Category Archives: demonstrations

Farewell to shadow projection?

Posted on August 21, 2011 by

One of the many books I haven’t read to the end is Plato’s Republic. But I did get to the part where he speaks of Socrates’ image of everyday reality being nothing more than the shadows on the wall of … Continue reading →

Posted in demonstrations, public science, teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Spooklights – Things That Go Flash in the Dark

Posted on June 23, 2011 by

I’ve been sorely reprimanded by Alom Shaha and Declan Fleming for not posting anything about this. So for the record here it is. They’re right. I should have written about this earliers. Tomorrow evening – Friday 24 July – as … Continue reading →

Posted in demonstrations, public science, stories | 2 Comments

Elements and the Amazing MBH Laser installation

Posted on May 22, 2011 by

I should have posted something after Elements – Kill or Cure but am only getting around to it now. In fact, I am only getting over it now. An amazing event with some 1600 people turning up and enjoying themselves … Continue reading →

Posted in demonstrations, elements, mercury | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Amalgamating gold for real

Posted on April 6, 2011 by

Before anyone writes in and tells me that I’m only concerned with the simple beauty of the process, let me draw your attention to two videos that show how you can use mercury to extract and purify gold and silver. … Continue reading →

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Mercury amalgams – behind the scenes for Elements

Posted on April 6, 2011 by

It was as a graduate student that I first dissolved things in mercury. We’d drop small chips of sodium into a flask containing mercury. After a few seconds sitting on the surface the sodium would vanish into the liquid, accompanied … Continue reading →

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Iodine – a short introduction

Posted on April 4, 2011 by

For those of you coming to Elements on Friday 8 April, here’s a little taster of some of the weirdness you’ll be able to see at the iodine station down in the bowels of the Williams Lounge. In addition to … Continue reading →

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Everything and Nothing

Posted on March 31, 2011 by

This is a bit late ‘cos I had a series of screw-ups and various posts here either didn’t go out or went out prematurely. I’ll try to catch up. A couple of years ago I pitched a project called “A … Continue reading →

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A hideous reminder of our mortality…..

Posted on February 15, 2011 by

Demonstrations have been my thing for a long time. I’ve done scores of different ones – quiet ones, loud ones, small ones, big ones, smelly ones, coloured ones.  You name it. But all most people remember are the fiery ones. … Continue reading →

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The Dream Team

Posted on December 1, 2010 by

I have another of my usual gigs coming up, to give my talk on oscillations and pattern formation called “How the Zebra got its Stripes” (or actually this time it will be called “Painting by Chemistry not by Numbers”) at … Continue reading →

Posted in demonstrations, public science, stories | 1 Comment

Bangs and Meringues 2010

Posted on September 25, 2010 by

As term gets ever closer the reality hits that everone is expecting me to do demo lecture and the level of expectation just scares the hell out of me. How does one build a new show? And from what? In … Continue reading →

Posted in demonstrations, stories | 1 Comment