Why did Gandhi hate iodine? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with
missiles made of cadmium? How did radium nearly ruin Marie Curie’s
reputation? And why did tellurium lead to the most bizarre gold rush
in history? The Periodic Table is one of our crowning scientific
achievements, but it’s also a treasure trove of passion, adventure,
betrayal, and obsession. Once a month, the entire Natural History
Museum stays open until 10 pm and features live music, exciting
scientific discussion, and behind-the-scenes curatorial tours.
Information about the event is found at:
http://www.nhm.org/site/activities-programs/first-fridays/april-2013
Before the talk by Sam Kean, SCALACS volunteers and NHMLAC Department of Mineral Sciences will be hosting chemistry activities related to several of the elements. Volunteers for the event will be given free admission and will be able to stick around for the talk and the music.
The activities begin at 5 pm and volunteers would need to be at the
museum by 4 pm. Contact Bob de Groot at rdegroot-at-oxy-dot-edu if you would like to participate.
The Expanding Your Horizons Conference for middle school girls will take place on April 6th, 2013 from 8:45 am to 2:45 pm at Mount St. Mary’s College Doheny Campus, Los Angeles. Expanding Your Horizons is a career day supported by SCALACS and organized by MATH/SCIENCE INTERCHANGE to inform young women about careers in math- and science-related fields. The conference is intended for girls in grades 5-8. There are hands-on workshops for girls, parents, teachers and counselors. For more information, please go to www.expandingyourhorizonsla.org. Since this is a conference for girls, women volunteers to help out for the day are very welcome. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Dr. Eleanor Siebert at esiebert@msmc.la.edu.
SCALACS is looking for volunteers to help out with the Boy Scout Chemistry Merit Badge activity being held on Saturday, June 1st at the BSA San Gabriel Valley Council Scout Expo. The Expo is being held on the Santa Anita Race Track. The activity will go from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, including setup and take down.
We will have 4 stations at which we will guide the Scouts in various activities. Station 1 will deal with Chemical Safety and Environmental Affairs. Station 2 will include hands on activities dealing with basic chemical reactions. Station 3 will be the building of a Cartesian Diver. The fourth station will be an area for the Scouts to fill out their Merit Badge worksheets and ask questions of us Chemists. The badge requirements as well as the workbook we will be using are linked here:
Setup will begin at 9:00 am. Our first Scouts will start the activities at 10:00 am. Wrap-up begins at 3:15 pm.
We are hoping to help at least 80 Scouts earn their Chemistry Merit Badge! With this many Scouts we will need a minimum of 2 instructors for every station. Shifts are 2 hours long and overlap the previous shift by 30 minutes so you may observe the station before taking over. If you would like to volunteer for multiple shifts you may. The different shifts begin at 9:30am, 10:00am, 11:30am, 12:00pm, 1:30pm and 2pm. If you would like to come earlier for setup or stay later for take down that would be appreciated
Lunch is not provided but there will be snacks and beverages. There will also be cooler that you are welcome to store your lunches in.
Parking for the event will be at Gate 6 and costs $5 per vehicle. We do have a limited number of passes. People carpooling or who sign up for multiple shifts will have priority access to these.
If you would like to help out with the activities please call Derek Marin at 805-459-6046 or e-mail (Derek.Marin-at-DunnEdwards-dot-com) before Wednesday, May 29th.