A s the advanced chemistry students stumbled around the

ash-filled trashcan to enter the doorway of Fred Fotsch’s

classroom on Oct. 30, they realized one thing: Halloween

isn’t just about candy. Fotsch had created a scientist’s

dream room by scattering cylinders, dry ice, strings, long

tubes, and blast shields across the room for a demo day

filled with experiments. Whether Friday was meant for

festivity or gore, no one will ever know but the experiments

were far from the normal festive tricks. To begin the

Halloween bash, students brought customary Batman

napkins and an array of chocolate treats for a classroom

feast.

Batman was soon trumped by one of Earth’s finest

products: fire. Fotsch started with a long metal tube with

many tiny holes drilled along the top that hooked up to a

natural gas valve.

“While you’re out Saturday night, I’m drilling holes in my

garage,” Fotsch said.

The gas created flames that streamed evenly through

each hole. Just when the site couldn’t get more eye-

gripping, Fotsch attached an amplifier that increased and

decreased the gas pressure and created sound waves by

causing the flames to grow and stretch.

“It reminded me of the Bellagio [fountains] in Las Vegas,”

Ed Yassa (12) said. “It’s pretty much mind-blowing.”

SaturdaynightStudents celebrate Halloween with experiments and tricksscience

Invincible power of chemistry in hand, Fred Fotsch demonstrates the chemical changes produced by dry ice to his ad-

vanced chemistry students. “I think Fotsch has too much time on his hands,” Andrea

Coleman (12) said. Photo by Matt Hart

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Hannah Goforth

Switching to chemistry, Fotsch shifted behind his custom-

made blast shields, making everyone else in the room move

backward three steps. He took a large chunk of dry ice and

placed lit magnesium within a small notch of it. He then placed

another chunk of dry ice on top. The dry ice cube created a

giant white light that momentarily blinded students and proved

the power of CO2 (the product inside a fire extinguisher).

“Magnesium and CO2 was a pretty weird reaction,” Tyler

Jenkins (12) said.

Getting back to the seasonal basics, Fotsch included his

trademark trick to end the day. After he announced that girl

breath weighed more than boy breath because girls are full

of hot air, he tested his theory by having students, male and

female, breathe into small flasks and weigh them against an

open flask of oxygen. The two girls’ tested breath slammed

to the bottom of the scale as it overcame the weight of the

oxygen flask. Two boys’ breath kept the scale perfectly even.

But then as a third boy’s breath was tested, it slammed the

scale the same as the girls’ had, making the entire class laugh.

“I think it’s hilarious unless it’s directed at you,” Arleigh Atkins

(11) said.

The secret? Fotsch’s only hint was, “Do not pay attention to

the man behind the curtain!” Translation: Don’t look behind the

poster that is conveniently placed in front of his foot because if

you do you will see the string attached to a lever that controls

the scale on top of the table.

Saturday

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