17 November 2018: The Barnes & Noble bookstore in the Mesilla Valley Mall hosted us for a book fair. As part of our activities there, Board chair and teacher Vince Gutschick did a 40-minute science demo. He made the video into four segments, adding some later videos showing details. The contents, and their links on YouTube, are:
- A nearly levitating magnet, a beautiful and reversible color change achieved with acid and base, a violet laser excites fluorescence in a basil plant leaf and on a brightener-treated paper, and the audience tries out spectroscopes to see light split into its spectrum. https://youtu.be/DI7kBt-1c9E
- Liquid nitrogen chills a leaf and marshmallows, and they shatter like glass. The audience sees and handles a very common chemical element, guessing at what it is, then finding out about how it’s exquisitely refined. https://youtu.be/jbZLC2_q5Ms
- What does a deuteranope (color-blind person) see, and how can we experience the effect with color filters? Liquid nitrogen returns, to change the contents of a balloon into liquid air. It also rolls across the floor in very mobile globules and is also demonstrated as non-toxic. https://youtu.be/HHnD0bq2zGo
- The audience handles another chemical element, only common in a tummy remedy. A magnetic liquid climbs up a beaker wall and creates an elegant display. We have a quick look at a liquid crystal (the video hit 2 GB and the camera shut down; the last few minutes were not recorded). https://youtu.be/G2NT-CYY4pk
