Chemistry: Fun With Matter

Dave Eckstrom has taught ten classes at Summer Academy in radio, carpentry and physics.  In his regular life, he teaches chemistry in the Hayward High School in Hayward, Wisconsin.  He is a former engineer who has worked on projects ranging from designing chicken processing equipment to testing bomb parts to developing laser systems for medical equipment.  

Chemistry: Fun With Matter

Have you ever experienced something exploding, burning, glowing, changing color, fizzing or getting cold?  When this is happening, there is a change in the matter that makes up what you are seeing.  Changes in matter happen whether we are paying attention or not, but people who study these changes have a lot of fun exploring how the world works.  These people are called chemists and I’m inviting you to become one for a few weeks this summer.

Join us as we make matter change and measure some of the results.  Each day, we will perform a different experiment (or two or three) and see what we can learn from all the changes in color, temperature, size, texture and even taste.  That’s right – cooking is mostly chemistry, so some of our experiments will be edible!  We’ll also talk to some people who do chemistry for a living and get some idea of the cool things they do.  Perhaps you are thinking about becoming a scientist, a medical professional or an engineer.  Being a chemist for a week will introduce you to some things that will definitely be a part of your future in those careers.  But this class is not just for science geeks – it’s for anyone who wants to have fun and learn more about how the world works at the same time.  Plus, you’ll get to wear some really stylish goggles!