PhD candidate, Chemistry
Duke University, Durham, NC
James's Volunteer Activities
At Duke University, I participated for four years in the Chemistry demonstration team, under the supervision of Dr. Kenneth Lyle. Our main objective was to present demonstrations of chemical principles to community organizations, such as schools, libraries, state fairs, and university programs to increase interest in science education, specifically in chemical education.
The demonstrations performed covered a range of chemical principles from basic states of matter to chemical kinetics and equilibrium. Skills that were of particular use to me were the ability to explain complex scientific concepts in terms that children as low as 2nd grade could understand, as well as the ability to lead students to answers, instead of just telling them. It was also a challenge to identify everyday examples that could tie in to the principles being demonstrated, making them more relevant to the viewer, as well as finding ways to stimulate interest in an occasionally jaded audience.
Demonstrations included in my repertoire, and the principles that could be applied:
- Decomposition of hydrogen peroxide - Catalysis
- Oscillating clock reaction - Chemical kinetics, self-propagating reactions
- Hydrogen balloons - Chemical bond energy, alternative fuels
- Thermite - Enthalpy of reaction, activation energy
- Gold pennies - Elecrochemical cells, alloys
- Freeze board - Endothermic reactions
- Supersaturated solutions - Exothermic reactions, reversible reactions
- Electrolysis of water - Electrochemical cells
- Carbide Cannon - Bond energy
- Kitchen slime - Polymerization reactions, hydrogen bonding
- Coffee filter chromatography - Separation techniques, intermolecular interactions
- Nickel solution color changes - Chemical equilibrium, transition metal chemistry
- Fun with Liquid Nitrogen - Phase changes
- Assorted dry ice demos - Phase changes, properties of carbon dioxide
- Combustion of hydrocarbons - bond energies, alternative fuels
- Electrochemical cells - redox chemistry
Assorted images from Demonstration Shows:
