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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 2, 2003
INVERNESS -- Citrus High School chemistry II students suited up for protection against fire, sparks and explosions.
Just before the holiday break they were hosts to Inverness Primary School fourth-graders, whom they delighted with . . . fire, sparks and explosions.
(Note to parents: The IPS children were in no danger.)
Kevin Bingham's chemistry students periodically invite elementary school students to their classroom to demonstrate chemical reactions to interest the children in science.
The first demonstration featured a space shuttle. The students produced a lighter fluid explosion to simulate a rocket's takeoff. A similar later demonstration sent an "alien" back into space.
Other students produced "genie smoke" by mixing hydrogen peroxide with manganese dioxide.
The children were wowed by a fire tornado. Students lit some paper towel pieces in a dish and put a mesh cage around it. Spinning the cage caused the fire to rise up and swirl.
Two students sent some fire in motion by lighting flammable liquid so the children could watch it travel up a metal ramp.
A complicated mixture of copper sulfate, hydrogen peroxide, water, ammonium carbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate and luminol produced a wonderful glowing blue liquid that the students likened to a fire fly.
A couple of demonstrations leaned toward physical science. One was an illustration of Newton's law of action/reaction.
Volunteers were asked to blow a light wad of tape into a plastic bottle, but the air they produced back-lashed out of the bottle and the tape wad went flying.
Two other students showed the children that downward force is less than sideways force. A volunteer put one fist on top of the other. Another child was asked to knock the fists apart, using only one finger on each hand. It worked.
The same two students cut a single sheet of paper in such a way that three students could stand inside the hole left in the center of the sheet.
There were a couple of holiday-colored explosions done with hydrogen gas combined with stronium nitrate and copper nitrate and a little fire.
An Erlenmyer flask filled with sodium hydroxide, indigo carmine and a little sugar underwent a chemical reaction after it was shaken. It started out red, turned green and bubbled, turned red again, and then yellow.
Two students ignited dry ice with magnesium. The burning solid carbon dioxide produced an impressive flame.
Finally the students were treated to a mini fireworks show (safely produced within the fume hood).
A couple of drops of water acted as a catalyst to a mixture of ammonium chloride, zinc dust, ammonium nitrate. Poof!