25 September 2015
5pm - 8.30pm
King's Manor, Huntingdon Room (map)
FREE admission
No booking required
Wheelchair accessible
We receive enough energy from the sun in one day to power the world for one year. If we can harness this energy we could, in principle, obtain all the power we need cleanly and sustainably. As a celebration of the International Year of Light we will demonstrate with interactive activities that we can already capture light and obtain useful chemical products or electrical currents. There will be fun hands-on activities for the younger visitors and experts to answer more scientific questions for the older audience. As chemists, we work with metal compounds that interact strongly with light and show a range of beautiful colors, so be ready to be dazzled!
Even in 1912 Italian scientist Ciamician knew that oil would run out and we would have to look to the sun as a sustainable energy source…
“And if in a distant future the supply of coal becomes completely exhausted, civilization will not be checked by that, for life and civilization will continue as long as the sun shines!”
Ciamician, G. The photochemistry of the future. Science 36, 385-394 (1912)