Lecture: Pick a question...

...and use it to ask some more questions*.

1. What's the impact of burning fossil fuels?
Does CO2 dissolve in salt water?
What's the result of combining CO2 with H2O?
How are chemists looking at ways of storing CO2 underground?
What's your reaction to this method of storage? They seem to have it sorted in Edinburgh.

2. Can you see energy?
Remember watching the chemists mix alcohol with saturated calcium acetate to get a flammable gel? They set this alight and then added various chemicals. What colours would you expect to see from burning lithium, and sodium? What about copper chloride?

In the explanation the Chemists described the 'colour of the burn' as a way you can see the 'amount' of energy produced. Hmm. More explanation here.

3. Can you use hydrogen for energy?
The chemists looked at the H-H bond and broke the bond with the catalyst palladium, showing how hydrogen can be used to release energy.

The benefits of using hydrogen an an 'energy carrier'? It burns 'clean'.
The public perception of risk in using hydrogen is high, but hydrogen cars are already here.

4. Where can we find hydrogen?
i. Methane. (We have a lot of that!)
ii. Water. (By splitting hydrogen from oxygen through electrolysis.)

5. How can we store energy?
The travelling chemists drew your attention to three means.
i Batteries such as those you can make from Coca cola, magnesium and copper.
ii Biofuels, such as ethanol.
iii Solar panels (the panels use SiO2+C).

6. Can we speed up energy production?
One problem is that energy can be produced, but the method of production might take more energy than we get from the output.

The Chemists asked, can the process of catalysis speed up reactions to get them over the 'energy barrier'? A catalyst lowers the barrier, meaning not as much energy is needed to produce the reaction.

What's an effective catalyst? Enzymes, apparently.

For a visual show, watch this combination of hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodide and soap. (Who wouldn't want an oozing pumpkin?)

And remember the Bombardier beetle?

7. What makes a chemical base have a particular property?
Carbon, for example, can take many forms depending on the arrangement of the atoms: diamond to graphite.

Carbon is also readily combined with other chemicals, resulting in many materials and many applications. The Chemists ran through several examples - airbags, fireworks, emergency flares, biodegradable surgical stitches, nappies - and showed you how controlling the structure of polymers allows you to control the properties.

Can you find out the chemistry behind the materials listed above?

The chemists drew your attention to COOH on a benzene ring. I'm out of my depth over here.

It's your job, basically, as a chemist, to explore what materials can be created by altering the composition and structure of chemicals. Temperature is a useful tool: for example, below a critical temperature, a superconductor will have no electrical resistance. Superconductivity can be used to 'levitate' magnets over liquid nitrogen for example, and thus has applications for transport systems.

8. Is there anything a chemist can't do?
No, not really. Because chemistry is totally brilliant. Unless you use it to melt your face off, or destroy the planet, in which case, it was a thoroughly bad idea telling you about it.

*Thank you to the travelling chemists Prof Pulman and Dr Henderson from the University of Edinburgh providing the lecture at the Hong Kong Science Museum. I hope the British Council flew them Business Class.