A "snowman" is ignited while two people juggle flaming "snowballs". A silver mirror appears inside a large glass flask.

Is it magic, or is it chemistry?

It's ... chemistry!

If you want to see why, don't miss the Holiday Magic Show at the University of Illinois chemistry department this December.

Produced by chemistry teaching faculty and students, the show demonstrates many principles of chemistry, including kinetics, thermodynamics, gas laws and atomic theory.

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 will include about twenty-five demonstrations that explain the science behind the "magic" of chemistry.

Holiday Magic will take place at 100 Noyes Lab (505 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana). Show times are December 13 (Wednesday) at 7:00 p.m. and December 16 (Saturday) and 17 (Sunday) at 2:00 p.m. The show is free and open to the public. 

Non-perishable food items will be collected for the Eastern Illinois Food Bank as your ticket to the show! 

12/7/2017