Our exhibition has two main features.
1. Hands-on, interactive activities:
We will show Midwest originating rocks, familiar minerals and crystals, and new materials made in UW-Madison labs. Some of these specimens (such as rocks and minerals) are available to touch and feel, observe colors, smell, and feel weight etc. Then, participants will observe the same kind of specimens specially prepared for the light microscope to learn how they look like in the smaller microscopic world. For these activities, we are targeting the younger audience (such as K-12th grades).
For more advanced participants (such as 8-12th grades, college/undergraduate/graduate students), we will show a paper model of single crystal x-ray diffractometer and explain the principles. A single crystal x-ray diffraction technique is a powerful analytical tool that we use in our laboratory at UW-Madison for studying crystal structures at the molecular level. Every crystal structure is unique, but you will quickly learn they are related by, for example, atomic packing, simple polyhedral building blocks, or combination of parent structure types.
We have panels of our original comics made by the artistic graduate students from the Fredrickson group to explain the science. Our comics for crystallography, elements from the periodic table, and featured scientists are available on the Fredrickson group website as well.
2. Crystal-themed coloring sheets:
Our original crystal-themed coloring sheets will also be available for visitors to take home, or immediately color with crayons provided and post on a wall at the booth.
Coloring sheet samples:
…and some more!