Chemistry Club freezes and shatters carnations |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Feb 18 2009 at 3:10 PM |
Photo by Cody Riedel
John King (left), a freshman undecided major from Gibbon, and David Paprocki, a sophomore chemistry major from Culbertson, demonstrate the delicate process of freezing a carnation. The Chemistry Club provided the Valentine's Day chemistry demonstration in the student union on Feb. 13, giving students the opportunity to purchase and then freeze and shatter a carnation for a loved one.
By Bryan Molt
Antelope Staff
At negative 180 degrees Celsius, a carnation dipped into a Dwer flask and then slammed onto a table makes quite a mess.
But just how big of a mess does this make when you dip a gift of a pink, beautiful, meaningful carnations into this liquid that packs an Antarctic chill? Well, a big mess.
The UNK Chemistry Club put a little bit of a twist on Valentine's Day Friday, Feb. 13 when, for $1.50, members gave students the opportunity to dip carnations into liquid nitrogen and demonstrate what would happen when the carnation was slammed onto a table.
Sophomore chemistry major David Paprocki of Culbertson was one of the UNK chemistry club members placing the carnations in the liquid nitrogen, a clear fluid that is odorless and tasteless, a diatomic gas usually used as a refrigerant.
After Paprocki held the carnations in a flask of the liquid nitrogen for about five to ten seconds, the carnation was then frozen at negative 180 degrees. He then handed the carnation back to the student and let him or her slam the carnation onto a table, shattering the head of the flower into thousands of pieces.
While some may think that having an experiment to ruin carnations on Valentine's Day is a shame, others used this experiment to have fun and to enjoy a different way of giving a carnation that becomes a flower splattered into thousands of pieces.
To take the demonstration a little further, Paprocki then poured the liquid nitrogen onto the floor. On the floor, the nitrogen beads spread out in a large radius making popping noises.
"The popping noises are the nitrogen beads evaporating into the air," Paprocki said.
Paprocki then took the liquid nitrogen and poured some into his hand, moving the liquid to constantly around in the palm of his hand to avoid injury.
"If the liquid nitrogen stays stationary for too long, it will burn or freeze the spot that it's in, creating a great pain," Paprocki said. The liquid nitrogen was provided by Linweld in Kearney.
Earlier in the year the Chemistry Club students experimented by dipping other objects into the liquid nitrogen.
"During family day we froze bananas, then hammered nails with the banana," said Anna Barber, a junior chemistry major from Culbertson.
Barber, treasurer of the Chemistry Club, said there are more exciting events coming up for students.
"In March we have Dr. Bassam Shakashiri coming to speak to our students about using chemistry as a leadership tool," Barber said. Barber said that Shakashiri is a highly credited man in chemistry and has spoken all over the world.
