Chemistry busking at King’s Cross
175 minutes for chemistry - Chemistry Week
Member volunteers brightened the day for travellers in London, bringing the chemistry of glow-sticks to one of the UK’s busiest stations
Our education coordinators for South East England brought a different kind of busking to King’s Cross station in London, celebrating this year’s Chemistry Week. Supported by a number of our member volunteers, the team set up a stall on the station’s main concourse from 7am to 7pm. Members of the public passing through could try some quick and simple activities on the chemistry of glow-sticks and UV beads.
Katie Nuttall – our education coordinator based at the University of Reading – was one of the organisers of the day. She said: "I think it's the best event I've ever been involved in. Our 15 volunteer members were fantastic – they were so enthusiastic and engaging in speaking to over 1,000 people in the day – and they really enjoyed it too.
"The best thing about it was that we were speaking to a lot of people who weren't or aren't engaged in science. I felt that we could target anyone, not just from a science background.
"We used glow-sticks as a hook to talk to people and give a snippet about chemistry. I spoke to one woman about the chemistry of ultra violet beads, and she said: 'Every time I look at that bead I'm going to think about the chemistry behind it'. That is exactly what we want."
The glow-sticks proved a real hit: young children were particularly excited by the colourful chemistry and many adults took sticks home to talk about the science behind them with their own children.
Bob Worley, education advisor for CLEAPSS in the UK, was one of the volunteers on the day and said, “Anything that interests people and catches their imagination is well worthwhile. It’s been an interesting day watching people’s reactions and their surprise when the glow-sticks come to life.”
Benita Hiley, another volunteer, thanked our education coordinators for the opportunity to take part and added “It was a most uplifting experience, the time just flew by. The best bit was seeing my enthusiasm mirrored on the faces of the public as we discussed why glow-sticks glow.”
175 minutes for chemistry
As the oldest chemical society in the world, we celebrated our 175th anniversary in 2016. We wanted to mark this milestone by recognising the important contributions our community makes to the chemical sciences. We asked our members and supporters to dedicate 175 minutes to chemistry in 2016 and share their stories with us. We featured these stories throughout the year on our website, in print in RSC News, and on social media using #time4chem.
Press office
- Tel:
- +44 (0) 20 7440 3351
- Email:
- Send us an email
Tell us your story
If you've been involved in an event or activity, or just have an interesting story to tell, we want to hear from you! Please get in touch using the online form or tweet us @RoySocChem using #time4chem.