Cathleen AllisonCarson Middle School eighth-grade science teacher Mary Long, right, demonstrates an experiment for students, from left, Monica Gonzalez, Logan Merriwether, Eddie Martinez and Alyssa Johnson. The students were at Western Nevada Community College for a demonstration by Professor Steve Carman on Wednesday morning.
Carson Middle School students learned chemistry can be a blast during a demonstration Tuesday at Western Nevada Community College.
"The fire was cool," said Eddie Martinez, 13. "It was big and there was stuff flying out. It broke the little cup."
Dr. Steve Carman, chemistry professor, led the eighth-graders through a series of experiments including a mixture of charcoal, sulfur and potassium nitrate to make gunpowder, which he ignited.
"It's a different environment than their classroom," said teacher Phyllis Lipka. "It's more like a real-life lab. They get to see a professional who uses it in his everyday career."
Lipka has been bringing her students to Carman's lab for six years, since the two met during a Christmas party at the college.
Carman understands that sometimes students need to see the fantastic to get their attention.
"We've got to grab the students so we can keep them interested in science," he said. "This country has one of the lowest science success rates in the world. I want to get those numbers up."
From cooking to practicing medicine to creating elaborate fireworks, Carman emphasized chemistry is at the foundation.
"It think it's cool," said Teneya Cramer, 13. "It's different than what we're used to because he does all these experiments and he's relating them to life."
Mixing battery acid with sugar, he demonstrated how sugar can caramelize.
"I like how it rose up in the test tube," said Jennifer McMenomy, 13. "It smelled kind of like brown sugar at first then it smelled like rotten brown sugar -- nasty."
Although Lipka had already demonstrated in the classroom how different elements can change the color of a flame when burned, David Bottoms, 14, was glad Carman repeated the experiment.
"I was absent the day we did it in school," he explained. "The colors look cool."
Barium turned the flame green while copper made it turquoise and potassium turned it purple.
"Remember, fire's your friend," Carman told the students.
Among other experiments, Carman also demonstrated sublimation -- how iodine skips the liquid phase and turns directly from a solid to a gas.
"Without science, you just don't have anything," he said.
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