Picture Perfect Chemistry!
By Jigisha Shah
This year, Silicon Valley ACS celebrated National Chemistry Week with great pomp and splendor. A variety of chemistry-related hands-on activities and school visits, all aimed at involving the general public in explorations of the different facets of chemistry were a part of this event.
On 19 October 2024, we staged the section’s primary NCW public outreach event in the San Jose public library, gathering volunteers from colleges, acquiring materials for hands-on activities for hundreds of youngsters.
- Kids had a lot of fun investigating the fluorescence of a variety of everyday items like fruits, tonic water, vitamins, detergents, olive oil, highlighters under a black light. Did you know that poinsettia plants glow under black light?
- Younger explorers were captivated with handmade spectroscopes and UV bracelets. They watched different lights with diffraction gratings!
- Puzzle players enjoyed assembling ACS Imagine Imaging flat flexible magnet which features three different cut-out shapes, a magnetic probe, and a base. When all the pieces are placed face down, you can use the magnetic probe to feel the pattern within the magnetic field. Kiddos used this pattern to place the pieces and then flip the puzzle over for visual confirmation.
- A huge favorite this year was the experiment where young scientists had an opportunity to make cyanotype images. We used UV flashlights to illuminate Starlight® paper to capture some fantastic images using film negatives and through stencils
- We played with glow-in-the-dark paper and different color LED lights. Light causes the electrons in the paper to get excited to a higher energy level, and when the electrons fall back down to the ground state, they give off a greenish glow. Red light does not have enough energy to excite the electrons, so you don’t get any glow. Blue light has more energy, and it’s enough to excite some of the electrons to a higher energy level. Violet light has even more energy, and it can excite just about every electron it comes in contact with, creating a lot of glowing awesomeness.
- Kids got to roll a dice to win some cool science merch!
We presented the Salute to Excellence award to Bridget Kowalczyk for championing and fostering the National Chemistry Week and Chemists Celebrate Earth Day events in collaboration with SVACS. She works tirelessly to create an excellent learning environment for curious children.
As a part of NCW celebration, we also collaborated with the Redwood City Library to have middle school scientists explore ‘Picture Perfect Chemistry’ and ‘Chemistry of Fluorescence’ at the library Makerspace on 5 October and 11 November 2024!
Lastly and most importantly, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to volunteers who donate their time and expertise. These programs are the result of the hard work of many dedicated and talented volunteers. It all starts with our local section’s enthusiastic members. They recommend, test, and review experiments; collect supplies and materials; prepare the kits with the help of undergraduate students from colleges around us; recruit sponsors and volunteers; contact venues; and make these amazing events happen. I would especially like to thank Natalie McClure, Avni Gandhi, Amanda Nelson, Karan Dikshit, NV and Melody Esfandiari. Additional credit goes to students from San Jose State University who gave up their Saturdays to help assemble materials, lead demonstrations and activities to super enthusiastic kids. Without you all, National Chemistry would never have been as successful!
