Demonstrating the value of catalysis

A group of PhD students, researchers, and academic staff from the School of Chemistry attended the Manchester Science Festival 2016 with an exhibit dedicated to demonstrating the value of catalysis to the public.

The exhibit, entitled “The Gold Rush”, uses a “molecular cannon”, bagatelle selectivity game, 3D imaging of reactions and nano particulate gold to showcase the importance of catalysis to everyday life and the exciting new science that is being undertaken in this area in the School of Chemistry at Cardiff University.

Catalysed reactions are involved in increasing food yields, making plastics, and to clean up our environment by converting poisonous gases from cars into less harmful alternatives. The exhibit demonstrates that smarter catalysis – for example, by using gold to speed up reactions - can lower our energy consumption and our impact on the planet.

The exhibit was staged at the first Royal Society Science Exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester from 24th-28th October 2016 as part of the Manchester Science Festival 2016. The Exhibition is based on the Royal Society’s annual London event and aims to reach a wider public audience with a variety of family friendly hands-on activities demonstrating the cutting edge of science and technology. The Gold Rush team were invited to take part in this inaugural exhibition due to their successful past exhibit at the London event.