News

Explosions at the House of Commons

Published 21 January 2011
Event 24 January 2011

A Brighton professor will be picking up where Guy Fawkes left off by performing explosive science at the House of Commons.

Professor Hal Sosabowski has been given permission to blow up gases and liquids on the House of Commons terraces – all under controlled conditions and with no risk of damage or injury.

Professor Sosabowski, Professor of Public Understanding of Science at the University of Brighton, has been invited by the Royal Society of Chemistry to help with the Parliamentary launch of the United Nations International Year of Chemistry 2011.

The event is on Monday (24 January) evening in front of MPs, and guest of honour will be David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science.

Professor Sosabowski will be reproducing some of the colourful experiments from his annual Brighton Dome show 'Bigger Bang', including an explosion that sounds like a barking dog.

Photo update: Professor Hal Sosabowski and Minister David Willetts

Other experiments will show the secrets of chemistry. A bewildering "pulsing" reaction continuously changes colour of its own accord, and a tin-foil boat will apparently float on thin air.

Professor Sosabowski said: "It is a great honour to help mark the launch and I like to think this is a reflection of how the Royal Society and we at the University of Brighton are trying make chemistry more accessible, more easily understood and more interesting."

2011 was designated by the UN as the International Year of Chemistry, to celebrate the achievements and contributions of chemical science to the world, and to inspire young people to study the creative, valuable science of chemistry.