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A s the advanced chemistry students stumbled around the
ash-filled trashcan to enter the doorway of Fred Fotsch’s
classroom on Oct. 30, they realized one thing: Halloween
isn’t just about candy. Fotsch had created a scientist’s
dream room by scattering cylinders, dry ice, strings, long
tubes, and blast shields across the room for a demo day
filled with experiments. Whether Friday was meant for
festivity or gore, no one will ever know but the experiments
were far from the normal festive tricks. To begin the
Halloween bash, students brought customary Batman
napkins and an array of chocolate treats for a classroom
feast.
Batman was soon trumped by one of Earth’s finest
products: fire. Fotsch started with a long metal tube with
many tiny holes drilled along the top that hooked up to a
natural gas valve.
“While you’re out Saturday night, I’m drilling holes in my
garage,” Fotsch said.
The gas created flames that streamed evenly through
each hole. Just when the site couldn’t get more eye-
gripping, Fotsch attached an amplifier that increased and
decreased the gas pressure and created sound waves by
causing the flames to grow and stretch.
“It reminded me of the Bellagio [fountains] in Las Vegas,”
Ed Yassa (12) said. “It’s pretty much mind-blowing.”
SaturdaynightStudents celebrate Halloween with experiments and tricksscience
Invincible power of chemistry in hand, Fred Fotsch demonstrates the chemical changes produced by dry ice to his ad-
vanced chemistry students. “I think Fotsch has too much time on his hands,” Andrea
Coleman (12) said. Photo by Matt Hart
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Hannah Goforth
Switching to chemistry, Fotsch shifted behind his custom-
made blast shields, making everyone else in the room move
backward three steps. He took a large chunk of dry ice and
placed lit magnesium within a small notch of it. He then placed
another chunk of dry ice on top. The dry ice cube created a
giant white light that momentarily blinded students and proved
the power of CO2 (the product inside a fire extinguisher).
“Magnesium and CO2 was a pretty weird reaction,” Tyler
Jenkins (12) said.
Getting back to the seasonal basics, Fotsch included his
trademark trick to end the day. After he announced that girl
breath weighed more than boy breath because girls are full
of hot air, he tested his theory by having students, male and
female, breathe into small flasks and weigh them against an
open flask of oxygen. The two girls’ tested breath slammed
to the bottom of the scale as it overcame the weight of the
oxygen flask. Two boys’ breath kept the scale perfectly even.
But then as a third boy’s breath was tested, it slammed the
scale the same as the girls’ had, making the entire class laugh.
“I think it’s hilarious unless it’s directed at you,” Arleigh Atkins
(11) said.
The secret? Fotsch’s only hint was, “Do not pay attention to
the man behind the curtain!” Translation: Don’t look behind the
poster that is conveniently placed in front of his foot because if
you do you will see the string attached to a lever that controls
the scale on top of the table.
Saturday
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