October 19–25 was a week full of enough science to satisfy your sweet tooth.
The BYU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry celebrated National Chemistry Week by giving students a taste of everything that makes chemistry sweet, including magic shows, special lectures, a symposium by Amano Chocolate featuring the chemistry involved in making chocolate and sweeteners, and, of course, liquid nitrogen ice cream.
A highlight of National Chemistry Week is always the annual chemical magic shows. Throughout the week, professors showed the community the magic of science through colored fire, lasers, and explosions.
“In our society, people assume that science is hard, and sometimes it is, but sometimes it’s fun. And you need the fun stuff so that when it’s hard you can keep believing it’s worth doing,” said Dr. Matthew Asplund, who has been running chemical magic shows for twelve years. “I love to show kids that yeah, there are things that are hard to understand, but there are things that are awesomely cool.”
Chemistry students have the opportunity to help share science with the community by participating at the magic shows as lab assistants and as members of BYU’s Y-Chem club.
“I like working at the magic shows and sharing chemistry with the community,” said Jake Hall, a junior chemistry major. “It’s fun to see the kids’ reactions when they watch the explosions.”
During the week, students had the opportunity to listen to presentations by distinguished lecturer Dr. Alexandra Navrotsky, a renowned materials chemist from the University of California, Davis. On the last day of National Chemistry Week, students from BYU and surrounding universities presented their own work at a research poster session sponsored by the Central Utah Section of the American Chemical Society.
In addition to helping with magic shows, Y-Chem also used liquid nitrogen to instantly freeze ice cream and sold it to raise funds for their club activities. This year Y-Chem also sold limited edition chemistry mugs for patrons to enjoy their ice cream in.
“National Chemistry week is really fun,” said Tamara Hansen, Y-Chem president and a senior chemistry major. “I liked making the ice cream because it helps everybody see that chemistry is fun—and delicious!”