Let’s be honest. There’s some part of chemistry that everyone enjoys, whether it’s being able to mess with cool glassware, atomic theory, Lewis structures, or all of the above. But there’s not much time in school to be able to have fun with chemistry in the ways you want to. For the most part, classes limit you to whatever the day’s lab is, leaving your more personal interests behind. The new IHS ChemClub is here to change that by giving interested students an environment to experiment and explore nearly anything in chemistry.
ChemClub has been meeting periodically in Mr. Slattery’s room on Tuesday afternoons since the beginning of the school year (really hit your neon that one, didn’t you?). In ChemClub, we perform experiments that range from the classic “elephant toothpaste” reaction to more extreme ones, like detonating thermite. We plan to bring in speakers from the local American Chemical Society (ACS) chapter to talk about what they study. The club also is scheduled to perform demonstrations at the local Sciencenter as well as at various elementary and middle schools in the district later in the year.
We make up one of the many ACS ChemClubs across the country but are the first to reside in the Twin Tiers region. Integration with ACS gives the club access to many speakers from the local chapter and easier access to outreach opportunities, both of which are essential to the goals of the club. By the end of the year, we hope to take full advantage of all of the resources we get through this partnership, including a possible field trip to the Cornell chemistry labs.
In the weeks to come, the club is planning all sorts of exciting experiments, which include preparing liquid-nitrogen ice cream (which, of course, will be eaten), extracting bismuth from Pepto-Bismol (yes, you can do that!), burning magnesium in dry ice, and many more.
Overall, the IHS ChemClub is the ultimate place to explore chemistry in a collaborative setting and perform experiments you might not have been able to otherwise. It’s a club that looks to explore the science for personal interest, but also aims to give back to the community. If you’re interested, come find us on Tuesdays in Mr. Slattery’s room! We’d love to have you.