LEAH GRAZIANO
Special to The Leader
Spooky science experiments took over the Science Center.
The first ever Frankin-Lab Halloween Science Fair was Saturday, Oct. 27 in the Science Center from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Fredonia’s Chemistry Club hosted the free event, which was open to students and the general public.
The science fair was also child friendly. Children were able to wear their Halloween costumes while learning all about the wonders and spookiness of chemistry.
The Chemistry Club received a grant from Strategic Enrollment Management to put on the event for prospective students.
Before entering the Frankin-Lab, visitors had to sign a waiver and put on protective safety goggles.
In the Moos’ Organic Chemistry Lab, room 322, visitors were able to see “gummy bear torture.”
“You basically heat up this one compound and then you put a gummy bear in it and it explodes and lights up,” said Mallory Thomas, the Chemistry Club president and a senior chemistry major.
“It reacts by letting off a sound that almost sounds like a scream and has a bright light and smoke,” said Katie Fink, a senior Chemistry major. She is also a member of the Chemistry Club.
There was also elephant toothpaste oozing out of a jack-o-lantern.
“It is just mixing dish soap with hydrogen peroxide and reacting it with a catalyst that causes the soap to foam up,” said Fink. “We did it inside a pumpkin to make it match the Halloween theme.”
Next to the Moos’ lab, there was a room where visitors could make their own slime and watch a demonstration on fake blood. A photo booth with props was also running.
To make the slime, visitors mixed equal parts of water and white glue. Then they added food coloring and a glow in the dark solution. Finally, they added a borax solution to activate the slime.
Taylor Hodges, a biology major, showed the visitors how to use the fake blood. Her demonstration included a fake hand coated in aluminum.
“The more you put on it the more blood will come out,” she said.
Then she scraped ferric chloride, a solution that gives the bloody effect, right on the fake hand.
The event was part of the Signature Saturday series which are presented by different academic areas. Here prospective students and their families are able to meet with faculty and learn about the academic program they are interested in while partaking in some “mad science.”