Visitors to the University of Queensland's Chemistry Department during Expo Uni may find it a slightly slimy experience.
Expo Uni, when the University opens its doors to the public, will be held from noon until 5pm on May 17 and 18 and feature high-tech research laboratory displays, street theatre, water-powered rockets and multicultural food.
Last held in 1994, Expo Uni is expected to draw around 50,000 people to the St Lucia campus.
As part of the weekend event, the Chemistry Department will host a display concerning large molecules and polymers with an opportunity for members of the public to make their own slime (green), gore (red slime) or sludge (yellow slime) and ectoplasm (blue slime).
The public will also be invited to try breaking a plastic window (it has rarely been done before) and use a plastic light pipe to 'bend' light around corners.
Small amounts of metals are essential for the body's health - visitors can have the zinc content of their hair analysed.
For those who like a contest, Department staff will issue a special certificate of excellence to anyone who can accurately analyse a mystery acid sample. This can be done experimentally or using a computer simulation.
Froth, foam and bubbles are fun to play with but visitors can also learn about the chemistry of these unusual molecules and the science of cappuccino coffee.
Visitors will also be able to manufacture rubber balls from a special rubber 'tree' set up in the Department.
Not all chemists work in laboratories, so another display features important work being conducted by University of Queensland Chemistry Department staff, extracting potentially useful chemicals from animals and plants on the Great Barrier Reef.
The Department's displays will be housed in room 220 of the Chemistry Department. For more information, contact Dr Peter Pomery (telephone 3365 3955).
Free parking will be available for Expo Uni patrons including undercover parking in the multi-level car parks on Sir Fred Schonell Drive, St Lucia. Bus and CityCat access is also available.
According to Expo Uni organising committee chair Dr Lisa Gaffney, the University of Queensland's Great Court will be a central focus of activity, complementing the many departmental displays located throughout the campus.
While most visitors would come from South-East Queensland, in the past many had also travelled from northern New South Wales and distant parts of Queensland, she said.
Dr Gaffney said Expo Uni offered family entertainment as well as displays and demonstrations of the University's outstanding research and teaching.
'We want the public to know that the University is an exciting, accessible and friendly place,' she said.
Other free activities and entertainment over the two days include the following.
- Weigh yourself on a crane or learn how to deflect steel with your finger, activities organised by the Mechanical Engineering Department (located ground floor, Mechanical Engineering Building, off the Great Court).
- Fire a water-powered rocket in the Great Court and discover a practical and fun application of the laws relating to projectile motion mathematics.
- Attend a mock trial conducted by the Law Students' Society in the Moot Court. The trial will be broadcast on closed circuit television in the Forgan Smith Building.
- Take a heritage walk of the St Lucia campus with guides from the History Department or learn how to trace your family history. Walkers to meet in the History Department's foyer in the Gordon Greenwood Building near the University's Student Union Building.
- Tune into a multitude of international satellite programs including Beijing news bulletins and Spanish dramas, to be shown at the Centre for Language Teaching and Research (located in the Joyce Ackroyd Building).
For more information, contact Dr Gaffney (telephone 3365 1333).
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