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Show features chemistry wonders
Kaitlyn Tappenden is only 11, but she knows that she wants to be a chemist someday.
"I like the reactions, how the different chemicals react," she says.
The Rossville schoolgirl was among more than 50 people who showed up Saturday for "The Color of Chemistry," a fast-paced, one-hour scientific program staged in Purdue University's Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry.
Paul Smith, director of lecture demonstration, used a host of chemicals and apparatus to create solutions that glowed in the dark, foamed, smoked, sparked, turned brilliant colors and spiraled like silent mini tornadoes encased in glass cylinders.
The chemistry department has been hosting such demonstrations each fall for about 35 years. They're designed to introduce the public to science and get youngsters interested in the field.
"I came last year for extra credit, and it was a lot of fun," Tappenden said. "I liked pretty much all of it this year, the reactions and how things changed color."
Her favorite -- and, based on all the gasps, the crowd favorite -- was "The Giant's Toothpaste." When Smith poured dye into hydrogen peroxide, a column of creamy foam gushed out of a large glass cylinder and nearly filled the sink it was standing in.
"Don't try this at home," Smith told his audience, formed mainly of grade school and high school students.
Smith offers various themed chemistry demon-strations, but "The Color of Chemistry" is a favorite. Even fellow chemists are often amazed by how various chemicals change colors, he said.
"I'm taking a chemistry class now. My dad and my teacher kind of wanted me to see this, to see the reactions and the experiments," said Johnathon Liu, a sophomore at West Lafayette High School and the son of a polymer chemist.
Classmate Elizabeth Ryba said she's interested in the field, but attended Saturday's program mainly to earn extra points.
The focus on color, she said, provided "an easy way to see what's going on."
Many people get their knowledge of chemistry from TV shows such as CSI, said Tim Grala, a demonstration lab assistant who is majoring in chemistry and chemical engineering.
"They do these magical things that are not necessarily true," said Grala, of Lindenhurst, Ill.