Turboturds
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Award Nominees , Chemistry , Demonstration , Secondary
Sugar, acid, and… stand back.
Director's Notes:
Here’s what the film-makers have to say about repeating this experiment:
“This experiment is as easy as it looks but should definitely not be tried without an appropriate risk assessment. “The SO2 fumes require the use of a fume hood and the beaker can get very hot. Obviously there’s the concentrated acid as well!”
But then they go on to sound like they’re really far too interested in the whole idea:
“John Haigh was famously convicted of murder in 1949 after he had dissolved the bodies of his victims in concentrated sulphuric acid. This demo is a fun way of showing the acid’s potent ability to destroy organic matter.”
Er… thanks. We think.
The music was produced by the team using Steinberg Sequel, by the way. They report that it brought their PC to its knees, but as you can hear, it got the job done.
SciCast Notes:
Nominee: Best Chemistry Film, 2008
Nominee: Best Entertainment Film, 2008
Nominee: Best Film, the Jurors’ Grand Prize 2008
I love this film! It’s short, the experiment is terrific, the close-up shots of the ‘turd’ are gruesome, and the bass works well. Best of all, though, is the completely deadpan delivery by the presenter. Funny!
With an experiment like this you always want to see more of it, from different angles: using that time to run an explanation is absolutely the right thing to do. Either in narration or, as here, as a caption that crawls across the screen, whichever works for you.
Simple, effective, well-executed — great stuff.
— Jonathan.