Colorful liquids, in all sorts of bottles. Bonds, polymers, liquid to solid. Liquid nitrogen, negative-200 celsius. All in Ms. MacAulay’s classroom.

An outreach program from MIT, made for the college kids to share their love of science with us, chose Watertown Middle School for a science demo. Mike and Kurt, both students at MIT, volunteered for the program and to share their excitement.

They showed a few different demos, some of the coolest things science has to offer. One thing they did was testing the Ph, or acidity, of different liquids. For example, they combined lemon juice and another special liquid that reveals the Ph. The lemon juice turned a startling blue! The scientists did this with many other different liquids we interact with in our daily lives.

Another thing they worked with were polymers, or molecular bonds. A bowling ball is a perfect example of polymers. It is actually one big molecule made up of lots of them bonded together. To demonstrate what polymers are, Mike and Kurt used a chemical called hexamethylenediamine, something that is also a toxin and can cause cancers. They put it in a vial with a different chemical, called sebacoyl chloride. Then, into the vial they put a thin strip of metal. They pulled the piece out slowly. Following it was a cloth-like substance, something alike to nylon. They had made a solid out of a liquid!

Their last experiment was with liquid nitrogen, a whopping negative-200 degrees celsius. This is only 73 degrees above absolute zero. They used the liquid nitrogen in a bunch of different ways, but arguably the coolest time was when they poured it onto the floor. The white crystals spilled out of the bucket, slightly burning (or freezing, actually) those who had body parts too close to the strange substance. All in all, frightening while brilliant.

The reaction from WMS students was awe.

Megan K., one of the seventh-grade observers, was very positive about it all.

“It was cool, fascinating, and I learned a lot, ” she said with a grin.

The whole program was very cool, and WMS students were lucky to see such amazing things that science has to offer.

–May 17, 2013–