Essex embraces addictive excitement of hands-on chemistry

The Essex section’s journey into public outreach started in 2018 when we were invited to assist with the Basildon Street Science event, writes Sarah Phillips. The collection of scientific organisations assembled ranged from medics to computer programmers, with the Royal Society of Chemistry among the many in-between.

After seeing how well the public received even the simple practical activities, this excitement for hands-on chemistry was addictive. That prompted a push to find more venues where we could replicate this gusto for science, with the Museum of Power in Langford one that sprung to mind.

The curator was receptive and gave us the opportunity to join other volunteer groups for their Science Sunday event, which was so successful that we have not looked back since, improving and planning more ambitious events every year.

The Museum of Power has become a regular haunt for the committee as attending both of their annual science days is now an annual occurrence.

We also took a big step by holding our own science day at Rayleigh Town Museum. As the sole exhibitor, we had the entire venue at our disposal and used every inch – which is just as well as at one point we had a queue stretching down Rayleigh High Street eager to get in!

While there were many benefits of reaching so many more children in a shorter space of time via COVID-inspired virtual outreach, everyone was eager to get back to hands-on activities. The British Science Festival, which was hosted in Chelmsford in 2021, proved inspiring, with so many activities around the city showcasing science.

When Anglian Ruskin University, which was heavily involved in 2021, announced a follow-up event a year later, we simply had to get involved – and we had a blast!

The free-to-attend event (pictured below) was well received, and the family day offered us a terrific opportunity to reach out to young people and speak about opportunities in chemistry. More than 3,000 people registered to attend and it felt like we spoke to them all so it was exhausting but very fulfilling.

Now an annual event, it has grown every year since to the point where it has become a family weekend. We also extended the days to include a SEND hour in the mornings and will add this to our regular commitments.

We have shown chemistry’s link to a host of themes, including the subject of the planets at Museum of Power’s summer event last year (pictured below). We had an attractive display of chromatography planets hung from a line to dry, made from filter paper circles, black washable felt-tipped pens, water and pipettes.

A hands-on practical demonstrating acid rain and erosion, using limestone and water acidified with vinegar, wowed the kids who loved the fizzing bubbles!

We also demonstrated the use of pH meters to demonstrate the acidity and alkalinity of different water samples. For the older children, we used the RSC Global Battery Experiment and spoke about the importance of improving battery performance to enable us to not be reliant on fossil fuels.

Spooky Science at the Museum of Power is a regular event for us, with activities including magic writing with red cabbage indicator and vinegar, slime, and investigating glow stick chemistry with iced and warm water always going down well.

Using microscaled versions of practical activities that we are all familiar with has also worked well with secondary-school-aged visitors. Just last autumn we used conductivity meters to perform electrolysis of sodium chloride solution on a piece of universal indicator paper using carbon kite rods as the electrodes.

Other activities we have presented include sherbet making (who doesn’t like a sweet treat?!), the construction of a giant periodic table, coloured density columns using salt solutions, plastic identification methods, molecule building and pH testing with red cabbage solution.

Over the past six years, we have purchased additional resources for use at outreach events, such as plastic beakers, spotting tiles and pipettes. These things might seem small but they give us a more professional feel and give participants the experience of using identifiable laboratory equipment.

Another exciting addition to our supplies is a gigantic periodic table pop-up given to us by the RSC education coordinator for the Essex region, which has been used at countless events, where it has advertised who we are and attracted visitors. Our most recent purchase is a badge maker which we are looking forward to using this year to make badges from chromatography circles.

To host as many outreach events as possible, we sent out an e-alert to all Essex members in a bid to attract volunteers. We were pleased with the response, drawing several new regulars and increasing the number of volunteers generally, while a ‘meet the committee’ event has also helped.

What do we have planned for this year? Of course, we have the regulars – the Museum of Power and the Family Science days at ARU – but also potentially the Essex Scout Jamboree and using libraries as possible venues for smaller, more frequent events.