Once again, National Chemistry Week in Edmonton was riotously successful. There can be no doubt that our sponsors contributed immensely towards making the event a success. Our main sponsors and their contributions are: the downtown STAPLES store (thanks go especially to store manager Austen Reed) donated a much needed ten litres of white glue for making silly putty; The Science Shop, Southgate Centre, donated countless packages of litmus papers, pH papers, and Stiffy Stuff as well as two $10 gift certificates for the prize draw we had running for the duration of NCW; PRAXAIR Inc and Raylo Chemicals donated several kilograms of dry ice for our floating bubbles exhibit; West Edmonton Mall, Sherwood Park Mall, St. Albert Centre, Bonnie Doon Mall and Southgate Centre provided public service booths free of charge; and last, but not least, Gale Thirlwall Wilbee and the CIC National Office gave our NCW efforts much needed help in the way of a local section grant, the all important insurance coverage, and ever prompt service in obtaining all the supplies necessary for giving the CIC and chemistry in Canada a prominent profile in the community. I especially liked those stunning new blue furkins.
The all day blitz at West Edmonton Mall this year was somewhat of a nightmare for the two hours that I was without volunteers due to a couple of cancellations. Fortunately, Vlad Klabnikov and his daughter came to my rescue in the nick of time and probably saved my sanity in doing so …WEM can be rather hectic. In all of the other malls we exhibited this year the number of children, young and old, who were enthralled with what we had to offer was such that we rarely had any time to relax. Our exhibits also caught the attention of home-schooling parents, elementary teachers, and junior high school teachers. In most instances we were able to offer these individuals web addresses and pamphlets with helpful tips for home and classroom experiments / demonstrations. We had to turn down several requests for entertaining birthday parties …I joke not!
The new demonstrations added to this year’s Mall Science exhibit included: bubbles floating on CO2(g) and then promptly freezing when they landed on the dry ice; a simple camera made from a potato chip tube; lighting a candle without actually touching it with a flame; the CO2(g) fire extinguisher; a candle burning under a partially water filled balloon that steadfastly refused to burst; a lemon and orange powered clock; the exothermic reaction of vinegar and steel wool; and the absolutely fascinating circulation of vegetable dye in milk disturbed with the merest hint of detergent. Of course we also exhibited the usual round of silly putty, coffee filter chromatography, household chemical pH/litmus, and surface tension of water demonstrations.
One other notable addition to this year’s Mall Science was our NCW Prize Draw. Two grand prizes and six other secondary prizes were awarded to children, mostly in the Edmonton region who successfully answered a skill testing question such as
After which person is the
element Curium named?
After which person is the element Fermium named?
After which star is the element Helium named?
After which country is the element Francium named?
After which country is the element Polonium named
After which state is the element Californium named?
After which character is the element Nickel named?
…and other questions.
The Grand Prize winners (a $10 gift certificate to the Science Shop, NCW water bottle, furkin, pencil, badge, fridge magnet, and periodic table) are Nawreen Hena(5) and Nur Sabrina Jamal (6).
Our regular prize winners are, Nikolai Radisic (15), Kelsey Auger (9), Robinin MacMillan (8), Samantha Thomson (7), Erika Lynn Manning (11), Toren Brazeau (6), and Patrick de Montigny (9).
Congratulations go to all our prize winners …the prize draw is a feature we’ll be sure to keep for the future.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the Edmonton Section’s NCW Mall Science event would not be the spectacle it is without the unstinting efforts of our volunteers. The volunteers that we'd like to thank are: (If I have miss-spelt your name or misrepresented your affiliation, or neglected to mention altogether, I apologize in advance)
Name
Organization
Lucio Gelmini
Grant McEwan Community College (Communications)
Michel Landry
Edmonton Separate School Board/J.H Picard School
Kathy O’grady-Morris
Edmonton Separate School Board/Holy Trinity School
Angelo Fernando
Chemical Engineer
Ken Schmidt
DK Scientific
Claudia Johnston
Westaim
Mike Cox
Chemistry Teacher (retired)
Vlad Klebnikov/daughter Neeja
Pharmaceuticals
Lisa Nikolai
University of Alberta
Amy McDonald
University of Alberta
Seet Tan
EPCOR
Dietmar Kennepohl
Athabasca University
Sam Zondervan
Kings University College
Grace Strom
Kings University College
Naomi Jackson
Kings University College
J.P. Brouwer
Kings University College
Jerilee Haverkamp
Kings University College
Jennifer Corbett
Kings University College
Lindsay Nanninga
Kings University College
Jesse Meints
Kings University College
Curtiss Vanderzee
Kings University College
Andrew Mah
The Mah Family
Vicky Wan
Edmonton Public School Board/McNally School
Angel Yu
Edmonton Public School Board/McNally School
Ian Phillips
Edmonton Public School Board/McNally School
Lindsay Phillips
Edmonton Public
School Board/Victoria School
Roger Cowles
Syncrude Research
Robin Nichol’s colleague Raylo Chemicals (I’m sorry his name escapes
me)
Roger Kirchen
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
Thanks must also got to the Mall Administrators who so kindly accepted the bookings and arranged for equipment at the various malls as follows:
Administrator MallThanks to all involved for your help,
Ian Phillips
CIC Edmonton Local Section
National Chemistry Week Coordinator