A summer of chemistry

As autumn closes in, it’s nice to remember a summer of chemistry at a wide range of festivals and other summer events. Our education coordinators keep us involved in communities up and down these islands, all year around. 

Royal Society of Chemistry regional programme manager Vicki Aldmington explains: “I’m delighted with the range of events we’ve been involved with this summer. There’s no real off-season, though. We have more activities throughout the calendar, and of course, we are also looking forward to Chemistry Week in November.

"Our regional education coordinators do a great job in inspiring and encouraging activities around the country, and with our amazing band of volunteers we have a chance to give people a real connection to chemistry, and to enjoy it as much as we do."

Big Bang North West

Katayune Presland, Education Coordinator, North West.

"Both Liverpool and Manchester Local Sections supported the RSC stand at Big Bang North West on 8 July. Five RSC STEM ambassadors from Mexichem, University of Liverpool and Office for Nuclear Regulation crewed the stand which incorporated the RSC’s 2015 Global Experiment looking at hydrogels in nappies and the ‘Viking Nappies experiment’ from the new STEM resource for primary called Experiment with the Vikings – it’s on the Learn Chemistry page.

"Nearly 6,000 schoolchildren attended the event at Aintree racecourse organised by the amazing team at MerseySTEM. The Big Bang North West also hosted the semi-finals of this year’s National Science and Engineering Competition. The Liverpool and Manchester local sections agreed to sponsor an Royal Society of Chemistry prize for experimentation.

"Tom Blain, Rhys Evans, Ella Boswell, and Sam Morris from Mary Webb School and Science College won this prize for an experiment which looked to see if music improved productivity in the classroom."

Sue Thompson, Education Coordinator, East of England.

"We had a very busy stand on a very sunny Saturday 11 July at Cazfest, a music festival in Bishops Stortford. We had over 200 interactions with people at the festival and got some lovely compliments for the stand.

"It’s an unusual festival – it was set up in memory of Caroline Johnstone (Caz) who died very suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart condition in 2008. The money raised from the festival contributes to research into the condition and also to health screening for local teenagers.

"We were also helped by some year 12 students from the school Caz attended, Bishops Stortford High School.”

Charlotte Still, Education Coordinator, North West.

"In June 2015 supported by funds from Lancaster & District Local Section we had a stand on the science show floor at the Lancashire Science Festival. The festival took place over three days at UCLan, attracting over 10,000 visitors. Hundreds of children interacted with our stand looking at the properties of water, and its place in global challenges – they could test the pH and phosphate content of water to check if it was safe to put back into a river; we looked at hydrophobic Magic Sand; we experimented with surface tension; and visitors tried out the 2015 Global Experiment on hydrogels. 

"We had wonderful support from our local section and volunteers – eight local section members, four STEM ambassadors and two students. Thanks to them all for making it a success!"

Sarah Thomas and Beth Anderson, Education Coordinators, South West.

"Enthusiastic members from the Mid-Southern Counties region brought their passion for chemistry to the Bournemouth Air Festival in August. Our stand gave members of the public a chance to explore smell chemistry by guessing the smell of different ice cream flavours. 

"Our display investigating how sun cream protects our skin resonated particularly with one visitor who has had skin cancer, and was very interested to hear how research in nearby university chemistry departments using spectroscopy can speed up diagnosis.

"In all, our beach-themed stand welcomed more than 300 visitors, many of whom had in-depth conversations with our volunteers".

Heather McFarlane, Education Coordinator based at the University of Edinburgh

"Royal Society of Chemistry members and University of Edinburgh staff and students from the school of chemistry joined with scientists from across Scotland to illuminate and entertain over 3,000 people in August at Edinburgh Mela, Scotland’s biggest festival of world music and dance.

"We funded the Science of Spice stall to engage more people with chemistry. Thousands of adults and hundreds of children enjoyed colourful chromatography, playing with pigments, and guessing the smells of some of our favourite flavours. 

"It was a pleasure and a privilege to explore the chemistry of curry at Mela; we had essential oils, raw ingredients and molecular models on display, giving people the chance to find out about antibacterial garlic, why onions make you cry and how cloves help toothache."

Jo Buckley, Education Coordinator, North East.

“I devised ‘Edible Experiments’, and successfully trialled it at the National Science Learning Centre to 221 local students and parents. The experiments relate to individual ingredients and to how certain foods taste or how they interact with each other. In the experiments, participants are invited to try different foods before being asked some basic questions about how they taste to them, and then they find out about the chemistry behind why they taste the way they do. 

"This year has also seen the ‘our future scientists – lighting the spark and fanning the flame’ conference for North Yorkshire teachers, the ‘Exploring STEM for girls’ event, and the first Town Centre Science Fair at Leeds Kirkgate market. Trained ambassadors delivered a range of hands-on activities to members of the public over the course of the day.

"We tested why orange juice tastes horrible after you brush your teeth,
which included trying a range of toothpaste flavours including mint,
berry and watermelon (eugh!).

"I also worked with chocolate!"