National Chemistry Week held during the first week in November, started with a bang on Saturday, October 31, with ChemExpo 1998 in Balboa Park hosted by the San Diego Section of the American Chemical Society.  What is the mission of National Chemistry Week?  Its mission is to communicate to the public that chemistry (chemicals) is not detrimental to our society, but improves our standard of living.  This mission was exemplified by the volunteers from SAACSMesa (the chemistry club at Mesa College) and industry.  "We want to communicate a positive message about chemistry."  How do you make a positive impression of chemistry?  Show them that chemistry is around us everyday and we benefit from it.  Major events of the day included chemical demonstrations and hands-on chemistry experiments like extracting iron metal from the cereal we eat by using a magnet, decomposing hydrogen peroxide to make foam, and analyzing sunglasses using a UV-visible spectrophotometer to see how effective sunglasses are at removing ultraviolet radiation from sunlight.  The event also gave club members a chance to interact with a large number of high school students that attended the event.  SAACS members also had the opportunity to network with members from industry furthering their knowledge of the types of jobs and opportunities there for a chemist in San Diego. 
    Keeping in step with National Chemistry Week, SAACS also hosted their own demonstration tables in the quad area in front of the cafeteria last week, as well as organized a field trip to Pepsi Cola's Laboratories in San Diego. 

Below are photo's of Helene Scalliet and Artemes Schuppenhauer as they excite the crowd with the chemistry demonstration, "Elephant Tooth Paste" 

Artemes prepares to have some chemical fun.