Alpha Chi Sigma Holds Chemistry Week Activities

From Ms. Olivia McGovern of Alpha Chi Sigma:

During National Chemistry Week, the Gamma Tau Chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma at IUP held an outreach activity in the Oak Grove. This year, 12 members gathered to celebrate National Chemistry Week by taking a split interpretation of the theme "Having A Ball With Chemistry", showing both how chemistry is related to sports and fun.

To relate to sports, the members of Alpha Chi Sigma built steroid molecules and explained to visitors what a steroid is and a little bit about its effects. Then the visitors were encouraged to build steroid molecules or any other molecules the could think of with marshmallows. Plent of fun was had with that activity, but more was to come with the addition of liquid nitrogen to the table! By smashing frozen roses, eating frozen marshmallows, and pounding nails into boards using a frozen banana they showed how liquid nitrogen changes the properties of roses to make them brittle, marshmallows to make them a cold crunchy treat, and bananas to make them extremely hard.

A pumpkin was also carved in the spirit of Halloween with a Wyvern. The pumpkin was filled with liquid nitrogen to create the effect that the dragon-like creature was blowing icy fire in the cold weather (see picture). The finale of the day followed the tradition of creating a Diet Coke explosion by adding Mentos to Diet Coke, causing the it to erupt from the bottle. Overall, the event was a great success attracting the attention of many passersby and hooking them in to try an experiment. They look forward to the opportunity to do this again next year.

ACS Club Participates Again in National Chemistry Week

For the fourth year running, members of the Student Affiliate American Chemical Society traveled to the Carnegie Science Center (CSC) to participate in ChemFest. This was the 10th year that CSC hosted such an event, and this year's theme was "Having a Ball with Chemistry".

As part of National Chemistry Week, ChemFest is held each Friday and Saturday of that week in various locations around the United States. On each day, dozens of local university clubs, chemistry-related societies, and industry groups provide hands-on demonstrations to thousands of school children, their parents, and the general public. At least 3000-4000 people visit ChemFest in Pittsburgh each year.

On Saturday, October 25, eight students from IUP traveled to Pittsburgh to present four different demonstrations related to chemistry and sports. In attendance were:

• Ms. Maura Barrett
  
• Ms. Lacie Buxton
• Mr. Andrew Kerr
• Ms. Beth Leverett
  
• Ms. Olivia McGovern
• Ms. Jessica Nichol
  
• Mr. Peter Stonehouse
• Ms. Cay Williamson
  

The students thank the Department of Chemistry for supporting their travel to and from Pittsburgh and dinner after the event.

Students Participated in National Chemistry Week

On Saturday, October 27, seven students from the Student Affiliate American Chemical Society at IUP accompanied Dr. Nathan McElroy to the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh to participate in National Chemistry Week. This year's theme was "The Many Faces of Chemistry" and represented not only all of the diversity of the field of chemistry, but the diversity of the people who work and teach in the field.

The students chose four different demonstrations, organized them, bought the supplies, and presented them to guests of the museum from 10am to 4:30pm. These demos included: a simple oil & water 'lava lamp'; the result of a broken light bulb in and out of an oxygen rich environment; the properties of ferrofluids; and the popular demonstration of food coloring in milk when mixed with soap (emulsifiers & proteins).

The participating students were:
Mr. Ken Glassford
Mr. Andrew Kerr
Ms. Beth Paladin
Ms. Olivia McGovern
Ms. Kelly Seibert
Mr. Peter Stonehouse
Ms. Caitlin Williamson

This was the third year that IUP's ACS Club has participated in National Chemistry Week at the Carnegie Science Center; the 12th year that the Carnegie held this event; and the 20th anniversary of National Chemistry Week by the ACS.

Special thanks to the Department of Chemistry for supplies and financial support; the Geoscience Department for the use of their van; the other members of the ACS club who helped prepare the demonstrations; and the Dean's office of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics for their financial support.

National Chemistry Week: Pie-A-Prof

Once again, National Chemistry Week is drawing near and Alpha Chi Sigma is planning to continue the tradition of Pie-A-Prof to celebrate the occasion. Our National Chemistry Week Festivities this year will be held on Friday, October 26th in the Oak Grove as long as the weather cooperates, and we plan on having several small chemistry demonstrations in addition to the Pie-A-Prof event. If you are interested in participating in the Pie-A-Prof, please contact me so we will know who will be in our professor lineup! If you are not interested in being pied, you are still more than welcome to join us on the 26th in our National Chemistry Week celebration!

The National Chemistry Week Festivities in the Oak Grove will begin at 11:00 , and the Pie-A-Prof will be at 1:00.

Thank you for your time,
Kaycie Butler
President, Alpha Chi Sigma