00:00:00 Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Professor Bassam Shakhashiri as he presents his 21st annual

00:00:28 Once Upon a Christmas Cheery in the lab of Shakhashiri.

00:00:45 Thank you very much.

00:00:48 Thank you very much everyone and welcome to my lab.

00:00:51 I'm delighted to see you here tonight and I promise you a good time.

00:00:55 I want you to be as attentive as possible and be always on the lookout for all kinds of changes in color,

00:01:02 be on the lookout for smoke, be on the lookout for fires, be on the lookout for explosions.

00:01:08 And I want you to sit back and relax because we're going to do all these experiments in a very safe way.

00:01:16 And you'll see that I'm going to put my eye protection on right away

00:01:21 And I want you to see that I have a fire extinguisher ready to be used just in case something does go out of control.

00:01:30 You know in the laboratory we always do experiments in a very safe way.

00:01:36 And we always have to obey the safety regulations.

00:01:39 The special theme of the lecture this year is carbon dioxide.

00:01:45 And we're going to talk about the chemistry, the physics and even the biology of carbon dioxide.

00:01:50 And we're going to have some very special guests not only from the University of Wisconsin-Madison

00:01:57 but from around the world as you will see shortly.

00:02:01 So now I want you to realize that chemicals are all around us.

00:02:08 Everything that is around us is made up of chemicals.

00:02:11 That's why chemistry is a very important topic to know about.

00:02:16 The air that we breathe is a mixture of chemicals.

00:02:19 The food that we eat is nothing but chemicals.

00:02:22 The medicine that we take when we're sick is also chemicals.

00:02:27 The drugs that some of you very foolishly experiment with are chemicals.

00:02:33 And so we have to understand what the chemical properties are, what the behavior of chemicals are,

00:02:39 what their benefits are and how we can safely handle them.

00:02:43 So to begin with we're going to carry out some experiments in this Christmas lecture

00:02:49 which is in the tradition of the great British scientist Michael Faraday

00:02:54 who over a century ago did a very special program for children of all ages at the Royal Society in London.

00:03:05 And his program was on the chemistry of the candle.

00:03:09 And right here you see an example of what we call a combustion reaction.

00:03:14 This is when something combines with oxygen that's in the air and it burns.

00:03:19 Did you ever wonder why the candle stays lit?

00:03:23 Why does the flame have the shape that it does?

00:03:27 Does the color of the wax have any effect on the color of the flame?

00:03:31 There are a whole bunch of questions that we can ask and a whole bunch of questions that we can think about.

00:03:36 And that's what we do in science, ask questions, make observations

00:03:40 and try to make sense out of these different observations that we make.

00:03:45 So I told you to be attentive and to be on the lookout for all kinds of changes.

00:03:49 I am going to take something out of my wallet now.

00:03:52 I'm going to take a dollar bill and put it on top of this flame.

00:03:59 Did you see that?

00:04:01 I told you you have to be very attentive because these things happen sometimes very, very fast.

00:04:06 So we'll take another dollar bill.

00:04:08 Actually, it looks like a dollar bill but it's not a dollar bill.

00:04:12 This is a specially treated paper.

00:04:16 It's treated in such a way that when it burns it leaves no residue.

00:04:20 And so we'll do this experiment again because that's what we like to do in science.

00:04:25 We'll repeat the experiment to validate our observations and see if they make any sense.

00:04:29 So watch, see what happens.

00:04:36 And there the dollar bill disappears.

00:04:46 Now I'm going to take a real $20 bill, this is for real,

00:04:51 and we'll carry out an experiment with this one.

00:04:55 And this experiment we'll do by dipping the dollar bill in this liquid that's in this beaker.

00:05:01 We'll uncover it and we take the $20 bill and we dip it in.

00:05:09 I try to fish it out with these tongs.

00:05:12 Make sure it's all wet. You see it's all wet.

00:05:15 Right? See that?

00:05:17 And now we're going to try to burn it and see what happens.

00:05:20 You see it on fire?

00:05:23 But it's still intact.

00:05:26 And it is a good, it's a good $20 bill.

00:05:29 I'm going to save it and use it to buy Christmas presents with it.

00:05:33 This paper was dipped into this solution that has in it a mixture of alcohol and water.

00:05:41 And it's the alcohol that burned, not the paper.

00:05:44 The alcohol burns at a lower temperature than the paper

00:05:48 and that's why we saw the flame coming from the burning of the alcohol, not from the burning of the paper.

00:05:53 So we're going to put this back because I told you I'm going to use it.

00:05:56 It is an honest-to-goodness $20 bill.

00:05:58 And now we'll move on and do some other experiments.

00:06:03 But before I do that, it is getting a little bit warm in here

00:06:06 because of these combustion reactions we're doing.

00:06:08 So I'd like to take off my jacket. Would that be alright if I did that?

00:06:11 Okay.

00:06:12 And before I do that, I want you to know that the purpose of this presentation

00:06:18 is to convince you that science is fun, as my button says.

00:06:22 Fun in the best sense of the word, not in some cheap thrill fashion.

00:06:27 And that's why I want you to be paying attention to what we do.

00:06:30 Okay, so I'll take my jacket off and I'll put it away here.

00:06:37 How about if I take my tie off? Would that be alright?

00:06:40 It's getting a little warm in here.

00:06:42 So I'll take my tie off.

00:06:44 I've got to take this...

00:06:50 How about if I take my shirt off? Would that be alright?

00:06:54 Okay.

00:06:55 Okay.

00:07:14 I really want you to be convinced that science is fun.

00:07:17 And that's what we're going to try to do this evening,

00:07:20 I and my special guests.

00:07:23 So we'll go on with these different experiments that relate to combustion,

00:07:28 which is the combination of something with the oxygen in the air.

00:07:32 And what we're going to do next is take a long burner

00:07:40 that's connected to a source of gas that burns.

00:07:43 You know, some gases burn and some other gases don't burn.

00:07:46 We'll put this on. You see, there's a flame.

00:07:49 Can you see the flame?

00:07:51 It has a special shape. It has a special color.

00:07:54 And what we observe here is that energy is released in the form of light.

00:08:01 We see the flame.

00:08:02 And we know from experience that this also gives off heat.

00:08:06 We call this an exothermic reaction.

00:08:09 And as I mentioned, some substances combine with oxygen and burn.

00:08:14 Some other substances don't.

00:08:16 So I'll put this down here for a second like so.

00:08:20 And I know that when you came in,

00:08:23 you saw a lot of different things on the lecture table.

00:08:26 You also saw these balloons that we have up here.

00:08:29 What do you suppose we have in those balloons?

00:08:31 What? What? Just tell me what.

00:08:34 Now you know, you know, some of you are saying helium.

00:08:39 You know why you say helium?

00:08:41 Because you know from experience that helium-filled balloons are lighter than air.

00:08:47 And that's the key word, experience.

00:08:49 You always learn things and you should use what you learn.

00:08:53 So let me tell you that helium is a gas which does not burn.

00:08:58 Helium is a gas that if I were to put this flame to a balloon that has helium in it,

00:09:05 it will not burn.

00:09:06 So one way in which we can find out what's in these balloons is to try to ignite them.

00:09:10 So we'll start off with this balloon right here.

00:09:14 And you see all that has happened is that the balloon popped and the flame went out,

00:09:20 so I'll relight that flame.

00:09:22 That balloon had in it helium gas and helium does not burn.

00:09:28 I will move on to the next balloon that we have over here

00:09:32 and we'll try to find out what's in it.

00:09:34 You ready?

00:09:35 So...

00:09:36 Now, did that balloon have helium in it?

00:09:44 That balloon had in it a gas which is lighter than air,

00:09:49 but also a gas that combines with oxygen.

00:09:52 That gas is hydrogen gas.

00:09:54 And what we're going to do next is repeat the experiment,

00:09:58 but we're going to do it in the dark with the lights off.

00:10:01 We're going to repeat this experiment and see what happens.

00:10:05 What we can look at...

00:10:07 Ready? Here we go.

00:10:13 Now with the lights back on...

00:10:16 With the lights back on,

00:10:19 we confirm that hydrogen-filled balloons are very dangerous

00:10:24 when they are subjected to an ignition source.

00:10:27 And what we should do now is ask you to look at the monitor

00:10:31 and watch the same combustion reaction in slow motion.

00:10:35 You won't hear any sound, just watch it.

00:10:38 The flame will be coming up pretty soon.

00:10:42 There it is.

00:10:43 And...

00:10:46 There is the big ball of fire

00:10:49 showing the combustion reaction of hydrogen with oxygen that's in the air.

00:10:54 Now you noticed, as we were carrying out this experiment,

00:10:58 that the intensity of the sound energy that's released increases

00:11:02 as we go from the helium-filled balloon to the hydrogen-filled balloon.

00:11:07 And so before we go on to the next experiment,

00:11:10 and because we want to be doing experiments in a safe way,

00:11:13 I would like you to protect your eardrums from potential damage

00:11:18 by taking both fingers and sticking them in your ear very, very tightly.

00:11:23 Now you see, I can't do that and do the experiment,

00:11:26 so I have some earplugs which I will put in my ears

00:11:31 and carry out the next experiment.

00:11:35 If you can hear what I'm saying,

00:11:37 that means you don't have your ears well protected.

00:11:40 I can't hear you, but I can see you smiling.

00:11:43 That means you heard what I just said.

00:11:45 Please protect your ears as carefully as possible

00:11:48 as we go on to the next balloon.

00:11:52 Boom!

00:12:02 That balloon had in it a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen,

00:12:09 and that's a very, very dangerous mixture.

00:12:12 What we're going to do next is repeat the experiment, but do it in the dark.

00:12:16 So again, plug your ears as carefully as possible.

00:12:22 Boom!

00:12:34 The lights are on.

00:12:36 Now let's take a look at the monitor again and see this in slow motion

00:12:42 and see if there's a difference in the brightness of the explosive mixture that we have.

00:12:47 There's the flame from the torch coming up to the balloon.

00:12:52 You won't hear a sound, and you see the big ball of fire.

00:12:55 The red balloons had in them a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen,

00:12:59 a very dangerous mixture that we should keep all sources of flames away from.

00:13:05 Now, I said that carbon dioxide is the main theme of the presentation this evening,

00:13:13 and carbon dioxide, of course, at room temperature, is a gas.

00:13:16 It's a colorless, odorless gas.

00:13:18 We can't see it, and we cannot smell it,

00:13:21 but it's a gas that is involved in photosynthesis.

00:13:25 Plants need carbon dioxide, and we will do some experiments later on with plants.

00:13:32 Carbon dioxide itself does not support combustion,

00:13:35 so carbon dioxide does not burn,

00:13:37 and carbon dioxide exists also in the form of a solid,

00:13:42 and I'm going to take a small amount of this solid, which we call dry ice.

00:13:48 I'm going to put a chunk of this dry ice right here,

00:13:53 and you can see it very closely.

00:13:58 It's white, and it changes from being a solid to being a gas directly.

00:14:03 It sublimes.

00:14:04 Its temperature is minus 78 degrees Celsius.

00:14:09 You know, in science, we keep track of temperature in the Celsius scale,

00:14:13 not in the Fahrenheit scale.

00:14:15 So its sublimation temperature is minus 78 degrees,

00:14:19 and we're going to do experiments with solid carbon dioxide.

00:14:24 We're going to take a whole set of chunks of carbon dioxide in the solid form,

00:14:32 and I'm going to simply grind them like so to make powdered carbon dioxide,

00:14:40 and in this powdered form, there's more surface area,

00:14:44 and the sublimation rate is faster than it is when I have the chunk of dry ice.

00:14:50 Notice I'm wearing gloves to protect my hands from frostbite.

00:14:55 We always have to be obeying the safety regulations as we do these experiments.

00:15:01 Now, some of these experiments are going to be done

00:15:08 by my taking some of the dry ice powder and putting it in this balloon.

00:15:15 You see what I'm doing.

00:15:16 I just take the chunks of dry ice in the powdered form.

00:15:23 I have a funnel.

00:15:25 I put it in this balloon,

00:15:32 and I fill the balloon with powdered dry ice.

00:15:37 I'm going to close off the balloon,

00:15:40 and we'll just put it here and see what happens.

00:15:45 Now, I want to show you another property of carbon dioxide,

00:15:51 and let's see if we can do this by taking,

00:15:55 you keep an eye on that balloon,

00:15:57 by taking some of the dry ice, putting it in this beaker,

00:16:04 and just wait for a few seconds or so.

00:16:09 Then we take this beaker,

00:16:12 and we try to pour.

00:16:18 See, the flame went out.

00:16:21 Let's do it with this one.

00:16:26 Again, giving us evidence that carbon dioxide does not support combustion,

00:16:31 does not burn.

00:16:32 So let's try it one more time,

00:16:34 and a carbon dioxide gas is coming from the sublimation process.

00:16:40 There we go.

00:16:42 Do it one more time.

00:16:46 See, that's why we have carbon dioxide fire extinguishers,

00:16:50 and they are useful for certain types of fires,

00:16:53 not all types of fires.

00:16:55 Now, carbon dioxide is in the solid form,

00:16:58 and what we're going to do next is take chunks of dry ice,

00:17:02 and I want you to focus your attention on this part of the lecture table

00:17:05 where we have these glass cylinders that have the colored liquids in them,

00:17:10 and I'm going to do an experiment in a very special way.

00:17:13 You make the observations and tell me what this special way is.

00:17:16 I take chunks of dry ice, and I drop them in.

00:17:29 You see a lot of interesting things happen.

00:17:32 You see the bubbles of gas.

00:17:34 That's the carbon dioxide gas,

00:17:37 and in some cases you see a color change.

00:17:41 In other cases, you don't see a color change.

00:17:44 What's this stuff coming off the top here?

00:17:48 Somebody said it's carbon dioxide.

00:17:50 Remember, carbon dioxide is an invisible gas.

00:17:52 You can't see it.

00:17:53 What does it look like?

00:17:56 Somebody said steam.

00:17:57 You know, steam is an invisible gas.

00:17:59 You can't see that either.

00:18:00 Come on, you tell me.

00:18:01 What does it really look like?

00:18:03 It looks like fog.

00:18:04 You're right.

00:18:05 That's what it is.

00:18:06 You know what fog is?

00:18:08 Fog is condensed water vapor.

00:18:10 So the water vapor is condensing on the carbon dioxide that's escaping,

00:18:15 and the movement of the fog is in a downward direction,

00:18:19 once again reminding us that carbon dioxide is heavier than air.

00:18:24 And so that's why I was able to pour the carbon dioxide out of this beaker

00:18:29 and put out the candle.

00:18:31 Now, there are other experiments that we can do,

00:18:34 and to do this experiment, I need some hot water.

00:18:37 Let's see if I can find some hot water.

00:18:39 Can somebody bring me hot water, please?

00:18:42 Thank you, Bucky.

00:18:49 Bucky Badger has been a chemistry student for 21 years.

00:18:57 I want you to know that Bucky is a very good student,

00:19:00 and Bucky has been busy this weekend and practically every day

00:19:04 with supporting and cheering on the volleyball team and the basketball team

00:19:09 and, of course, the hockey team.

00:19:11 And Bucky has taken time out to come once again

00:19:15 to this very special anniversary lecture,

00:19:17 and I thank you for that, Bucky.

00:19:19 I thank you for doing that.

00:19:23 And I just wonder, do you have time to stay, Bucky?

00:19:26 Can you stay?

00:19:27 Would you like Bucky to stay?

00:19:29 All right, I have a special place for you right there.

00:19:35 There's a chair for you right there, Bucky.

00:19:38 Make yourself comfortable.

00:19:40 And with this water that Bucky brought, this hot water,

00:19:45 I'm going to pour it into this empty dishpan.

00:19:50 Okay, so here it goes.

00:19:54 Do you see anything coming off the top?

00:19:56 What do you see?

00:19:58 Now, please don't say steam. Steam is invisible.

00:20:01 What you see is condensed water vapor.

00:20:04 What we're going to do is take a whole bunch of dry ice

00:20:08 and put it in there and see what happens.

00:20:20 Now, this is how they make fog in the movies sometimes.

00:20:25 And you see the movement again is in a downward direction,

00:20:29 reminding us that carbon dioxide is heavier than air.

00:20:34 And the condensation is taking place on the carbon dioxide

00:20:38 that is escaping.

00:20:40 And this will stay like that for a while

00:20:43 until the carbon dioxide is changed.

00:20:48 Now, the temperature in here is very, very cold.

00:20:52 It's minus 78 degrees Celsius.

00:20:54 Merry Christmas!

00:20:55 We have another visitor now.

00:20:56 Merry Christmas!

00:20:59 Ho, ho, ho!

00:21:00 Merry Christmas!

00:21:02 Merry Christmas!

00:21:05 Ho, ho, ho!

00:21:06 Merry Christmas!

00:21:08 Merry Christmas!

00:21:11 Hello, Santa.

00:21:12 Good to see you, Dr. Shakishiri.

00:21:13 Good to see you.

00:21:14 How are you doing?

00:21:15 Welcome to my lab. I'm doing fine.

00:21:16 Yeah.

00:21:17 I've been good all year long.

00:21:18 You've been good all year long?

00:21:19 I've been very good all year long.

00:21:20 Well, I brought you a very special present today.

00:21:22 You did?

00:21:23 Yes.

00:21:24 I hope it's what I asked for.

00:21:25 Well, I hope so, too.

00:21:28 Oh, my goodness.

00:21:29 What do you think?

00:21:30 Look at that. I love it.

00:21:31 Look at this.

00:21:32 Look at this, everybody.

00:21:33 Isn't that neat?

00:21:34 Yeah.

00:21:35 Thank you, Santa.

00:21:36 That's very nice.

00:21:37 I also brought you another present.

00:21:39 You did?

00:21:40 Yes.

00:21:41 A bag full of experiments to do.

00:21:42 Oh, my goodness.

00:21:43 You and your elves have been very, very busy, right?

00:21:45 We've been very busy.

00:21:46 Can I peek in there and see what's in there?

00:21:47 Yeah, yeah.

00:21:48 Oh, my goodness.

00:21:49 Here's a science is fun button.

00:21:51 Yeah.

00:21:52 All right?

00:21:53 And here's a light stick.

00:21:55 And here's some instructions for doing experiments at home.

00:22:00 Would you boys and girls like one of those?

00:22:03 I brought one for everyone.

00:22:06 All right.

00:22:07 Santa and his elves brought one for everyone that is here.

00:22:10 And can they pick them up on their way out there when they finish?

00:22:12 Yeah, pick them up on their way out.

00:22:13 Right.

00:22:14 All right.

00:22:16 Now, Santa, let me ask you.

00:22:18 Yeah.

00:22:19 For the people watching on television, if they want to get this,

00:22:22 can they get some of the copies of the instructions

00:22:26 from the Institute for Chemical Education?

00:22:28 They certainly can.

00:22:29 They can write to the Institute for Chemical Education

00:22:31 right here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,

00:22:33 and you can get copies of the instructions for these take-home experiments.

00:22:38 Santa, I know you're very busy.

00:22:40 Yeah, it's pretty busy.

00:22:41 And you probably don't have time for this,

00:22:43 but I know you're very busy.

00:22:44 Yeah, it's pretty busy.

00:22:45 But can you stay for this lecture, too?

00:22:47 Well.

00:22:48 Please? Pretty please?

00:22:49 Well, okay.

00:22:50 You want him to stay?

00:22:51 Yes.

00:22:52 Okay?

00:22:53 Okay. Okay. I'll stay.

00:22:54 All right. All right.

00:22:55 I'll have a chair for you right next to Bucky.

00:22:56 Oh, okay. Next to Bucky.

00:22:57 Right next to Bucky.

00:22:58 Yeah. Good to see you, Bucky.

00:23:02 All right.

00:23:06 Well, you never know.

00:23:07 You never know who will show up at this special Christmas lecture.

00:23:11 I'm so proud to be doing this lecture for, as I said before,

00:23:15 21 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,

00:23:18 and it is very, very delightful to see all of you here tonight.

00:23:23 Now I'm going to take some more dry ice and carry out another experiment.

00:23:29 This experiment is one, actually, that you can do at home,

00:23:33 and I think Santa and his elves have the instructions for you in there.

00:23:37 This experiment you can do in a fish tank like this.

00:23:40 What you do is you put some dry ice at the bottom, just like I'm doing here.

00:23:45 Now you might say, well, how can I get dry ice at home?

00:23:50 You can't get dry ice at home.

00:23:52 What you really need is not dry ice.

00:23:54 You need a source of carbon dioxide,

00:23:57 and the way in which you can generate carbon dioxide at home

00:24:01 is to take some baking soda and take along with it some vinegar,

00:24:08 and you put the baking soda in a small dish

00:24:11 and pour the vinegar on it in that fish tank,

00:24:14 and you wait for a few minutes

00:24:16 until the carbon dioxide saturates and fills that fish tank.

00:24:23 The next thing that you do, and this is one of my favorite activities,

00:24:28 is I take some soap bubbles.

00:24:32 Don't you like to play with soap bubbles?

00:24:37 The soap bubbles are so beautiful.

00:24:41 If I can blow them first.

00:24:43 There you go.

00:24:46 They float. They have pretty colors on them.

00:24:48 Now what you do is very carefully blow the soap bubbles on top of this aquarium.

00:24:56 You see what's in there?

00:25:01 Very gently, and you see the soap bubbles float in the carbon dioxide.

00:25:06 Carbon dioxide is heavier than air,

00:25:08 and if you watch carefully, are they still in there?

00:25:11 Yeah, there's one in there.

00:25:13 You will make a lot of interesting observations about the size of the bubble

00:25:17 and about the colors that are on the bubble itself,

00:25:21 and this is an experiment that you can do at home

00:25:23 if you have a fish tank, a clean fish tank,

00:25:27 if you have baking soda, some vinegar,

00:25:32 and of course some soap bubbles.

00:25:36 In this part of the lecture,

00:25:42 what I'd like to do is show you that carbon dioxide,

00:25:46 which I told you already sublimes from being a solid to going into a gas directly,

00:25:51 can be changed into a liquid,

00:25:53 and to do that, I'm going to put my gloves on again,

00:25:56 and I'm going to take some of the powder of the dry ice

00:26:04 and put it into this plastic tube right in the bottom,

00:26:09 fill it up about halfway.

00:26:12 If you watch carefully, you can see the level of the solid inside this tube.

00:26:22 And what might be of help is to put this...

00:26:29 I have some more solid here.

00:26:33 There it is.

00:26:34 And the next thing I'm going to do is take this gauge

00:26:39 and put it on top,

00:26:45 and we'll watch what happens when the sublimation takes place inside this closed system.

00:26:51 And we'll watch the pressure by looking at the pressure gauge.

00:26:56 Tighten this.

00:26:59 Now is the pressure changing?

00:27:01 Can you see the pressure changing yet?

00:27:03 Not yet?

00:27:04 Maybe I have to close this off first, see?

00:27:09 Now it's open and I close it off.

00:27:11 And we'll wait and see.

00:27:14 This will take several seconds.

00:27:17 We'll see what happens as the carbon dioxide sublimes.

00:27:21 You can look very carefully at the pressure gauge.

00:27:24 You can see that the pressure is changing.

00:27:28 And we'll let this go for a while.

00:27:30 And as we are waiting for this system to change,

00:27:34 I would like at this time to introduce

00:27:39 the person who is responsible for the very popular program called Wonders of Physics,

00:27:45 from the physics department, Professor Clint Sprott.

00:27:59 WONDERS OF PHYSICS

00:28:17 Well, here's a use of carbon dioxide I bet many of you haven't seen.

00:28:22 It's a rocket-powered tricycle.

00:28:25 You seen one of those?

00:28:27 Sam has seen one.

00:28:28 He has an even better way to get around.

00:28:30 But that's what it is.

00:28:31 This is an old carbon dioxide fire extinguisher

00:28:34 mounted on the back of this tricycle.

00:28:36 And I control it by right here.

00:28:41 And it propels me very nicely.

00:28:44 So this is a great application of carbon dioxide,

00:28:47 but it also illustrates an important principle of physics

00:28:51 that we call Newton's Third Law.

00:28:54 Newton's Third Law has to do with the law of action and reaction.

00:28:58 In order to make something go one direction, the tricycle in this case,

00:29:02 something else has to go the opposite direction.

00:29:05 In this case it was carbon dioxide.

00:29:07 Now I want to show you another example of the law of action and reaction.

00:29:11 This you can buy at a toy store.

00:29:13 Maybe you have one even.

00:29:15 It's a little rocket, and you fill it with water up to about that point,

00:29:19 and you pump some air into it.

00:29:21 So I'm going to do that.

00:29:23 And then when I pump the air into it, I'm going to release it.

00:29:26 The water is going to go out the back end,

00:29:28 and the rocket is going to, oops, propel all the way across the room.

00:29:39 Now here's another cylinder.

00:29:42 Here's another cylinder of the same carbon dioxide that I used on the tricycle.

00:29:48 And this time I'm going to use it to do something rather unusual.

00:29:52 I'm going to stand on a platform that can rotate around like this,

00:29:58 and I'm going to set off the fire extinguisher and see what it does.

00:30:05 Let's see if I can go the other way.

00:30:09 So you see, this is another example of the law of action and reaction.

00:30:15 When the carbon dioxide goes one direction, I go the opposite direction.

00:30:19 Now you know there are many people that misunderstand rockets.

00:30:22 A lot of people think a rocket, the exhaust, has to push against something, like the air.

00:30:27 Well, that's not right.

00:30:29 Newton's third law says that it doesn't have to push against something.

00:30:32 And I want to illustrate that to you in a very unusual way.

00:30:35 You recognize this? What is it?

00:30:38 Basketball.

00:30:40 Sir in the red sweater, would you help me with this?

00:30:43 Sorry to wake you. Just stand up right at your seat.

00:30:46 Because I wanted to do the following thing.

00:30:49 I'm going to stand on the rotating platform.

00:30:51 You ever play basketball?

00:30:53 A little bit? Good.

00:30:55 So all I'm going to ask you to do is catch the basketball,

00:30:58 and for the rest of you, I want you to watch what happens to me when I throw the basketball.

00:31:03 You notice it makes me go around.

00:31:05 And this is another example of action and reaction.

00:31:08 The basketball went one way, I went the other way.

00:31:11 Now just a minute.

00:31:13 Let's see how good you are.

00:31:16 Not bad.

00:31:19 Now we'd like to show you a couple of additional examples of this idea of action and reaction.

00:31:23 And for this we're going to bring some more equipment out here.

00:31:26 And I'll bet many of you at home have a garden.

00:31:29 Do a lot of you have a garden at home?

00:31:32 Probably not.

00:31:34 So I'm going to bring some more equipment out here.

00:31:37 And I'll bet many of you at home have a garden.

00:31:40 Do a lot of you have a garden at home?

00:31:43 Probably not.

00:31:45 Do a lot of you have a garden at home?

00:31:48 Probably a lot of you have grass at home where you live, right?

00:31:52 In the summertime, sometimes do you put out a lawn sprinkler?

00:31:55 Do you know what those are like?

00:31:58 I'll bet you recognize right over in this corner a lawn sprinkler.

00:32:01 Does this look familiar to you?

00:32:04 That's just an ordinary lawn sprinkler.

00:32:06 What do you think will happen if I turn on the water?

00:32:09 Well, actually we're not using water.

00:32:14 We're using compressed air because we didn't want to get you all wet.

00:32:18 But it's the same principle.

00:32:20 It goes round and round because of the law of action and reaction.

00:32:23 Just like I did when I was standing on the rotating platform.

00:32:26 Let me show you one other thing.

00:32:28 Have any of you ever turned on the water to your garden hose without holding on to the end?

00:32:33 What does it do?

00:32:35 You're saying it with your hands.

00:32:37 You're saying it with your hands.

00:32:38 It goes round and round in a crazy way, doesn't it?

00:32:41 Let's try that with compressed air.

00:32:51 Did you know there's a name for that?

00:32:54 That's called the fire hose instability.

00:32:57 Can you imagine why they call it that?

00:33:00 Because with the big fire hose that the firefighters have to use,

00:33:04 if they ever turned on the water without holding on to the end,

00:33:07 it could be very, very dangerous indeed.

00:33:09 So these are some examples of Newton's third law, things that go round and round.

00:33:13 Now I want to show you one other very curious example of Newton's third law.

00:33:18 And to do that I'm going to set a fire here in the thing that we call a Bunsen burner.

00:33:23 So you see a nice bright flame.

00:33:25 And can you see what's just above that flame?

00:33:29 What does it look like?

00:33:31 That's right. It's water.

00:33:33 It's what we call a flask, and it's got a little bit of water in it,

00:33:36 about one inch of water on the bottom.

00:33:38 And I'm heating the water.

00:33:40 What do you think happens to water when you heat it?

00:33:43 Somebody said it boils. That's right.

00:33:46 Water boils.

00:33:48 Now when the water boils, you notice it's starting to turn around.

00:33:52 Why do you think it does that?

00:33:55 That's right.

00:33:57 The water turns into something.

00:33:59 What does it turn into?

00:34:02 Steam. Somebody said it.

00:34:09 So it goes round and round.

00:34:11 You know, this has a name. It's called Hero's Engine.

00:34:14 It's named after a scientist who lived about 2,000 years ago in Greece.

00:34:18 And you know, back in those days they only had one name

00:34:21 because there weren't so many people. They didn't need two names.

00:34:24 So he was just called Hero. He was Hero of Alexandria.

00:34:27 And 2,000 years ago he designed this kind of engine,

00:34:31 this kind of engine that goes round and round,

00:34:33 powered by nothing but heat and a little bit of water.

00:34:36 Do you think that would be a good kind of engine to put in your car?

00:34:40 No? Why not? Why not?

00:34:44 Your car would go round and round.

00:34:46 Well, I guess you'd have to hook it up to the wheels somehow.

00:34:50 But you're right.

00:34:52 It's not a very good kind of engine to put in a car

00:34:54 because it's not very efficient.

00:34:56 You have to use a lot of fuel and make a lot of heat.

00:34:58 It doesn't go around very fast, and it doesn't develop much power.

00:35:01 So it would not be a good kind of engine for a car.

00:35:04 But it does illustrate several important principles of physics

00:35:07 and also of chemistry because it involves the boiling of water.

00:35:11 Well, I want to show you just one last principle

00:35:14 that really doesn't have a lot to do with rockets,

00:35:16 but it does have to do with carbon dioxide.

00:35:19 Do you recognize this?

00:35:23 That's right.

00:35:25 You know, this is called a carbonated beverage.

00:35:29 Did you ever wonder why they call it that?

00:35:31 No? What do you think it has in it?

00:35:34 That's right. It has carbon dioxide in it.

00:35:38 Now, there's a peculiar way we can show you

00:35:40 that it has carbon dioxide in it.

00:35:42 I'll bet a lot of you have taken a bottle like this

00:35:44 and shaken it and then opened it.

00:35:46 What happens?

00:35:48 It's very exciting, isn't it?

00:35:50 But I'm going to do something a little different.

00:35:52 I'm putting it in a little tray of water up here,

00:35:55 ordinary water, and this water is in a tank,

00:35:58 and it turns out this tank is a special kind of tank

00:36:00 that we call an ultrasonic cleaner.

00:36:03 Have some of you heard of that?

00:36:05 They often have them in jewelry stores,

00:36:07 and you put rings and jewelry in ultrasonic cleaners to clean them.

00:36:11 But here we're going to put our little Coke bottle

00:36:14 in the ultrasonic cleaner,

00:36:16 and we're going to turn it on in a moment.

00:36:18 I haven't turned it on yet.

00:36:20 The idea is the water will shake back and forth

00:36:23 because sound is a form of motion.

00:36:25 When you hear something,

00:36:27 it's because the air is moving back and forth,

00:36:29 and it's making your eardrum move back and forth.

00:36:32 So we're going to make the water move back and forth,

00:36:35 but at such a rapid rate that you can't even hear it.

00:36:38 So I'll turn it on, and we'll see what that does.

00:36:41 So you notice all the carbon dioxide came out of the beverage.

00:36:51 And in fact, that's exactly the same thing that happens

00:36:54 when you shake a bottle,

00:36:56 except here we're doing it with these ultrasonic waves.

00:36:59 Well, I hope to have convinced you

00:37:01 that there's a lot of similarities

00:37:04 between chemistry and physics and even biology.

00:37:07 We all deal with things like carbon dioxide and so forth.

00:37:11 And so at this time,

00:37:13 we'll talk a little bit more about chemistry,

00:37:15 and then a little later in the day,

00:37:17 we'll come back and talk some more

00:37:19 about what you can do with bottles of this sort.

00:37:21 So thank you all very much.

00:37:29 Thank you, Professor Sprott.

00:37:31 You know, we're very blessed at this university

00:37:33 to have so many talented people

00:37:35 who do not only excellent research,

00:37:37 but do excellent teaching.

00:37:39 And what I want to do now is ask you

00:37:41 to take a look at the balloon

00:37:44 that had the carbon dioxide in it.

00:37:47 You see how filled it is right now.

00:37:50 I also want you to take a look at the gauge reading.

00:37:54 Look at the gauge reading

00:37:56 and see that the pressure is really, really high.

00:38:00 But we have this in a closed system

00:38:04 in this tube of plexiglass.

00:38:08 And if you take a closer look,

00:38:11 you can see some liquid at the bottom

00:38:14 of this closed system.

00:38:16 Now, this balloon will pop

00:38:20 if all the carbon dioxide that's in here

00:38:24 changes into a gas.

00:38:27 But because the pressure here is in a closed system,

00:38:31 the pressure is causing the carbon dioxide to liquefy.

00:38:35 And if you look down there very carefully,

00:38:37 like you were doing just now,

00:38:39 you'll see that there's a liquid at the bottom of this tube.

00:38:43 And when I release the pressure gauge,

00:38:45 watch what happens to the liquid.

00:38:50 It changes back to being a solid.

00:38:53 So this is a way in which we can talk about

00:38:57 the properties of carbon dioxide

00:38:59 and the ways in which we can also deal

00:39:03 with the properties of other substances.

00:39:05 So I want you now to follow me

00:39:08 as I'm going to do a very special salute

00:39:11 to our two special visitors

00:39:14 by taking this spray bottle.

00:39:17 Oh, I'm not going to spray you, Bucky.

00:39:18 Oh, no, no, Bucky.

00:39:19 Just be calm, Bucky.

00:39:22 Don't get too excited.

00:39:23 But watch what happens here.

00:39:24 You and Santa Claus, watch what happens

00:39:26 when I spray this piece of white paper

00:39:29 with this spray.

00:39:32 And watch what happens down here.

00:39:42 Now, these pieces of white paper

00:39:45 have been treated by using a brush,

00:39:48 a paintbrush,

00:39:49 that was dipped in acid-base indicators.

00:39:54 And acid-base indicators are substances

00:39:56 that change color

00:39:58 when the acidity or the basicity changes.

00:40:00 And what I sprayed them with here

00:40:01 is some household ammonia.

00:40:03 So I'm going to do another experiment right now

00:40:06 with some household chemicals.

00:40:08 And these household chemicals

00:40:10 are readily available.

00:40:13 You see, the first one I'm going to use is...

00:40:15 What does this look like?

00:40:18 It looks like cabbage.

00:40:19 It looks like red cabbage, right?

00:40:21 So what I'm going to do is cut this red cabbage

00:40:24 and chop a piece off like so.

00:40:29 Be very careful not to cut my fingers.

00:40:34 And chop it into small cubes.

00:40:37 I know some of you are thinking

00:40:38 this looks like the Julia Child Show,

00:40:40 but it isn't.

00:40:41 And the next thing I need is a blender.

00:40:44 And I take these cubes

00:40:46 and I put them in the blender.

00:40:49 At least most of them I get in the blender.

00:40:52 The next thing I do is

00:40:54 I take some water

00:40:56 and I cover the chopped cubes with water.

00:41:01 What's the next thing I do, Bucky?

00:41:03 Put the lid on, right?

00:41:05 Put the lid on, right.

00:41:06 Always obey the safety regulations.

00:41:08 And then push the button.

00:41:15 And you see what I've done.

00:41:17 I've made myself now some red cabbage juice.

00:41:20 And you might say,

00:41:21 well, what good is this red cabbage juice?

00:41:23 It can be used by you at home

00:41:26 as an acid-base indicator

00:41:28 to tell you whether some of the household chemicals

00:41:31 that you have are acidic or basic.

00:41:34 And what you need is

00:41:36 a bunch of beakers like I have here

00:41:40 or some glasses or plastic cups.

00:41:43 What you have to do first, though,

00:41:45 is separate the finely chopped red cabbage from the liquid.

00:41:50 And you use, what's this?

00:41:52 A strainer.

00:41:53 Everything I'm using you have at home.

00:41:55 And so you pour it down like so.

00:42:03 And you wait until most of the juice is down.

00:42:06 And then you put this up on top so you don't make a mess.

00:42:10 And I need more juice, so I add more water to it.

00:42:15 You see, and I've made myself now about,

00:42:19 what does it say here?

00:42:20 About 32 ounces, 4 cups of red cabbage juice.

00:42:25 You know, in science,

00:42:26 we use the metric system for making measurements,

00:42:29 not the English system.

00:42:31 So you can convert quarts to liters.

00:42:34 Okay, the next thing you do is you put these,

00:42:39 you fill these beakers about to the same level

00:42:42 with this liquid.

00:42:44 Are they about the same level?

00:42:46 How am I doing?

00:42:48 All right.

00:42:50 I hear Santa.

00:42:52 He thinks I'm doing okay.

00:42:53 Are they about the same level?

00:42:55 Okay.

00:42:57 Which one is high?

00:42:58 No, this one is a little low, right?

00:43:01 How about this one?

00:43:02 Okay, now the next thing you do

00:43:04 is you take some household chemicals.

00:43:08 What I have here is vinegar.

00:43:10 And vinegar, we add it to the red cabbage juice.

00:43:13 And you see, we get this pretty red color.

00:43:18 Then we take some household ammonia.

00:43:22 And we add the household ammonia.

00:43:25 And we get this color.

00:43:27 And now we know the color of red cabbage juice

00:43:30 when we have an acidic substance like vinegar,

00:43:33 which has an acidic acid.

00:43:35 And we know the color when we have a basic substance

00:43:38 like the household ammonia.

00:43:40 So now you can test just about any substance

00:43:42 that you have at home,

00:43:44 provided it dissolves in water

00:43:47 and also its own color does not interfere with the measurement.

00:43:51 So I'll test now this carbonated beverage.

00:43:54 What do you think?

00:43:55 This is going to be acidic or basic?

00:43:58 No, no, don't guess.

00:43:59 It's a 50-50 guess, right?

00:44:01 It has carbon dioxide in it, right?

00:44:04 Carbon dioxide in water gives us carbonic acid.

00:44:07 So we add this.

00:44:09 And you see it's on the acid side.

00:44:13 Now what about baking soda?

00:44:15 Is that going to be acidic or basic?

00:44:19 Again, don't guess.

00:44:20 It's a 50-50 guess.

00:44:22 We add some.

00:44:24 And you see it's on the basic side.

00:44:26 In fact, if you spill some acid,

00:44:29 you should neutralize it with baking soda.

00:44:33 Now we take milk of magnesia.

00:44:35 Is this going to be acidic or basic?

00:44:38 Well, it says on it antacid, right?

00:44:41 So let's find out.

00:44:43 We take this.

00:44:50 And you see it is on the...

00:44:54 Stir it up.

00:44:55 You see it's on the basic side.

00:44:57 Now, you know, most things that we eat,

00:44:59 not all of them,

00:45:00 most things that we eat are acidic.

00:45:03 For example, lemon juice.

00:45:04 Is that going to be acidic or basic?

00:45:07 Well, let's find out.

00:45:08 See?

00:45:09 There, it's acidic.

00:45:10 Now, not everything that we eat is acidic.

00:45:13 And not everything that we don't eat is basic.

00:45:15 So let's do one more.

00:45:16 Here's vanish, another household chemical.

00:45:19 So is it going to be acidic or basic?

00:45:26 You see it's very, very acidic.

00:45:28 And this is, of course,

00:45:29 whoops, whoops, whoops, whoops.

00:45:31 This is an exception to the general rule

00:45:36 that I told you

00:45:37 that most of the things that we eat are acidic.

00:45:40 You have to be very careful in handling this

00:45:42 because it is quite acidic.

00:45:44 So here's an example of a set of experiments

00:45:47 you can do at home.

00:45:48 And Santa and his elves have prepared

00:45:50 a set of instructions for you

00:45:52 to carry out this experiment at home.

00:45:55 And now it is my pleasure to present to you

00:45:59 a man who is very, very well known

00:46:02 for a very fabulous and fantastic development

00:46:06 called Wisconsin Fast Plants.

00:46:09 And it's my pleasure to present to you

00:46:11 Professor Paul Williams.

00:46:25 Hi, boys and girls, and welcome to biology.

00:46:29 In fact, we're going to talk about bottle biology today.

00:46:32 Something different.

00:46:33 Look at all these bottles.

00:46:35 You know, I know that you're all good scientists here

00:46:38 because already you're good chemists

00:46:42 and already you're good physicists.

00:46:45 How many think they're good biologists?

00:46:48 Right.

00:46:50 Well, to be a good biologist,

00:46:52 you've got to be a good chemist

00:46:53 and you've got to be a good physicist.

00:46:56 And you know, the world of biology is very exciting

00:46:58 because you're part of it,

00:47:00 because you're living.

00:47:01 And this is about the world around you that's living.

00:47:04 One of the things that we find ourselves in,

00:47:07 in this great world, is an ecosystem.

00:47:10 And many of you like to go out

00:47:12 and take walks in the woods

00:47:14 and enjoy the trees

00:47:16 as you look in the arboretum,

00:47:17 as you walk around.

00:47:19 What do you see more and more humans

00:47:22 are doing to this ecosystem?

00:47:24 What are we doing?

00:47:26 We're loving it, yes.

00:47:29 But some of us are not loving it.

00:47:31 We are, what?

00:47:33 We're littering it.

00:47:34 We're polluting it.

00:47:36 We're beginning to change this lovely ecosystem.

00:47:40 Bottle biology,

00:47:41 which we're going to talk about tonight,

00:47:43 is sort of the solution to pollution.

00:47:45 And we're going to get you

00:47:47 demonstrating some of the things

00:47:49 that we can do with a lot of the stuff

00:47:51 that you throw away.

00:47:52 But I need some pollution.

00:47:54 Is there any pollution in the room?

00:47:57 Bucky, have you got some pollution for us?

00:48:00 Well, good for you, Bucky.

00:48:03 Garbage.

00:48:04 How about it, Bucky?

00:48:05 This is where bottle biology begins,

00:48:07 right in your garbage can at home.

00:48:09 And you know,

00:48:11 I'm going to show you

00:48:12 how you can create an ecosystem

00:48:15 right here,

00:48:16 in your home or in your school,

00:48:18 and begin to do some interesting

00:48:19 biological experiments.

00:48:21 But first of all,

00:48:22 we start with the basic ingredient.

00:48:24 You know what it is?

00:48:25 A bottle.

00:48:26 Just a plain old-fashioned bottle.

00:48:27 And here's a bottle

00:48:29 that Professor Mr. Physics

00:48:32 just shot the Coke out of, remember?

00:48:35 Let me show you the secret of bottle biology.

00:48:37 You get rid of this Coke,

00:48:39 and you need some hot water.

00:48:41 You start with water.

00:48:42 There it is.

00:48:44 And you fill this bottle with hot water.

00:48:47 Why am I filling it?

00:48:48 Well, because the bottom of this bottle

00:48:50 has to come off,

00:48:51 and the label has to come off.

00:48:52 The secret of that is

00:48:54 you fill it with lots of hot, steamy water.

00:48:56 Not so hot that you burn your hands,

00:48:58 but almost.

00:48:59 Put the lid back on,

00:49:00 and with a little hot water,

00:49:02 just holding it the right way under your arm,

00:49:04 you twist off this waxy glue,

00:49:07 and it comes right off like that.

00:49:09 Isn't that something?

00:49:10 That's how easy it is

00:49:11 to get the bottom of a bottle off.

00:49:13 Now you've got to get this label off,

00:49:14 and that's also got a wax on it

00:49:16 that melts in the hot water,

00:49:18 just like that.

00:49:22 Now you've got the basic ingredients

00:49:24 for starting your bottle biology,

00:49:26 and I need a helper.

00:49:29 Well, I...

00:49:31 You know, there's a very famous helper

00:49:33 in this room who volunteered.

00:49:35 He came through and said he would help me.

00:49:38 We've got to cut these bottles

00:49:39 so you can stack them,

00:49:40 like you're seeing here.

00:49:42 And I'm going to call on our helper.

00:49:43 How about Santa?

00:49:45 Great.

00:49:46 Santa, what you've got to do

00:49:48 is start with your bottle.

00:49:50 I'm going to show you.

00:49:51 What you're going to need

00:49:52 is a pen like this.

00:49:54 Santa's holding that,

00:49:55 and you want to make a ring,

00:49:56 because where you cut this bottle

00:49:58 is very important.

00:49:59 And in Santa's Christmas presents to you

00:50:01 are all the instructions on how to do this.

00:50:04 So you just take that,

00:50:05 and you hold your pen here,

00:50:06 and you just turn the bottle,

00:50:07 and you make one ring there

00:50:09 and another ring here,

00:50:11 just like that.

00:50:13 And then you take a little knife

00:50:15 or a razor blade.

00:50:17 You've got to be a little careful

00:50:18 with your knife.

00:50:19 And you put that right on that line.

00:50:21 Cut it like this.

00:50:23 And here, you see?

00:50:26 Just cut it like that.

00:50:28 Then all you need is a pair of scissors.

00:50:30 With your scissors,

00:50:31 you just go into where that cut is,

00:50:33 and you cut on the ring.

00:50:35 You remove the bottom,

00:50:36 and you've got yourself

00:50:37 a nice little kind of a cup there.

00:50:40 See?

00:50:41 And then you go in here,

00:50:43 and you cut on this ring.

00:50:44 And Santa,

00:50:45 would you hold that edge

00:50:46 of the bottle for me?

00:50:47 Thank you.

00:50:48 You're a terrific helper, Santa.

00:50:50 You must also have helpers.

00:50:53 Santa has many helpers.

00:50:54 This is all you need

00:50:55 to get into bottle biology,

00:50:56 boys and girls.

00:50:57 Santa, thank you very much

00:50:58 for that help.

00:51:01 How about a hand for Santa?

00:51:03 Thank you.

00:51:05 Now what you want to do

00:51:07 is take this top of the bottle

00:51:09 that you took off

00:51:10 and put it inside the bottle

00:51:12 like that.

00:51:13 And it comes down toward

00:51:14 where you left a little shoulder.

00:51:16 And you see what you've got

00:51:17 is a little unit like that.

00:51:19 This has got

00:51:20 a little shoulder on it,

00:51:21 and you can begin

00:51:22 to stack this

00:51:23 just as we have here.

00:51:24 And you can go on

00:51:25 and on and on

00:51:27 as high as you want to.

00:51:28 And that's what we're going

00:51:29 to do right now.

00:51:30 We're going to begin

00:51:31 to build an eco column,

00:51:33 which is a miniature ecosystem.

00:51:35 Where do you start

00:51:36 when you walk outside?

00:51:38 You start on the ground,

00:51:39 on the soil.

00:51:41 And so we have the soil.

00:51:42 But did you know

00:51:43 that below the soil,

00:51:44 where you are walking

00:51:46 is water, ground water?

00:51:48 So basically,

00:51:49 soil and water are related.

00:51:51 And you can see

00:51:52 there's water in this column

00:51:53 below the soil.

00:51:55 Things that happen in the soil

00:51:56 can influence the water.

00:51:57 So if you make pollution

00:51:59 in the soil,

00:52:00 frequently you pollute

00:52:01 the water downstream

00:52:03 or in somebody else's pond.

00:52:05 But if you look here,

00:52:06 we're just going to be placing

00:52:08 this column

00:52:10 on a little platform here.

00:52:13 And a little bit of Velcro tape

00:52:15 is amazing stuff

00:52:17 because it lets you

00:52:18 stack this column.

00:52:20 So that's the beginning

00:52:21 of an eco column.

00:52:23 Now, this is a subset

00:52:25 of an eco column

00:52:26 that you can do experiments with.

00:52:27 So you see the water below

00:52:29 and the ground above

00:52:30 is what we're talking about.

00:52:32 Things that happen here

00:52:33 in our farmlands,

00:52:34 in our gardens,

00:52:35 too much fertilizer

00:52:36 can be studied

00:52:37 so that they're influenced

00:52:38 in the lake.

00:52:39 You've all seen how green

00:52:40 and sort of yucky Mendota gets.

00:52:42 It's because we put

00:52:43 too much fertilizer

00:52:44 in the farmland

00:52:45 adjoining Madison.

00:52:48 Once you go

00:52:49 above the ground level,

00:52:51 we find that

00:52:52 all sorts of things

00:52:53 happen on the surface

00:52:54 of the soil.

00:52:55 Most of the activity

00:52:56 of humans is to throw

00:52:57 that pollution on the top.

00:52:59 Some of it,

00:53:00 we have to find

00:53:01 very big holes

00:53:02 to bury in.

00:53:03 These are called

00:53:04 landfill sites.

00:53:05 Some of us

00:53:06 who are home gardeners

00:53:07 like to compost.

00:53:08 And so by cutting

00:53:09 these bottles

00:53:10 and stacking them up,

00:53:11 we have a leaf litter layer,

00:53:13 a compost column.

00:53:14 And that just fits

00:53:15 on top of the soil

00:53:17 so that things

00:53:18 that are happening

00:53:19 in the compost column

00:53:20 also affect the water

00:53:22 because they're connected.

00:53:23 Now let me show you

00:53:24 what happens

00:53:25 in compost boxes.

00:53:27 There are little snails

00:53:28 and all sorts of things

00:53:29 living in that compost column.

00:53:31 Well, let's show you

00:53:32 how you make

00:53:33 a compost column.

00:53:34 Over here

00:53:35 is an empty compost column

00:53:37 and over here

00:53:38 is one that is filled

00:53:40 with compost

00:53:41 and it's an experiment

00:53:43 by a student

00:53:44 who has got in this one

00:53:45 maple leaves.

00:53:47 And he's pouring water

00:53:48 into that

00:53:49 and seeing how quickly

00:53:50 the maple leaves

00:53:51 will turn to good humus.

00:53:53 Another compost column

00:53:55 which he's comparing

00:53:56 are black walnut leaves

00:53:58 and he's asking the question

00:53:59 how the two

00:54:00 are comparing.

00:54:02 Well, here's a compost column

00:54:04 that's about

00:54:05 a year and a half old.

00:54:07 This was filled last year

00:54:08 and look what's left of it.

00:54:10 Where do you think

00:54:11 it's all gone?

00:54:13 It's gone in the water

00:54:15 but it's also gone

00:54:16 to carbon dioxide.

00:54:18 Anybody want to have

00:54:19 a sniff of this compost?

00:54:23 Come on, Bucky.

00:54:27 Santa?

00:54:28 He's a chemist, you see.

00:54:30 How about a sniff?

00:54:31 Anybody?

00:54:32 Anybody want a sniff?

00:54:38 Not bad, huh?

00:54:39 Well, take a look at it.

00:54:40 You can come up

00:54:41 a little later.

00:54:42 Maybe you can sniff it.

00:54:43 This is the next layer.

00:54:44 Now, up above the compost

00:54:46 of course is the soil

00:54:48 and here are some

00:54:49 of the fast plants.

00:54:50 These are 14-day-old

00:54:51 fast plants

00:54:52 in full flower

00:54:54 and you can see

00:54:55 that things that go on

00:54:56 in the fast plant world

00:54:58 influence what's below.

00:55:00 Above this

00:55:01 is a little system

00:55:02 we call upstairs-downstairs

00:55:04 and here we have

00:55:05 a praying mantis

00:55:06 because flies are generated

00:55:07 in the compost column

00:55:09 and if we pack

00:55:10 that praying mantis in here

00:55:12 well, he needs food

00:55:13 and the flies just come on up

00:55:14 through the garden here

00:55:15 and mantis is there

00:55:16 fat and sassy

00:55:17 feeding on that.

00:55:19 Now, in a natural woodland

00:55:21 in Wisconsin

00:55:22 we have lots of holes

00:55:23 and ponds

00:55:25 and on the top of the pond

00:55:27 of course

00:55:29 is a little lake.

00:55:30 What we want to do here

00:55:31 is make it rain

00:55:32 and so here's what we do.

00:55:34 Why does it stop raining?

00:55:35 Physics will tell you that

00:55:37 but by just making it rain

00:55:38 in here you can see

00:55:39 it rains all the way

00:55:40 through the column.

00:55:41 This is how you can build

00:55:42 an ecosystem.

00:55:43 Now, to make an experiment

00:55:44 with an ecosystem

00:55:45 you've got to ask a question.

00:55:47 What happens, for instance,

00:55:48 in this experimental system

00:55:50 and this is your test

00:55:51 for the night

00:55:52 if you add acid rain?

00:55:56 We put in some

00:55:57 of Professor Shakashiri's

00:55:58 cabbage juice

00:55:59 into this section

00:56:01 of the compost column.

00:56:02 What color should this turn

00:56:03 if this is acid rain?

00:56:05 Red.

00:56:07 Let's see what color it turns.

00:56:09 See if this is acid rain.

00:56:15 Well, that means

00:56:16 that the rain is acidic.

00:56:17 You've done an experiment.

00:56:19 Well, we're going

00:56:20 to just break now

00:56:21 but what we want to do

00:56:22 is ask you one question

00:56:24 before we leave.

00:56:25 Are there experiments

00:56:26 that you can run

00:56:27 in an eco-column?

00:56:29 Thank you very much

00:56:30 and we hope you enjoy it.

00:56:33 Again, you can see

00:56:34 that we have

00:56:35 very exciting research

00:56:36 and very exciting teachers

00:56:38 at the university

00:56:39 and someday, all of you,

00:56:41 I hope, will come

00:56:42 to the university

00:56:43 and study science.

00:56:44 You know, we do research

00:56:45 in science

00:56:46 in order to understand

00:56:47 the mysteries of nature,

00:56:49 in order to have fun,

00:56:51 as my shirt says.

00:56:52 You know, science

00:56:53 is intellectually stimulating.

00:56:55 You know, we do research

00:56:56 in science

00:56:57 in order to understand

00:56:58 the mysteries of nature,

00:56:59 in order to have fun,

00:57:01 and it is intellectually stimulating

00:57:03 and it is emotionally rewarding

00:57:05 and that's why someday,

00:57:06 I hope that many of you

00:57:08 will get to be scientists,

00:57:10 become scientists,

00:57:11 mathematicians,

00:57:12 or engineers,

00:57:13 and I know most of you will not

00:57:15 but I want you to have

00:57:16 an appreciation of science.

00:57:18 And so, for our special ending,

00:57:21 I'm going to do

00:57:23 one experiment

00:57:25 in this very special

00:57:28 glass contraption.

00:57:30 It's like a spiral.

00:57:31 I'm going to take

00:57:32 a clear blue liquid

00:57:34 and mix it with a clear

00:57:35 colorless liquid.

00:57:36 We're going to do this

00:57:37 in the dark,

00:57:38 so let's do this in the dark

00:57:39 and see what happens.

00:57:40 Ready?

00:57:41 Here we go.

00:57:45 This is chemiluminescence.

00:57:47 This is the release of energy

00:57:48 in the form of light

00:57:49 but not in the form of heat.

00:57:51 With the lights on, please,

00:57:53 you see that the color

00:57:56 that is emitted

00:57:57 is characteristic

00:57:58 of the chemicals that we use.

00:58:00 And Santa and his elves

00:58:01 have put a special

00:58:03 chemiluminescence experiment

00:58:04 for you in the bag

00:58:06 that you will get

00:58:07 as you leave.

00:58:09 I want to close by thanking you

00:58:10 for coming to my laboratory

00:58:12 this evening,

00:58:13 and I wish you all

00:58:14 a very, very happy holiday.

00:58:16 So long.

00:58:18 Have yourself

00:58:20 a merry little Christmas

00:58:27 Let your heart be light

00:58:36 From now on

00:58:42 our troubles will be out of sight

00:58:57 Have yourself

00:59:00 a merry little Christmas

00:59:11 Thank you.