Local school children will be dazzled with light and the chemical reactions caused by light energy at the Royal Society of Chemistry Schools' Christmas Lectures next Monday and Tuesday, December 16 and 17.
Dr Helen Aspinall of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Liverpool will be presenting the lecture 'Making Light Work of Chemistry', and said "Chemical reactions are all about energy changes, and this lecture looks at reactions where that energy is in the form of light. For example we will be looking at what makes a glow-worm glow, how detergents give your washing that 'blue-whiteness', and how a forensic scientist can light up old blood stains. The audience will be able to see all these reactions thanks to a photochemical reaction that occurs in the eye."
Dr Aspinall will present her lecture at the School of Chemistry, University of St. Andrews on Monday, 16 December and at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee on Tuesday, 17 December. Over 300 S5 and S6 pupils from schools in Fife, Dundee, Angus and Perthshire are expected to attend each lecture.
The Lectures are supported by The Tayside Local Section of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Contact: Ian Eggleston, University of Dundee 01382 344319
Nigel Botting, University of St. Andrews 01334 463856
By Jane Smernicki, Press Officer 01382 344768 j.m.smernicki@dundee.ac.uk