Photos courtesy of George Ruger
The official celebration for
the Connecticut Valley Section's (CVS) 100th Anniversary was held on Saturday,
October 1, 2011 at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. ACS President-Elect
Bassam Shakhashiri started off the festivities by presenting a certificate
to celebrate the milestone to Mark Peczuh, Chair of the Connecticut
Valley Section. Then he talked about his 4 Presidential Initiatives
and his theme during his Presidential year, Advancing Chemistry / Communicating
Chemistry.
The morning speaker was Dan Nocera, Professor from MIT. Based on Dan's data, we are currently
using 14 terawatts of energy on the planet, but we will need an additional
16 terawatts of energy by 2050. Why so much more? It is
largely expected that by the year 2050 the world population will grow
from nearly 7 billion people today to 9 billion people. In addition,
over the next 40 years there will be another 3 billion people in poor
countries who will be looking for access to energy. Therefore
there will be twice as many people looking for access to the energy
supply by 2050, and that goes on the assumption that the energy needs
of the legacy world will not increase. For energy in the non-legacy
world, cost is the first issue, not efficiency. High efficiency
comes with a high cost. The key, in Dan's opinion, is in providing
the non-legacy world a carbon-neutral, sustainable energy supply.
Dan's work is largely focusing on obtaining energy from solar power.
He is looking at photosynthesis in plants for inspiration and trying
to find a cost efficient way to generate energy that can be done in
small scale in parts of the world that don't have access to the power
grid.
Lunch was provided to the attendees.
They also had the opportunity to view posters from the CVS which paid
tribute to the history of the section and highlighted some of the important
figures of the section, including those who are ACS Fellows. One
poster was dedicated to letters from other sections who congratulated
the CVS on their 100th Anniversary. A few of the 18 local sections
in the Northeast Region sent letters and also sent representatives to
the event. The crowd had over 100 people, many of them high school
kids from nearby schools.
The afternoon speaker was Bassam
Shakhashiri. He was wearing his red SCIENCE IS FUN t-shirt for
this portion of the event. Bassam commented that everything around
us is made of chemicals. He also said those of us in the science-rich
sector should share what we know with the science poor sector.
There is a gap between the sectors, and that gap is widening to the
detriment of both sectors. Bassam also talked about some of the
reasons for communication- to inform, to engage, to educate, to advocate,
and to persuade. He also mentioned the Science and Engineering
Indicators 2010, a report given every two years to Congress, and said
we should all be familiar with what is in it.
For the Science Is Fun demonstration,
Bassam started by raising up a match. He let it go and it dropped
to the table. He said "That is Physics." Then
he struck it on the side of the match box and the match lit to a brilliant
flame. He replied "That is Chemistry!" Bassam
also lit what looked like a dollar bill and it burned to a big flash,
leaving no ashes behind. Then he confessed that it wasn't a real
dollar bill, but flash paper that looked like a dollar bill. Then
he sought a volunteer from the audience to donate a real bill.
He soaked the bill in a liquid and then lit the bill. The bill
seemed to burn with a bright yellow flame but actually remained intact.
The liquid burned off but didn't damage the bill. He asked the
audience what the liquid might be. Then he said it was a mixture
of alcohol and water. Bassam also made use of 6 1000ml graduated
cylinders. There were three colors, and two cylinders had each
color. He added dry ice to one of the two of each color and we
observed the color changes. He talked a little bit about the Chemistry
behind the color changes and then added the dry ice to the others.
Bassam also demonstrated Bernoulli's Principle by blowing up a long
cylindrical plastic tube using only the air in his lungs, plus a little
help from the surrounding air.
In conclusion, Bassam said that
all forms of science need to work together, including Chemistry, Physics,
and Biology.
At the end of the event three
cakes dedicated to the 100 year old Connecticut Valley Section were
cut and eaten.
No party is complete without cake.
Join us Tuesday morning March 13, 2012 in Room 311F of
the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FLA at our PITTCON Conferee Networking Session where the topic of discussion will be: 
Jennifer and George are both *Chemistry Ambassadors* and participated in several International Year of Chemistry community outreach events in 2011 including the Greater Boston Mass Spec Discussion Group Annual Family picnic. Read the press we got on this here.
2012 ACS-organized Chemistry of Food Science Cafes at the upcoming West Coast and East Coast Science Festivals:
Jennifer and George are both *Chemistry Ambassadors* and participated in several International Year of Chemistry community outreach events in 2011 including the Greater Boston Mass Spec Discussion Group Annual Family picnic. Read the press we got on this here.
