On Friday 28 February, our Lower Sixth students were joined by Professor David Read from the University of Southampton, for a lecture on 'Applications of Chemistry: Everything you ever wanted to know about chemistry…but were too scared to ask!'
Professor Read’s lectures are known for being interactive, light-hearted and informative, but also recognised for explaining science in the real world, and so our students (especially our chemists!) were very excited for his presentation.
Using the Vevox app, Professor Read began his lecture by finding out what the girls thought of chemistry. Most of the answers from the interactive poll revealed that most students ‘quite enjoyed it’, and associated the subject with words such as ‘experiments, elements and reactions’.
Professor Read’s own definition of chemistry is as follows:
“Chemistry is the study of matter, its properties, how and why substances combine or separate to form another substance, and how substances interact with energy. Success in chemistry depends on the ability to visualise the unobservable.”
Through his lecture, Professor Read addressed the questions of:
‘What makes chemistry difficult?’,
‘Why is this a problem?’,
‘What can chemistry do for us?’ and
‘How will chemistry save the world?’
Professor Read explained that one of the things that many people find difficult about chemistry is the fact that “success in chemistry depends on the ability to visualise the unobservable.”
There are three levels of chemistry: macroscopic, how we see things with our eyes; sub-microscopic, how atoms are presented in a diagram; and symbolic, the letters and numbers used to identify chemicals in equations.
Understanding all three levels can be very difficult as they are all presented in different ways, which can be a problem in retaining interest for chemistry.
However, technology is starting to change this. Professor Read showed a video clip of an experiment he had performed in his own lab. The experiment involved cooling a balloon using liquid nitrogen, and observing what happened to the gases inside the balloon. This experiment was fairly to easy to understand when presented in a visual macroscopic form.
When it came to understanding the sub-microscopic and symbolic levels of the experiment, which are usually seen as more difficult to understand, Professor Read showed our students a useful website which displayed these levels in an interactive visual setting. Many of our students found this much easier to understand than diagrams and equations.
“Technology now helps us to visualise the sub-microscopic world” Professor Read exclaimed.
So, what can chemistry do for us, and how will chemistry save the world?
Professor Read showed our students some examples of amazing inventions made by chemists. These included Kevlar, a lightweight material that is five times stronger than steel; graphene, the thinnest, strongest substance known to science; and a plastic made from fish waste, designed by a university student from Hull.
“This is the kind of thing that is going to solve the problems we have in the world – young people like you coming up with good ideas and putting them into practice” Professor Read told our girls.
With the life expectancy of UK residents having doubled in the past 150 years (from 40 years to 83), and substantial evidence of man-made activity causing climate change, chemistry is more important than ever in creating new medicines and finding new ways to save the environment.
This lecture was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended and showed that our young chemists and Women in STEM can be confident that, with their knowledge and resilience, the younger generation can solve some of the modern world’s greatest issues, to create better lives for all.
