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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemistry Demonstrations
Date: Saturday, March 12, 2022 at 2:21:08 PM
Author: Monona Rossol <0000030664c37427-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU> 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Advice about laboratory attire
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2022 05:59:57 -0400
Author: Richard Palluzi

From: DAVID Katz <DAKATZ45**At_Symbol_Here**MSN.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemistry Demonstrations
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2022 19:40:48 +0000
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: MN2PR15MB37112D2E4DEE233F0F7CB3BAC50D9**At_Symbol_Here**MN2PR15MB3711.namprd15.prod.outlook.com
In-Reply-To <000001d8362d$693c7e30$3bb57a90$**At_Symbol_Here**rochester.rr.com>


I attended many of Hurbert Alyea's demonstration sessions and also a number of his demonstration, TOPS, and armchair chemistry workshops.  Yes, some of his demonstrations may have been "cringeworthy" in view of today's safety standards, but he was always in control.  He never filled a room with smoke or noxious fumes causing evacuation of the audience or damaged the facilities where he was presenting.  He edited the Tested Demonstrations column in the Journal of Chemical Education and those columns were published in several editions by the Division of Chemical Education.  In his workshops, he did stress keeping the demonstrations under control and discouraged any "bigger is better" aspects of those demonstrations.  He pioneered the TOPS overhead projection system to project small scale reactions onto a screen in a classroom or auditorium.  His armchair chemistry system is the beginning of today's microscale chemistry.  Overall, he was a World Ambassador for Chemistry. 

I learned a lot from Hubert over the years I knew him.  I have had a long career as a chemical demonstrator with presentations in over 30 countries that have been accident free.  That doesn't mean things did not go wrong, as test tubes or flasks break or a few milliliters of alcohol caught fire, but I always had a safety shield in place, when appropriate, and no one was ever injured. I remain a strong advocate of performing chemical demonstrations in proper venues in appropriate small scale.  While I do appreciate all the guidelines for presenting chemical demonstrations, I maintain that those guidelines do not tell the potential demonstrator how to actually do the demonstrations safely.  I do summarize my review and recommendations in my paper "Chemical Demonstrations: The good, the bad, and the ugly", presented at the 251st ACS National Meeting in San Diego, CA in 2016, and expanded into a longer paper with references to YouTube and other videos. This paper can be read on my web site.  http://www.chymist.com/Safety%20with%20chemical%20demonstrations.pdf

As a tribute to Hubert, I was the co-organizer of a symposium honoring him at the 197th ACS National Meeting in Dallas, TX, April 9-14, 1989.  That was one of the last times Hubert did demonstrations and related a number of his "famous" stories in public.

David A. Katz
Wilmington, DE
dakatz45**At_Symbol_Here**msn.com



 
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> on behalf of pzavon**At_Symbol_Here**ROCHESTER.RR.COM <pzavon**At_Symbol_Here**ROCHESTER.RR.COM>
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2022 9:22 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemistry Demonstrations
 

I enjoyed seeing the younger Hubert Alyea in that video, and , yes, I cringed at some of the things he did. He was still using that same flour deflagration demonstration device 30 years later when as a staff member I saw his presentation on "Lucky Accidents, Great Discoveries, and the Prepared Mind" during the Reunion activities at Princeton around 1983.  Although edited choppily, this can also have some useful, and cringeworthy, moments. See it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSw7cHfxbu8

 

For what it may be worth, I was told that Prof. Alyea was one of only two professors in the history of Princeton, at least up to the time I left in 1984, to be relieved of all research expectations in favor of teaching, because he was such a fine teacher.

 

Peter Zavon, CIH
Penfield, NY

PZAVON**At_Symbol_Here**Rochester.rr.com

 

 

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Craig Merlic
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2022 4:34 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemistry Demonstrations

 

All,

 

There have been great discussions on this list-serve about chemical demonstrations. So here is a video that harks back to a bygone era.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mMQ05s37nw

 

This video could be used in a safety class asking students to identify all the things done wrong by modern safety standards.  Dozens!

 

The sexism is also stunning as this was from 1955 and Princeton University did not admit female students until 1969.

 

Craig

 

Craig A. Merlic

Professor of Chemistry, UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Executive Director, UC Center for Laboratory Safety

http://cls.ucla.edu

Los Angeles, CA  90095-1569

Voice:  310-825-5466

 

 

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