Simon Davies's Blog
Posted by Simon Davies
The end of the autumn term and the run up to Christmas brings and opportunity for science teachers to do some fun science and to make a mess.
This year one experiment which I hadn't seen before was the Mentos and Diet Coke Geyser. This experiment is actually a YouTube phenomenon, as a quick search will verify. It simply involves opening a 2 litre bottle of Diet Coke, quickly dropping in 5 or six Mento sweets and standing back! We got a Coke Geyser of about 7 feet.
This Link has an article by the "Myth Busters" in which the phenomenon is explained. What seems to happen is that the coating on the mento sweets dissolves in the Coke, rapidly causing the properties of the liquid to change, reducing its ability to hold the carbon dioxide in solution. Suddenly lots of carbon dioxide gas bubbles are released, causing the dramatic effects.
Its a fun, safe thing to try in your garden/yard, but don't put the lid of the bottle back on!
Posted by Simon Davies
I have been very quiet for a while. In part that was because I was moving from one European country to another, which meant that I was without an Internet connection. I also changed jobs.
Now I work as a Science Technician in a British secondary school. Now I am sure that you can all remember the science technicians at your school – those shadowy figures in lab coats that pottered around in the back of the school laboratory pushing trolleys loaded with ancient instruments mounted on wooden blocks!
What is a Science Technician and what do they do?
Science Technicians are ordinary people with some interest in and knowledge of science. Their sole purpose in life is to help science teachers teach science. When a teacher wants to make an exciting explosion to enthuse their pupils over chemistry, they simply ask the technicians to prepare the dangerous mixture of chemicals and place it in the fume cupboard just before the lesson.
Science teachers are a breed apart. They are passionate about science and live to communicate their passion with generation after generation of children. Unfortunately they have a lack of perspective when safety issues are concerned. Science technicians are the only hope for the prevention of serious damage to school property and pupils. They also have lots of clearing up and washing up to do.
In the last two weeks I have had to deal with apparatus full of chlorine gas in a broken fume cupboard, dodged home made water rockets outside the prep room and washed at least three thousand test tubes! Further stories to follow…
Posted by Simon Davies
The United Kingdom has been criticised over recent years for its failure to keep up with new drugs available for treating cancer patients. News from the University of Leicester, however, shows that when it comes to research into these drugs, the UK is leading the way.
Leicester University has been leading the British clinical research into cancer treatments with the Department of Chemistry a key component of that research. Dr Paul Jenkins, who has a large amount of expertise in developing chemotherapy treatment, has been instrumental in setting up a new taught course for chemistry graduates.
The aim of the course is to equip graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the vitally important cancer research work. The treatment of cancer by chemotherapy involves intervening in the biological pathways in the body which produce cancer cells. Students on the course will learn about the biological pathways themselves and about how drugs can be produced to interfere with those pathways. The aim of research into these areas at the present time is to find chemicals which succeed in impeding the cancer growth, but with less side effects than the ones currently used.
This course is a very positive step forward in the battle against cancer, which seems more and more to be affecting a broad cross-section of the population of the world.
Posted by Simon Davies
Some scientists have all the luck!
The Spanish are famous for their wine, so it is apt that they should also study it. A group of researchers at the University of Zaragoza have been trying to find out which chemicals cause the smells in wine, and they have made an important breakthough recently.
Wine is such a complex mix of ingredient chemicals that it is not as simple as just separating the different chemicals and smelling them. This is because the chemicals actually interact with one another to either enhance or suppress certain smells. The chemists had previously discovered a compound which gives the fruity smell, called an ester.
Their research involved making mixtures of just some of the wine constituents and then having a panel of "smellers" who would try out the odours. They found that some chemicals, for example ethanol, a major component of wine, suppressed the scent of the esters. Others,however, enhanced the smell.
I just hope that this research does not lead to artificially produced or enhanced wines. Just keep an eye on those cheap Spanish wines!
Posted by Simon Davies
The British Prime Minister has resigned and apologised for his mistakes, but noises coming from a science campaigning group are not all negative.
In an article on the website of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Peter Cotgreave, director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering in the UK, has given an analysis of Blair's ten years of power which begins on a very positive note. He is pleased with Blair's influence which has greatly increased the funding to the Research Councils and has also supported other initiatives.
All is not rosy however. There has been evidence of a lack of understanding of science from the Labour government in its demands of science. And the greatest failure of all is in... education. As I have raised in this blog before, the state of Science education in the UK is disastrous. Peter Cotgreave states that there are half a million children in the UK at schools where there is no chemistry teacher.
Some welcome positive comments about poor old Tony, but definitely "could do better"
