What makes jellyfish glow in the dark?
Posted on 18 August 2008
These are just some of the questions that will be answered for students from schools across the UK and Ireland taking part in a residential Salters’ Chemistry Camp for 15-year olds at the University of York this week.
The Camp from 18 to 21 August will give the 50 students the chance to sample the relevance of chemistry and motivate them to develop both awareness of and a long-term interest in the subject through an action-packed programme.
Just about all 15 year olds...have a mobile phone and I think that it brings chemistry to life if they can understand some of the science behind their high-tech gadgets
Dr Annie Hodgson
Each student will be given an opportunity to tackle a variety of new activities. They will explore the reasons why jellyfish glow in the dark, enjoy getting messy in the soap and bubbles activity and get the chance to make and purify their own sample of Benzocaine, a local anaesthetic!
They will also prepare a liquid crystal similar to those used in laptops and flat screen televisions and have fun ‘decorating’ a plain white T-shirt in the ‘Dyes and Dyeing’ activity.
Dr Annie Hodgson, of the University’s Department of Chemistry who is organising the Camp, said: "I am excited about the introduction this year of some activities to investigate liquid crystals. Just about all 15 year olds these days have a mobile phone and I think that it brings chemistry to life if they can understand some of the science behind their high-tech gadgets."
In addition, students will be able to see chemistry applied in industry by visiting the CRODA Site. But it is not all chemistry — there is a varied social programme for the Campers including a sports evening, tenpin bowling and a Ghost Walk!
The Salters’ Chemistry Camp at The University of York is sponsored by: - The Salters’ Institute; Croda; The Armourers and Brasiers’ Company; The Association for the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI); The Company of Merchant Adventurers of the City of York; Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE); Sigma Aldrich; The Royal Society and The Royal Society of Chemistry.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- The Camps are residential events held at eleven universities throughout the UK. The first Camps were held in 1998. The aim of the Camps is to develop both awareness of and a long-term interest in the subject through an action-packed week's programme which includes hands-on practical work in the university labs, together with lectures, an interesting site visit to a local company and a variety of social activities in the evenings.
- Each Camp hosts fifty 15-year olds from a variety of schools across the country. Each school can nominate four candidates to attend a Camp. The Camps are staffed by a University Host, a Lead Teacher and a team of five teachers. The students and teachers are accommodated in a University Hall of Residence. During the last seven years over 3,350 students have experienced life at a Salters’ Chemistry Camp. Another 850 students will join this total in 2008.
- Since 1998 sponsorship in support of the Camps has been raised from over forty companies.
- The Salters’ Company is one of the Great Twelve City of London Livery Companies and was founded in 1394 for the medieval trade in salt. The Company’s activities today are centred on charitable and educational giving. The Salters’ Institute, established in 1918, and now the Flagship Charity of the Salters’ activities, aims to promote the appreciation of chemistry and related sciences among the young and to encourage careers in the teaching of chemistry and in the UK chemical and allied industries.
- The Institute’s three core activities are the Salters’ Chemistry Club and Salters’ Festivals of Chemistry for 11 to 14 year olds; Salters’ Chemistry Camps for those aged 15, in partnership with other scientific institutions, and Curriculum Development, undertaken at The University of York, including Salters’ GCSE Science and Twenty First Century Science and Salters’ Advanced Chemistry, Salters’ Horners Advanced Physics and Salters’-Nuffield Advanced Biology.
- Other Institute activities include: The Salters’ Graduate Prizes, Salters’-Nuffield Advanced Biology Prizes, Salters’ Advanced Chemistry Prizes, Salters’ Horners Advanced Physics Prizes, Salters’ City and Guilds Prizes, and annual events including a Seminar hosted on behalf of the Chemical Education Group (the eleven major institutions involved with Chemical Education), Chemistry and the Law Lecture in association with Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw and culminating with the Salters’ Awards Ceremony which is held in November of each year at Salters’ Hall.
- The Department of Chemistry at the University of York has an excellent reputation for teaching and research. In the last Research Assessment Exercise the department was awarded a 5 rating and was rated by the NSS as the leading chemistry department in the UK for student satisfaction. It is led by prize-winners in all areas of chemistry. It has over 50 members