The Malaysian Chemistry Festival 2008

IKM has been actively promoting Chemistry and Chemistry Education in Malaysia again !On the first day of the August school holidays,18 August, about 100 students and 20 teachers from schools around KL and PJ and an additional of 14 teachers who were attending the National Science Challenge event were gathered in Petrosains Discovery Centre for discussions and activities about the latest developments in the energy sectors. ' Energy ' was chosen for discussion because the theme of the festival was ' Energy Matters '.

Prior to this,being a member of the organising committee, I had been attending most of the meetings held for this festival in Petrosains.Since I was asked to do something for one of the interactive stations during the earlier meetings, I started to recall all my experiences in my teaching of Chemistry and found that the most suitable thing to share during this session was to make use of my teaching aid called " Redox Analyser " to highlight the oxidation of ethanol, an example of biofuels and an example of application of a chemical reaction in our everyday life. I felt very happy to have involved myself in this role when many interested students crowded around my demonstration table to ask more questions. Luckily , I had my prototype model made out of recycled bottles brought along yesterday. Otherwise, my effort would go to waste because when I first saw my actual model which I parked in the Discovery centre a few weeks ago , one of the quick-fit stoppers was missing and the connecting rubber tubing was cut off from it! What a thing to happen in an office? So, in whatever we do, we have to think of all the possiblilities which can happen and we cannot expect it as it is when we depart with it.There should always be a plan B (alternative plan ) in whatever plan we execute! I must always remember this point!

In the morning, we listened to three informative talks on ' the origins of Petroleum:Biogenic or Abiogenic?',' Biofuel/biodiesel 'and 'Global warming and climate change '. From this segment, I learned that

• one barrel of oil is equivalent to 160 litres
  
• our usual theory for the oil formation is the Biogenic theory which stresses on dead organic organisms to be the source of oil
  
• Ethanol is the biofuel which derives from fermentation of sugars from sugar canes or starchy materials like corn
• Biodiesel is methyl esters formed from transesterification
• Three main areas of the consequences of global warming are sea level rise(so a number of land areas submerge), climate change and ecosystem change

After lunch, we had a panel discussion on alternative energies like nuclear, solar and fuel cell energies. It was so comical to hear that the three speakers in the panel gave points to highlight their own type of energies. But, they concluded that they were not competing but in fact complementing one another. All the energies are good and they will be used where it is viable and practical according to location and position.I know more about these alternative energies now. For solar energy, there are two types of panels namely the solar thermal panels for heating up water and the photovoltaic panels which convert solar energy to electricity .As for fuel cells, there are hydrogen fuel cells, microbial fuel cells and enzymatic fuel cells. We too saw the safety in using hydrogen fuel cells compared to conventional fossil fuels. Hydrogen gas is 14 times lighter than air and so when there is a leak, it goes right up whereas fossil fuels are heavier and so they sit at the bottom. So , when there is leakage, the fire of fossil fuels will burn completely the entire car whereas hydrogen fuel -celled cars will just spark off a small fire!

The exitement of the students came to its height when En NorAzhar of Petrosains demonstrated a Chemistry show. He demonstrated how water poured from the first container disappeared in the second container using baby's diapers, the slimy liquids, colour change from kunyit and basic solution like sodium carbonate , turning white flowers pink , the effects of gas carbon dioxide to shot rockets up and the forceful fountain using coca -cola with another chemical. Everyone was happy and they went home excited with Chemistry after the awarding of certificate ceremony and afternoon tea.