Prep School Chemistry Traveling “Magic Show”
Each year, the Prep School Science Department participates in the STEM outreach program to support local elementary school's science departments. Capt David Alvarado headed up this year's program, and took the cadet candidates from the Prep School to a local elementary school here in Colorado Springs to perform their Traveling “Magic Show.”
The demonstrations that made up the Chemistry "Magic" Show were:
- Whoosh Bottle - Where they added methanol to a 5-gal jug and ignited it.
- Sword In Stone - The vacuum chamber where the kids tried to pull the"sword" (lid) from an evacuated chamber.
- Dragon Snot (Normally known as Elephant Toothpaste) - the reaction with potassium iodide and hydrogen peroxide to create hydrogen gas and water.The foam was caused by the soap and the hydrogen bubbling through it.
- Acid Breath - Where 5 members blew into a pink, basic solution. Their breath acidified the solution neutralizing the base, thus turning the solution clear.
- Rainbow Connections - They had 5 beakers with different pH indicators in them. As a basic solution, the solutions were colored. When the base was neutralized and the solution turned acidic, the color disappeared. They scrambled the solutions, and then added base to make them guess which container was which.
- Fire Hands - They bubble propane through soapy water. The bubbles were essentially propane-filled. This was where they lit that person's hands on fire.
- Jelly bean teleportation - They melted potassium chlorate (strong oxidizer) and added a jellybean (sugar). The melted oxidizer rapidly burnt/oxidized in an exothermic reaction.
The students that attended were:
C/C Volunteers:
- Grundvig, Devon
- Murphy, Jeremy
- Kohler, Luke
- Gonzalez, Bradley
- Bussey, Elijah
- Brown, Richard
- Aragon, Eernesto
C/C Gonzalez was the MC for the presentation.
To view all of the event photos go to Classes – Prep School - Prep Academic Studies or click the link below.