SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ucate the students and visitors who pass through it. The brainchild of a committee composed of chemistry professors F. Fleming Crim,John W Moore, and James L. Skinner and lab director Gordon Bain, the project took on many forms. Displays include posters highlighting faculty research, a plasma-screen monitor that scrolls through seminar schedules and descriptions of research projects, and an updated department genealogy—a "family tree" relating
CONVERSATION STARTER The chemical art on Main Street fosters discussion between students Uthra Krishnan (left) and Diane Nutbrown.
CHEMISTRY AS ART Striking images of chemistry enliven a hallway at the University of Wisconsin JYLLIAN KEMSLEY, C&EN WEST COAST BUREAU
A
RT AND CHEMISTRY, USED To-
gether, these two words usually conjure up an image of restoring a famous painting, such as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In Wisconsin, however, they mean making art out of chemical reactions. After several years of building renova-
tion and construction, the chemistry department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was left with a long, L-shaped "Main Street" hallway connecting two opposite corners of the city block it occupies. The Main Street Project was conceived to decorate that corridor—not only to make it more inviting but also to excite and ed-
PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS A drop of nitric acid on a copper penny oxidizes it to yield red-brown nitrogen dioxide gas, then blue copper nitrate crystals.
ELEMENTAL INFERNO Aqueous lithium chloride produces carmine red emission (left) when vaporized in a flame test, whereas powdered titanium results in a sparkler of white-hot particles (right). 22
C&EN
/ AUGUST
11 ,
2003
HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
CLOUDY CHEMISTRY An aqueous solution of sodium iodide added to lead(ll) nitrate precipitates lead(ll) iodide. faculty through Ph.D. advisers. Postersized photographs show students working in laboratories, and prints made by emeritus professor Donald F. Gaines demonstrate different development techniques: silver, cyanotype, gold, and palladium. The real star of Main Street, however, is the "Chemistry in Action" photographic exhibit. Inspired by videos from the "Chemistry Comes Alive!" CD-ROM series produced by the Journal of Chemical Education (JCE), lecture demonstrator James Maynard andJCE videographerJerry Jacobsen collaborated to photograph
ART AND SCIENCE Dendritic tin crystals (left) form at the cathode—a No. 2 lead pencil—when a tin(ll) chloride solution is electrolyzed by a 9-V battery. The Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction (above) produces oscillating red and blue circles when ferroin catalyzes the oxidation of malonic acid by bromate in acidic solution. action close-ups ofprecipitation reactions, flame tests, and other chemical wonders. JCE Editor Moore coordinated much of the Main Street Project with his wife, JCE Associate Editor Betty Moore, while JCE cover artist Betsy True worked as graphic designer for the posters. Funding came from the chemistry department and the Institute for Chemical Education. "This is really a chemistry and science outreach project," Crim says. "I think a lot of scientists feel they see the beauty of HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
science. So I think to have images that allow [others to] respond and connect is a useful form of outreach." From all reports, the project is doing just that. "You'll see people just parked in front of [the monitor] watching the loop run," Crim says. And regarding "the more casual visitor—the student or someone who's just cutting through the department—you see them stopping in the hallway and looking at things." Hopefully, they're learning that chemistry really can be art. • C&EN
/ AUGUST
11, 2003
23
