Alabama STEM explorers is made possible by the generous suppor of Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology Southern Research.

Solving the world's hardest problems the Holle Family Foundation, Alabama Works Alabama STEM Council, Alabama Mathematics, Science, Technology and Engineering Coalition for Education.

Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative.

Thanks for joining us on today's episode of Alabama's STEM Explorers and today, Anderson, I are going to be exploring the properties of gases and we're going to take a look at some pretty cool changes.

Hey, Anderson, tell me what's the coolest or the coolest thing you can think of?

And I'm not talking about myself.

I know I am pretty cool.

A popsicle?

Snow Oh, I know dry ice and liquid nitrogen.

Yes, those are really cold.

Do you want to chill Dr.

Linear?

You bet I do.

We are coming to you from the STEM lab at Southern Research in Birmingham, Alabama, where the weather is hot, but the science is so, so cool.

And Anderson, you're in luck.

I've got some dry ice and liquid nitrogen right over there.

Really?

Let's go check it out.

What even is dry ice?

How can I be dry?

That's a great question, Anderson.

So dry ice is really just frozen gas.

It's frozen carbon dioxide and you do a little bit about carbon dioxide, right?

Yeah, it's not what we breathe out.

That's exactly right.

And the cool thing about dry ice and really where it gets its name from is that dry ice never changes into a liquid atmospheric pressure.

It just goes straight from a solid to a gas.

And you can sort of see that a little bit here.

But you know what, Anderson?

Why don't you do the following thing?

Why don't you pick up some of these dry ice pellets and throw it into into these cylinders?

Oh, OK. And all this is this is just some water, and it added some food coloring to sort of make it pretty what it is.

Yeah, go to town, throw some in.

There you go into.

This gives you a better idea of how much gas is really coming off because the thing about dry ice you can't see carbon dioxide gas because it's invisible, right?

Well, whenever you put it into the water, you can really see how much gas is coming up.

That's pretty cool isn't it.

Yeah.

So I'm just going to move these right out of the way, and I've got another experiment that'll help show you this.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to hold this balloon open, OK, and you're going to take some dry ice and you're just going to stick it right inside the balloon.

Yeah, they're pretty slippery.

They'll get away from you.

There you go.

Perfect.

Good job.

You can add a few more in there.

Perfect.

one more.

Great job.

OK, so now what I'm going to do is I'm going to take this balloon and I'm going to tie it off.

And what I want you to do, Anderson, is I want you to take this balloon and I want you to give it a good shake.

Shake it as hard as you can.

OK. All right.

Keep on going.

Don't be shy.

Perfect.

So if this dry ice is really frozen gas, what should happen is our balloon should totally fill up with gas, right?

It should fill up with just carbon dioxide.

So take a little sneak peek.

Oh yeah, it's blowing up, right?

That's so cool.

And it's going to continue to sublimate.

Have you heard of Sublimate before?

I don't think so.

So sublimate is just when its substance goes from a solid to a gas without going through the liquid state.

Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah.

So you can keep on shaking, and that balloon is eventually going to get really big.

But hey, Anderson, you said that you thought of something that was even colder than dry ice, right?

Yeah, which was liquid nitrogen.

Yes.

I've got some right over here.

Let's go get it.

OK.

So you got the dry ice was cold.

It's now negative.

78 degrees Celsius.

Liquid nitrogen is even colder.

It's negative 196 degrees Celsius.

That's really cold.

Yeah, it's freezing or below freezing.

And so what I have here, Anderson, is I have some beautiful flowers just for you.

Take a look and see that they're real.

Give them a good smell.

Don't they smell delicious?

Yeah.

OK, so what?

I want you to do.

So the cool thing about liquid nitrogen, it's really kind of just like liquid air.

So most o the air that we breathe is nitrogen about 79% or so.

And so when that air gets really, really cold, the nitrogen turns into liquid nitrogen.

I mean, it doesn't get this cold anywhere, but that's what would happen.

And so what I want you to do with the flowers is I want you to give them a good dunk inside the liquid nitrogen.

OK. Do you see that?

Yes.

Whenever you put those flowers inside of the liquid nitrogen, the liquid nitrogen starts boiling.

And the reason for that is because compared to the liquid nitrogen, these flowers are on fire.

So just like how you put a pot of water on a stove and it starts to boil.

That's exactly what's happening here.

Are you going to stick them a little bit further in there?

Yeah, we want to cook them.

Really good.

All right.

So now pull them out.

All right, and I will take this right here And now what I want you to do is I want you to give it a good squeeze.

Perfect.

Now, just let it go.

Oh yeah, it is really cold, so it is totally frozen these flowers.

And that is why you never want to stick your hand of liquid nitrogen.

Pretty self-explanatory, right?

Right.

Yeah, very innocent.

So we saw what happens when you put the flowers inside the liquid nitrogen, but it has some balloons right here.

What do you say?

We blow some up and give them a dunk.

OK, let's do it.

That's pretty good.

OK, so now we have our balloons blown up, and so first, we've got to put on our gloves, right, because this is super cold.

Safety first.

And so Anderson.

Tell me, what do you think is going to happen whenever I dunk the balloon inside of the liquid nitrogen?

I think it might explode.

Yeah, maybe a lot of people think it's going to pop.

Well, the cool thing about science and scientists is when we don't know the answer, we just do the experiment.

Are you ready?

Yeah, let's do it.

All right.

Here we go.

Cover your ears.

Is it popping?

No, it's not popping what's happening?

It's huh.

It looks like it's deflate.

It is deflating.

Yeah, it's shrinking.

It's totally shrinking.

Wow.

I will pull this balloon out so you can see it a little bit better.

Check it out.

There is no more air inside of the balloon.

Where did it go in the air?

Do you think that there's a hole in the balloon?

Yes.

Yeah.

Maybe there's a hole.

So what do you think is going to happen when I pull the balloon back out?

It'll cool off?

Maybe, OK, maybe it'll pop there.

Let's just do it.

Let's check it out.

Are you ready?

All right, check it out.

It's beautiful cloud.

Now, what's happening to the balloon?

It's blowing back, it is blowing back up.

Holy cow.

Why does that happen?

I'll tell you, OK, we'll think about it, so like with gases get really, really cold.

What do they do?

They want to get really, really close together, right?

Right.

And then as gases warm up, they want to expand.

And so when we put this balloon inside of the liquid nitrogen, those gas molecules were freezing.

And so they're going to kind of they're going to try to get as close together as possible.

You pull it out now.

They're hot.

They want to expand and the wind blows back out.

That's pretty cool, wasn't it?

Yeah.

All right.

So we saw the pink balloon, but I also have a clear balloon here.

We're going to do the same thing.

I'm going to stick it in the liquid nitrogen.

And of course, it's going to deflate, right?

Just like before.

But this time, when I pull it out of the liqui nitrogen, I want you to look really, really closely at what is inside it.

I want you to tell me what you see.

All right, you ready?

Look at the bottom of the balloon.

What do you see?

Liquid.

That's a liquid.

What do you think that could be?

Did you spit in it?

No, it is in there.

You saw me blow it up.

So if I didn't spit, what could it be?

So think about it.

What gases are in the air?

Because it's got to be something that's in the air, right?

Right?

Maybe water vapor water vapor.

That's a really good idea.

But think about water vapor.

So what happens to water when it gets really, really cold?

It freezes, it freezes into ice, right?

Which is a solid, but that was definitely liquid.

So could not be water vapor.

What else do you what else is in the air?

Carbon dioxide?

Carbon dioxide?

That's great that when I blow it up, that's what I exhale.

Great hypothesis, and I've just the experiment to test that out.

Do you remember that green carbon dioxide balloon we blew up from the dry ice?

Yeah.

All right.

Go grab it.

Oh, OK.

So if you remember this, I know it's totally inflated.

So if you remember the only gas that is inside this balloon is carbon dioxide, right?

Because it went from the dry ice, which is solid CO2 to carbon dioxide.

So let's give this a good dunk.

And if that liquid inside of our clear balloon was really carbon dioxide, this should we should see a liquid inside this balloon, too Right, right.

All right.

So it is deflated.

Now I'm going to pull it out, and I want you to tell me what you see.

All right.

Do you see any liquid in there?

Oh, I don't think so.

No, there is no liquid.

You know what?

This is just dry ice.

It is a sheet of dry ice here.

Check it out.

You can feel it because what happens to carbon dioxide when it gets really, really cold?

It it.

It turns into dry ice, right?

Exactly.

So it's not carbon dioxide.

And so the gases that are left, you have a little bit of argon nitrogen because nitrogen, that's about 79% of the air we breathe in oxygen.

And it turns out that the liquid inside of this balloon is a combination of liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen.

Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah, very cool.

Dr. Lanier, what is all this smoke?

That's a good question.

So it's not really smoke interesting.

It's more of a cloud, and you had the perfect experiment that can show you we'll make a little miniature, pretty cool cloud.

All right.

So what I have here is I have a flask of hot water.

OK. All right.

And what I want you to do, I want you to hold it really tight, just like that.

All right.

We're going to point it like that.

And what are going to do is I'm going to grab some of this liquid nitrogen and I'm going to pour it in and we are going to make a clou because what happens here we go, we'll give it a good pour.

All right.

There you go.

Perfect.

And check it out.

Look at this cloud and you can't breathe it in.

It really is just a cloud.

Isn't that nice?

Yeah, it's very cool.

So what's happening is that like when we add this, liquid nitrogen is coming in contact with this water, the water vapor cool down and they condense , and that is what makes a cloud.

Isn't this very cool?

And we're going to do this all day long.

We could just keep adding liquid nitrogen, and there's just going to make a beautiful, beautiful cloud.

How neat is this?

All right.

Yes, it is a pretty cool cloud, though.

I asking, let's do this on an even bigger scale.

What do you think?

Yeah, all right.

Let's do it.

All right.

So you saw that small cloud that we created earlier, but we're going to make an even bigger one.

So what I have down here is I have a bucket of liquid nitrogen and then I have some hot water.

So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to dump the hot water inside of the liquid nitrogen and it's going to go boom, and we're going to have an awesome cloud.

Are you ready?

Yeah.

All right.

Safety first.

There we go.

Can I get it?

three, 21.

Yes, this is the best cloud we've ever done!.

Ever since I can remember, I loved the building things I can remember, being being real, young and building things with sticks or rocks or whatever, I could find that I could build with.

And then I later discovered Legos and discovered that you can take these little bricks and build whatever you wanted.

And as I went to school and grew up and learned that there actually something you can do that's related to that, and I discovered that through chemistry, you can build molecules and not only build molecules, but build molecules that could help help people.

And if you're a doctor or a lawyer or or something else, you help one person at a time.

But by being a medicinal chemist and by working here at Southern Research trying to solve the world's hardest problems, we can change the world by the molecules we make and every day I get up.

And that's what I think about, I think is today that that day that I'm going to make a molecule that'll change the world chemistry is one of those areas where there's lots of different things that you can do.

But medicinal chemistry is just what suits me because I'm still able to create and I'm still able to build things that can help people.

I've worked on several projects here at Southern Research, but the one that we're working on now that's really exciting is for cystic fibrosis It's been a real challenge with this project because it's something that's not been done before.

So these types of compounds have not been made yet.

That can help.

There are drugs on the market, but those specific ones we're going after are really ne and hopefully we can discover something that can make their lives better.

You know, the next five years, I just want to continue to to grow, continue to become a better medicinal chemist, continue to be a better manager.

I have several people under me now.

I just want to learn every day.

I would say, follow your dreams.

You know, if you grew up with a curiosity for science, don't let anybody change your mind.

Don't think about money.

Don't think about this or prestige.

Do what you love.

Go after what you love.

Because in the end, you won't be sorry because you're doing something that you love and something tha is part of you.

And a job is a lot more than a job.

It's a big part of your life.

And if science is that, then go for it.

Thanks for watching today on Alabama State Explorers.

I'm Cruz and I'm Keisha, and we're here at Southern Research in Birmingham, Alabama, for today's scientific investigation.

We want to make sure that we practice safety so we have our safety goggles, which we're going to put on.

Good job, cruise, and we advise that you do not try this at home.

You should be under the supervision of an adult who is your parent or a science teacher when conducting this investigation.

So Cruz that candle smells good.

Where did you get it from?

Actually, my mom bought it for me.

Oh, so well, I wasn't really playing with fire, just I was putting this lid over it to see what would happen under.

And just like that.

So you just trying to see it all went out?

Yes.

So before you put the lid on there, there was a flame in the candle.

Yes.

So there were things that help that flying to stay.

So some of things we know that it needs is oxygen It needs fuel and enough heat to keep it going.

Yes.

All those together are called the fire triangle.

So when you put that little there, we were able to extinguish that flame.

So let's look at this a little more in depth just to get a better understanding of what is actually going on.

So let's put our candle to the side.

You put that lit back on and we're going to start here and we are going to do an investigation.

So we have two graduated cylinders here.

Bring them closer to you because their glass, we don't want them to fall over and break.

So what we're going to first do we have our measuring spoons and they are one teaspoon each.

So I want you to put one teaspoon of yeast into both graduated cylinders.

And when you push our yeast in there, make sure you level it off like we did before when we were doing some previous activities.

In fact, we'll put one teaspoon now, just hold it so it doesn't move around.

Great it go.

All right, and let's put one teaspoon here All right, now, we're going to do after you finish that and put that lid back on.

We're going to do one teaspoon of baking soda.

Also known as sodium bicarbonate.

So if you hear the scientific term being used in your classroom, you know that means baking soda.

So here we are with this, with our sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda, we're going to put one teaspoon here to each other.

That's right.

That's enough.

And then we're going to put one teaspoon in this graduated cylinder.

Oh, right.

And then what I want you to do, Cruz is to take it and just kind of mix it around like that Does it have to be like perfectly mix, which is mix it around and we'll put this baking soda over to the side?

All right, great.

So now we have hydrogen peroxide and what do you have on the other side of the there?

Vinegar, vinegar?

Yes.

Sometimes you may see the word acetic acid.

OK. And so we're going to look at what happens when we pu these different liquids into our graduate and cylinder, and then we're going to provide a flame sauce and then we're going to see what happens.

All right.

Go ahead.

Pour enough in there.

But don't let it overflow.

Just a generous amount.

We don't have to measure it out.

That's why we don't have any lines on this graduated cylinder.

OK. Just Pour.

Pour.

Don't be afraid to.

OK. Just a little bit more.

OK. Oh yeah.

And that should be good.

OK, now here we're going to pour hydrogen peroxide.

Also known as H2O2 into here.

All right.

Just put a generous amount.

I think that is good now as the adult.

I'm going to light this little wooden popsicle and we want to put everything out the way.

Well, we're working with fire.

We want to make sure we have a clean work area that is Popsicle Stick is going to be our fuel source.

OK, so we want to get this lit very well using our lighter.

That's providing this flame.

OK.

I think this pretty good what you think?

Yeah, that's OK.

So as you don't, I'm going to drop dead in here.

Watch?

Oh.

Did you see that?

Oh, whoa.

Did you see that flame come back?

Yeah, let's try this one more time.

I think that's going to.

That was the last time.

But what happened?

Why were we able to extinguish the flame here?

And then once I put the popsicle stick in here, the flame came back because of the different liquids.

Well, it does deal with the components of what is in here.

So what happened is we created a byproduct known as carbon dioxide.

Will we use what would this or what do we put in here?

Vinegar?

Yes, along with our baking soda and a yeast rice.

So we created this byproduct, which allowed it to do what would happen with the flame it extinguish.

It extinguished.

But then when we put it back over here in the graduated cylinder, it contains which different liquid hydrogen peroxide?

Yeah, yeah.

We saw the flame came back, but that was because we had all to present and that allowed that flame to reignite.

So then we realized that, hey, we have to have certain components to make our flame continue or extinguish.

Correct?

Yes.

And so that's what happens when we're looking at flame and understanding how fire works.

So that's why it's important not to play with fire and that's why When oxygen continuously fuels the fire, which we got oxygen from the air, this in the atmosphere.

That's what helped our fire to keep going.

My name is Tiffany Whitlow, and I am the co-founde and chief development officer at Acclimate.

I am also the visionary of our now included.

Community Acclimate is a biotech company located here in Huntsville, Alabama, with a headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama.

And we are working to ensure that there is diversity in clinical trials.

Well, no day is the same because this is an uphill battle.

And so people don't understand that when drugs are developed like this albuterol here, this was developed through a process called clinical trials.

In order to ensure that this works the same in me and maybe a white counterpart or my Asian friend, I need to make sure that there are enough people in a diverse representation in that research .

And so that is really what we do.

We meet people right where they are.

Through are now included brand.

We get to work with Johnson and Johnson.

We have a location at Labs in D.C. and they're interested in getting feedback on Neutrogena and Clean and Clear and Band-Aids and Listerine.

So who knew that these products that we use every single day were also developed through a process, and we need to make sure that people are engaged and included as that is being developed.

Researchers are scientists, and they really maybe some people maybe thought it was really coo and they were interested in their science experiments.

But you can turn that into something that can help your mom or your dad with an illness.

So if you have somebody that's suffering of a heart disease or diabetes, that drug that they're taking to help them with that disease state is developed by a scientist by a researcher.

You can be in the STEM field and not be a researcher.

So if you failed that math test, if you're not necessarily good at that science experiment, you can still help those researchers.

They need people who understand people in the lived experiences that we all go through.

So it's really cool to think back of me as a middle schooler and what I didn't know at that time that I could go into Walmart and get a pack of Band-Aids, but somebody had to figure out how that Band-Aid was going to go on your skin, how long it was going to stick to your skin, whether or not it was going to come off with water, that that's developed through a process.

And we get to be a part of that process.

We get to support the tremendous research that's going on at Hudson Alpha at UAB.

We work with UAB a lot.

We support the Alabama Department of Public Health.

It's really cool to think that somebody who grew up in small town, Alabama can solve big world problems, and we do have a lot more life and world outside of our small community.

I never knew that was possible, but now it is.

Hi, my name is Nina, I've always wondered what is fire anyway?

Fire is just oxidation sped up by intense heat, the flames of a fire are a collection of very hot glowing gases such as carbon dioxide, along with steam rising from the burning material.

Thanks for watching Alabama STEM exports.

If you missed anything or you want to watch something again, you can check out our website at Alabama STEM Explorers dot org.

Maybe you have a question we could answer here on the show, and you might grab a cool T-shirt.

Feel free to send us a video question or an email on our website.

Alabama STEM Explorers dot org.

Thanks again for watching.

We'll be back next week.

Alabama STEM Explorers is made possible by the generous support of Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology, translating the power of genomics into real world results.

Southern Research Solving the world's hardest problems The Holle Family Foundation established to honor the legacy of Brigadier General Everett Holly and his parents, Evelyn and Fred Holley, champions of servant leadership Alabama works a network of interconnected providers connecting business and industr needs to a highly skilled and trained workforce.

Alabama STEM Council dedicated to improving STEM education, career awareness and workforce development across Alabama.

Alabama Mathematics, Science, Technolog and Engineering Coalition for Education advocating for exceptional STEM education in Alabama.

Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative, the Alabama Department of Education's initiative to improve math and science teaching statewide.