Plutonium Chapter Wine and Cheese Social
Plutonium members and friends gather at All Fired Up in West Lafayette to paint pottery, chat, and enjoy a nice wine and cheese spread.
Girl Scout Day 2016
Saturday, April 16
Fifteen Girl Scouts from Central Indiana Junior troop numbers 169, 181, 442, 600, 1696, 2662, and 2667 came to Purdue’s campus for a fun-filled day of experiments and getting to know Plutonium members and volunteers.
Purdue Chemistry Laboratories Director Jeannie Meyer gives the Girl Scouts an introductory safety course.
The girls were able to learn about the chemistry behind various cosmetics like lip balm and bath fizzies, and explore the intricacies of density, surface tension, and polymers!
Valentines for Veterans
Plutonium Chapter members spent a night watching romantic comedies, eating Valentine’s Day sweets, and making handmade Valentines for veterans at the Indiana Veteran’s Home. The event was organized by Social Chair Kristina Kesley.
National Chemistry Week 2015
About 200 volunteers set out to the elementary schools in the Tippecanoe area to demonstrate and lead fun experiments for the children to participate in. About 2,000 kids were able to participate in this year’s theme, “Chemistry Colors Our World“. The week-long event was organized by Plutonium Chapter Co-Outreach Coordinators Jessi Roman, Alex Madsen, and Alyssa Snyder.
Students watched as different food colorings separated along a piece of chalk to show the technique of chromatography, used to separate chemical components in the laboratory.
Red cabbage juice was used as a pH indicator and taught the children the difference between acidic and basic solutions, turning red for acids and blue for bases.
Students learned the basics of hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions as they dipped dish soap in food coloring-spotted milk and watched as it dispersed into interesting designs!
Students were awed to see the effects of celery and carnations “drinking” food coloring-dyed water and how it turned all of the insides a different color!
The oxidizing power of bleach was demonstrated as food-cooing dyed water slowly turned colorless in a disappearing colors experiment.
The Plutonium Chapter is very grateful for our National Chemistry Week sponsors.
