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Chemistry Club prepares show of spooky demos that go ‘boo’ – and ‘boom’ – tonight in Faraday

October 24, 2013

NIU Chem Club demonstrationThe Northern Illinois University Chemistry Club invites the public to its fall 2013 Chemistry Demo Night at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, in Faraday Hall 143.

The theme  will be “When Chemistry Gets Spooky,” and experiments will highlight the more crowd-pleasing aspects of chemistry – explosions, fire and bright and colorful reactions.

“The demo night will feature a variety of experiments, ranging from igniting some loose change to creeping columns of carbon rising out of unassuming beakers,” says Gregory Urquizo, Chem Demo coordinator. “Unlike some of our previous semesters’ work, this semester’s Chem Demo night will feature chemistry experiments that can’t be performed at home.”

Faculty advisors helping with this year’s demo preparations include Marc Adler, Timothy HagenOliver Hofstetter and Chong Zheng. “The Chem Demo night is a great tradition in our department,” says Jon Carnahan, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “We are proud of our chemistry students for organizing this event and look forward to putting on an exciting show for the community.”

Demonstrations will include burning money, exploding bubbles, colored fire, making glow sticks, elephant toothpaste and exploding candy. The evening also will feature a Chem Club specialty – liquid nitrogen ice cream.

The experiments planned for the evening will include loud bangs, bright flashes of light and intermittent periods of low light and/or darkness. For safety precautions, members of the audience are asked to not sit in the bottom row of seating in Faraday Hall 143.

Parking will be available in the NIU Parking Deck along the west side of Normal Road, about one block north of Lincoln Highway (Route 38). The first floor of the parking deck will be available for general parking after 5:30 p.m., except for reserved and handicapped spaces.

For more information, e-mail gurquizo@niu.edu or visit the Chemistry Club’s website.