Manchester University Chemistry Department is not difficult to find, unless of course you’re traveling with Mr. Wood or Mrs. Owen! Anyway, you’ve probably heard enough about the transportation experienced on this trip so once we’d arrived at the department this is what followed.

The ‘schools liaison officer’ gave a brief talk on choosing and applying to university which in all honesty was interesting and will prove helpful in the following months. However, without a doubt the most entertaining part of the afternoon was when the award winning Dr. John Salthouse took the floor.

He re-ignited (literally) our enthusiasm for chemistry with a series of experiments which shook the floor, lit up the room and identified a major contributor to the smog in Manchester.

The loudest ‘bang’ was created when a surfactant was mixed in water, and methane and pure oxygen was used to form bubbles in the mixture. After being warned to plug our ears (again) we braced ourselves for the explosion to occur.

The flame touched the bubble and initiated a chain reaction to occur causing chalk to fly across the room, blackboards to move and well the earth moved for me!

If this all sounds impressive you’d be right – it was! So if you want to experience this spectacle take A-level chemistry and see for yourself!!!