Wednesday, October 28, 2009
High school students compete in chemistry bowl at USI's Mole Day
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Contact for more information:
Wendy Knipe Bredhold Media Relations Specialist, News & Information Services 812/461-5259 Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and the event will be held from 9 to 11:30 a.m. in Mitchell Auditorium in the Health Professions Center. Observed annually ("officially" observed October 23), Mole Day celebrates Avogadro's Number, 6.02 x 10^23, which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry. In general, one mole of any substance contains 6.02 x 10^23 molecules or atoms of that substance. The national observance of Mole Day began as a way to foster interest and enthusiasm in chemistry. The USI Department of Chemistry and the Indiana-Kentucky Border Local Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) host Mole Day at USI. Dr. Derek Lake, chair of the Indiana-Kentucky border section, will formally present copies of The Merck Index to high school chemistry teachers at 11:15 a.m., following the competition and demonstrations. Merck & Co., Inc., which publishes the internationally-recognized resource book, is donating more than 12,000 copies of The Merck Index to schools and chemistry teachers around the country in partnership with the American Chemical Society for National Chemistry Week. Lake pointed out that The Merck Index is particularly relevant to this year's National Chemistry Week theme, "Chemistry - It's Elemental!" "This year is the 140th anniversary of the periodic table of elements," Lake said. The Merck Index contains the periodic table, as well as chemical, pharmaceutical, and biomedical information on more than 18,000 compounds the layman knows as drugs, fragrances, cosmetics, food supplements, pesticides, and organic chemicals used in research. For more information, call Dr. Jeff Seyler, chair of the Department of Chemistry, at 812/464-1923. |
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