiment with and focus this time is
candles and how they operate and how they
behave.
A lot of different properties about them that
you can do with very simple demonstrations.
But what I want to do is extinguish the candle
using the same gas here, if we don't move
the air around too much here, I can remotely
light the candle from an inch or so away.
We exhale over this tube, showing that carbon
dioxide will extinguish a flame because we
know the property of carbon dioxide is heavy,
it will settle down there.
So, is the message to people that come that
chemistry is interesting and fun, what do
you want people to take away from this?
Both of those are good adjectives for the
description of the show and we want to help
them to know more about chemistry so they
can understand better the world they live
in.
As always, don't play with flames at home.
If you want more information on Chemistry
Day, click the link included with this story.
