Wonders of the Earth Chemistry Demonstration

Year 3 Pupils from Kingsholm C of E Primary school joined King's Key Stage 2 pupils for an afternoon assembly watching ‘The Wonders of the Earth’ lecture-demonstration given by Sibongile Twala (SciBono Science Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa) and Jonny Furze (Bristol ChemLabS at the University of Bristol). 

The demonstration focused on the uniqueness of Earth’s atmosphere and how this leads to abundant and diverse life, introducing the different gases in the air around us and some of their properties, including how oxygen is produced and why nitrogen is much more interesting when it cools down. The processes of combustion and photosynthesis were also explained and there were many links throughout to the topic of ‘Solids, Liquids & Gases’.  Throughout the talk there were exciting demonstrations involving liquid nitrogen, oxygen foam, dry ice and a few explosions!  Mrs Haas had a special birthdy treat and was allowed to light a balloon to see which gas was inside.