Keystone College students witnessed exploding pumpkins outside Capwell Hall in a joint celebration of Chemistry Week and Halloween on Friday, October 25.
“I don’t know what I’m more excited for, what I drew or when it’s going to explode,” exclaimed Abby Lewis, who drew the creative artwork on both pumpkins.
According to Instructor John Minora, who conducted the experiment, the reaction in the first pumpkin occurred from a mixture of sodium metal and water. This reaction transformed the water and sodium into sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas while sodium ions collided together, creating the heat quick enough to cause an explosion. Potassium metal was used in the second pumpkin, resulting in a larger explosion that sent bits of pumpkin everywhere.
The event, and by extension all of Chemistry Week, exists as a fun reminder of chemistry’s importance in all fields of science.
