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Let's Drink To That MIT Chemistry Behind the Magic

[MUSIC PLAYING] JESSICA HARROP: Hi, I'm Jessica. And I'm going to show you a chemical demonstration that I like to call let's drink to that. Now performing chemistry demos is hard work. And MIT's Dr. John Dolhun-- here he is-- is thirsty. Let's watch him and his assistant Barry at the Cambridge Science Festival. [WHOOSH] BARRY KRIEGSMAN: Here you've got some Fiji Water, but I figured you could try some of, I don't know, my personal favorite tap water as well. I don't know. JOHN DOLHUN: I think I'm going to stick with the Fiji water. BARRY KRIEGSMAN: You're going to stick with that? OK, that's fine. Well, if you'd like I could treat you to something a little better. I don't know. What would you imagine? What it would like to drink right now? JOHN DOLHUN: A glass of wine. BARRY KRIEGSMAN: A glass of wine, absolutely. JOHN DOLHUN: Do you have a list? Wine list? BARRY KRIEGSMAN: Oh, yeah. JOHN DOLHUN: Oh, you do have? BARRY ...

Colorful Indicators MIT Chemistry Behind the Magic

[MUSIC PLAYING] JESSICA HARROP: Hi, I'm Jessica and today I'm going to talk to you about a chemical demonstration I like to call colorful indicators. Indicators show us what we normally wouldn't be able to see, from the canary in the coal mine to a paint that changes color with temperature to the acid base indicators we'll be seeing today. And chemist Dr. Bassam Shakhashiri here he is-- is going to be showing us the demo. He's the president of the American Chemical Society and performing this demo right here at MIT. [WHOOSH] BASSAM SHAKHASHIRI: Now what I'm going to do is an experiment using another form of carbon dioxide. It's called dry ice. Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. And you'll notice I'm putting what on? AUDIENCE: Gloves. BASSAM SHAKHASHIRI: Putting gloves. And I'm going to open this bucket and pick up three chunks of carbon dioxide solid. This is solid carbon dioxide. Its temperature is minus 78 degrees Celsius. It's ...