Each project had a number of students that specialized in that area. There was some really interesting facts given by the speakers which I think they are understating. The problem I think that they have is that they are so used to all of this information. They have worked around it for years and so the facts that they know and repeat, probably on a daily basis, are really uninteresting to them. To people who do not have a chemical background however, these facts are most interesting.
For instance, in the element scarcity talk, they told us that smart phones contain roughly forty elements, most of which are very rare and valuable. Other interesting statements included information about energy. Apparently, there is more energy from the sunlight that strikes the earth in one hour than is needed for the worlds energy supply in a whole year. One really striking fact was that a ceramic cup has to be used more than one thousand times before it is as energy efficient as a ceramic mug. I had no idea of this! I think that facts like this could be really interesting to illustrate.
After the talk, I got talking with the people who gave the talk about attitudes to chemicals. They wanted to squash any misconceptions about chemicals. The fundamental point here is that not all chemicals are bad. I think that there is huge scope to this project. I like the idea of trying to invent a chemical free product, obveously you cant. Everything is a chemical. I also found the really long chemical names interesting. On my desk is toothpaste. I have turned it over to read the chemical ingredients that are displayed. This toothpaste contains Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Chondrius Crispus apparently also known as Carrageenan, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Mica and Limonene. I think that this highlights the main issue with attitudes to chemicals. They have such long, complicated names. Cocamidopropyl Betaine sounds dangerous, it is not a friendly word at all. It sounds like something you would create in a laboratory. People need to understand that these chemicals are not bad. Language is the main issue with attitudes to chemicals. If these chemicals had friendlier names then they would not be deemed as dangerous. However, I know that I cant change the English language. If I suggest a whole new system for naming chemicals, it is never going to be used. I need to come up with a cleverer solution as to illustrate that these chemicals are not bad.
One idea that I have come up with after reflecting on the talk is to show that everybody is made up of chemicals but in a fun and engaging way.
This is, by no stretch of the imagination, a refined idea. However, one initial I idea I have is to give everybody on entrance to the science fair a t-shirt that says a chemical that they contain and a percentage. This would encourage people to get used to the idea that long chemical names should not be associated with bad connotations. I know that these are not chemicals that I have used here but in fact elements, but it is hard to source chemicals in the human body. I am going to email one of the people who gave the science talks to see if I could obtain a list. It would be great if I found out that there are really obscure chemicals in the body that I have never heard before (I know that there inevitably will be).
This is another idea that I have had. Although it is completed very crudely it is just showing the concept. My idea is that everything at the science fair has labels on that give the chemical names of chemicals which it contains. Here, I have mocked up a table offering free coffee. I have placed a warning sign on the front of the coffee that reads "contains trimethylxanthine". Of course, it is going to contain this chemical because it is the chemical name for caffeine. It would be very interesting though to see how many people avoid the free coffee because of this sign. Again, it is an idea to raise awareness that not all chemicals are bad.
Other ideas that I have had include setting up large scientific experiments and photographing it, with the product of the experiment being a freshly brewed cup of tea. This idea is again helping people understand that even the everyday foods and drinks such as tea are made up of chemicals.
I actually quite like all of these initial ideas. But also, I like the idea of creating a typeface that relates to chemical structures and diagrams. I think that this would be a good way to theme all of my ideas, to produce the text in a typeface that I create that relates to chemistry.
