Items Fall 100 Feet, Explode at the Third Annual Big Drop

Giselle Reyes (’18, MA ’19) ignites her favorite “textile”, gun cotton.

The 3rd annual Big Drop was held on May 9 outside the Exley Science Center to mark the last day of classes for the Spring semester. A series of smashable items—including water balloons, bouncy balls, watermelon, apples, pineapple, discarded computer equipment, plastic, and Oobleck—were dropped from the building’s rooftop. The Free Radicals also contributed a variety of explosions including the burning of an Orgo Lab report in liquid oxygen.

Click here for a short video and photos from the event.

 

Free Radicals

The tie-dye tradition continues!  The chemistry majors’ group, the Free Radicals, got together on a sunny Saturday afternoon last October to make tie-died lab coats.  Organized by Associate Professor of the Practice Andrea Roberts, and the Free Radicals co-leaders Jeanette Thornton (’18), Giselle Reyes (’18) and Theo Prachyathipsakul (‘19), nearly forty chemistry majors dyed lab coats, consumed Thai food, and indulged in liquid nitrogen ice cream.  The results are shown below.