Thank you to everyone who planned and organized the two shows in December 2025 and thank you to everyone who attended the shows in Noyes Laboratory on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Check back in Fall 2026 for information about the next Holiday Magic Chemistry Demonstration Show.
Is it magic, or is it chemistry?
Juggling flaming snowballs, a silver mirror "magically" appears inside a large glass flask, liquids instantly change colors.
It's chemistry!
And it happens in December at the Department of Chemistry's Holiday Magic Chemistry Demonstration Show.
This family-friendly, free event is produced by teaching faculty and students and demonstrates chemistry principles in a fun and approachable way, featuring approximately twenty-five demonstrations that produce the "magic" of chemistry.
See what happens to a pickle subjected to high voltage. Discover why helium gas and not hydrogen gas is used in party balloons. Watch as liquid nitrogen is poured into a container of soapy water. The show demonstrates many principles of chemistry, including kinetics, thermodynamics, gas laws and atomic theory.
Previous shows:
Holiday Magic Show video (December 2024)
Holiday Magic Show compilation (December 2015)
Holiday Magic Teaser Video (December 2017)
Holiday magic show reveals the science behind the 'magic' of chemistry (Department of Chemistry, December 7, 2017)
It’s not magic; it’s science (Smile Politely, December 20, 2017)