Roy won the Colour Zone in March 2014. We asked him to tell us all about how he’s used his £500 prize and here is what he said…
Well, it has been an incredibly busy year and a half since I’m a Scientist! My research has taken up almost all of my time but I have managed to get out and about to schools to deliver a few talks on chemistry, meteorites, solar system formation, the Rosetta mission, formation of comets (making a comet from dry ice is cool – literally!) and the origins of life (the organic building blocks and where they form in space).
The prize money has meant I can bring actual meteorites to my workshops in schools
With the money I won I have bought lots of items that I can use to model and explain what I am talking about. I have bought a piece of a Campo del Cielo iron meteorite, a tektite (a blob of terrestrial rock made molten by an impact) and several samples of metallic elements including iron, nickel, iridium and gallium which are found in meteorites. I also purchased an old Crookes radiometer to show how the sun’s light can deflect objects in space and change their orbits depending on how light or dark they are.
Elements that can be found in a meteorite – ready to make some interesting colours when heated.
A tektite and a piece of the Cielo Del Campo meteorite all the way from Argentina
In preparation for the bigger chemistry demonstrations, the ‘Flash – Bang – Wallop’ stuff (which hasn’t yet gone out on the road, as it were), I’ve bought a range of samples of elements, including sulphur, bismuth, lead, tin, vanadium, titanium, niobium and tantalum, so that pupils can see and touch elements that they may only ever have heard of. I also used some of the money to subsidise an iPad with fantastic apps called ‘Elements’ and ‘Elements in Action’, both of which are an invaluable tool when teaching the chemistry of the elements. Finally, I purchased two small hand held spectroscopes for when I produce coloured flames making it possible to see how the spectra change depending on the elements being heated.
This almost antique Crookes radiometer shows how the photons from the sun can move objects!
Happily for me, my work is very interdisciplinary, so I’m able to mix and match the samples and equipment to suit what I’m talking about. I can combine meteoritics and solar system formation with elements and spectra. For example, meteorites contain a higher amount of iridium in them (use the meteorite) so when they heat up in the earth’s atmosphere they produce an iridium flare (use the iridium sample and an iridium compound) which is a flash of light green in colour (use the spectrometer).
I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here was a brilliant experience; being able to connect with, educate and enthuse school pupils was really a privilege. I think this collection of bits and bobs will keep their interest value for years to come and I hope to use them to grab the interest of pupils all over the country for the rest of my career!
