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08 November 2005
Schools Visit Days
We regularly host visits of pupils from local schools to the department of Chemical and Process Engineering. In January and February 2005 we hosted visits of almost 100 pupils from schools in Rotherham, the Derbyshire Dales, Barnsley and Doncaster.
The pupils are typically in Year 10 or 11 and are always very keen to experience what doing a degree in chemical and process engineering is like. We also favour a hands-on approach and set them loose (under close supervision!) in our teaching laboratories.
We split the pupils into small groups and give them five different experiments to do. These experiments show them how important chemical and process engineering is to the everyday things that we take for granted. The experiments are:
1. Making candy floss – the pupils experience life as a fairground candy floss seller and learn the science behind small and large scale candy floss production. They, of course, get to make and eat the candy floss too!
2. Artificial food and drink flavourings – the pupils are given a range of artificial flavours to identify by smell. They also have to identify a mystery flavour used in a popular range of food and drinks (and then eat the mystery food!)
3. Making popcorn – they learn the science of small and large scale popcorn manufacturing and again get to taste the fruits of their labours
4. Gas adsorption – the pupils learn how liquids and gases are cleaned in a typical chemical manufacturing plant
5. Smoke rings – pupils make smoke rings safely and with no harm to their health using our purpose-built smoke rig
If your school would be interested in a visit to the Department and experience chemical and process engineering in action please contact:
Simon Butler, Schools Liaison Officer
Tel: 0114 222 7515
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