Outreach
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Sparks fly at Open Day They came to make 'Elephant Toothpaste', enjoy the Liquid Nitrogen Magic Show and zinc plate their own coins. But along the way, visitors to our annual Open Day — including alumni and their families — learned how to extract DNA from strawberries and discovered the structure of molecules by making models of them. The Department of Chemistry runs an Open Day every year as part of the Cambridge Science Festival. Hundreds of people come through our doors and enjoy exploring aspects of chemistry from the explosive to the illuminating. And they thoroughly enjoy it. The volunteers have a good time too. Undergraduate student Navyaa Mathur, who was helping out at the event for the first time, said: “I really enjoyed it. It was a challenge explaining the science to children of a wide range of ages and temperaments, but a very satisfying one. My favourite thing was when a child really understood a concept that they’d encountered for the first time, or when they asked further questions about the science.”
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“The lecture was inspiring: we played ‘find the element’ all the way home!”
Navyaa added: “I also like that the experiment was not reduced to just doing the steps with minimal explanation of the science: as demonstrators, we were encouraged to explain each step and encourage critical thinking. “ Open Day always includes a demonstration lecture by our Teaching Fellow Dr Peter Wothers. This year, he devoted his lecture – ’Table Talk’ – to the Periodic Table and audiences loved watching him demonstrate how atomic structure gives rise to a diverse range of chemical properties from metals that explode in water to elements that enable things to burn. One parent, Jane Herbert, tweeted: “Awesome time: plenty of big bangs at the @peterwothers talk, and ice cream! Kids and I loved it.” Another parent, Julie Aspin, also took to Twitter to praise the event. “Kids inspired by this superb lecture on the Periodic Table,” she posted. “We played ‘find the element’ all the way home on the bus!” •
We gratefully acknowledge The Walters Kundert Charitable Trust whose support makes it possible for us to put on this annual event.
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ISSUE 5 Spring 2019