Royal Society of Chemistry - Hull and East Yorkshire section

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Royal Society of Chemistry - Hull and East Yorkshire section

We run talks, outreach, careers events and networking to showcase chemistry in everyday life and inspire the next generation of scientists.

Students, teachers, chemists and science-curious minds welcome. 🧪

14/05/2026

Chemistry: the only place where having no reaction is still a reaction 🧪

21/04/2026

🍫 1 day to go…

Come for the chocolate. Stay for the chemistry.
(or the other way round, we won’t judge 👀)

20/04/2026

💧🤯 “Wetness” isn’t real. Your brain made it up.

Your skin has no “wet sensor” — it just guesses using:
• Friction (slippy 👀)
• Temperature (cold = suspicious 🥶)
• Movement (spreading = “must be wet”)

💦 Water: spreads + cools → feels “wet”
🧴 Oil: slippery but no cooling → feels different
🏜️ Flour/sand: high friction → “dry” vibes only

🧠 It’s all your brain combining signals into one illusion.

👇 Try it: water vs oil vs flour — which feels “wet”… and why?

13/04/2026

🧪 If glue is so sticky… why doesn’t it glue the tube shut?

Glue sticks to paper.
Glue sticks to wood.
Glue sticks to your fingers immediately.

So why doesn’t it stick to the inside of the tube it lives in? 🤔

The answer is chemistry — and timing.

Most glues contain polymer molecules suspended in a liquid solvent (often water). Inside the tube, those polymer chains are just floating around happily and not forming strong bonds.

For glue to actually stick, a few things have to happen:

🔬 The solvent needs to evaporate
When glue is spread into a thin layer, water or solvent escapes and the polymer chains pack together to form a solid adhesive film.

🔬 More surface contact
Spreading the glue increases surface area so intermolecular forces — like Van der Waals interactions and hydrogen bonding — can grab onto the surface.

🔬 Sometimes a chemical reaction
Some adhesives (like cyanoacrylates) polymerise rapidly when exposed to trace moisture in the air.

Inside the tube? None of that happens.

The glue is:
• sealed away from air
• not spread into a thin film
• unable to lose solvent
• touching a low-energy plastic surface

So chemically, it stays as a stable liquid polymer system, not a solid adhesive.

In other words…Glue isn’t always sticky. It’s waiting for the right chemical conditions. Unfortunately, those conditions are often…your fingers. 😅

📌 Save this post if you enjoy everyday chemistry.

12/04/2026

🚀 On this day in 1961, humanity finally stopped looking up at space and actually went there.

Yuri Gagarin blasted off aboard Vostok 1 and became the first human in space, orbiting Earth in just 108 minutes.

Exactly 20 years later, the first flight of Space Shuttle Columbia launched on the STS-1 mission — proving reusable spacecraft were possible.

So today we celebrate Yuri’s Night and the International Day of Human Space Flight.

Because without chemistry…
🚀 no rocket fuel
🧪 no heat shields
🛰 no spacecraft materials

…just a lot of very ambitious jumping.

10/04/2026

Fresh look for the page 🧪

Proud to bring chemistry events to Hull and East Yorkshire, supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry. From talks and tours to community events, we’re here to celebrate chemistry in our region.

Got an idea for a talk, tour or event? We’re all ears 👂

07/04/2026

You know what Imine?! Organic chemistry is just connect-the-dots…but with panic.

02/04/2026

🌈✨ Noble Gases: The Introverts of the Periodic Table ✨🌈

You know that one friend who shows up, looks great… and then refuses to talk to anyone?
Yeah — that’s the noble gases 😌

💨 Meet the squad:
Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, and Radon — all sitting in Group 18, minding their own business.

🔬 Why won’t they react?!
Because their outer shells are already full.
No bonding. No sharing. No drama.
They’ve basically said: “I’m complete, thanks.” 💅

🎈 What they actually do:
• Helium – Makes your voice sound like a cartoon character 🐿️
• Neon – Carries entire city aesthetics on its back 🌆
• Argon – Third-wheeling in welding 🔥
• Krypton – Not Superman’s favourite, but still glowing 💡
• Xenon – Flashy camera lights 📸
• Radon – The mysterious one… maybe a bit too mysterious ☢️

🌟 Fun fact:
Even though they’re called “inert,” scientists have managed to make compounds with xenon and krypton — proving even the most chill elements can be persuaded under the right conditions!

31/03/2026

🔥🎂 Happy Birthday to the man who turned up the heat in chemistry… Robert Bunsen! 🎂🔥

If you’ve ever shouted “Turn the gas off!” in a lab, you’ve got Robert Bunsen (born 31st March 1811) to thank.

The Bunsen burner became a chemistry lab icon because Bunsen perfected a design that mixes gas and air before burning, giving a hot, clean blue flame — perfect for experiments. No smoky flames. No soot everywhere. Just beautiful chemistry.

And that clean flame unlocked something amazing… flame tests 🔬

Put different elements into the flame and they light up in signature colours:
🟡 Sodium → bright yellow
🟣 Potassium → lilac
🟥 Lithium → crimson

Those colourful sparks helped launch spectroscopy, a technique scientists still use today to figure out what things are made of — from unknown chemicals to distant stars.

So next time you light a Bunsen burner, remember:
You’re not just heating a test tube…
You’re continuing 200+ years of chemistry history. 🔥

Happy birthday, Bunsen!

Address

Kingston Upon Hull

Website

https://www.rsc.org/events/member-network/local-sections/hull-and-east-yorkshire-local-section, https://www.instagram.co

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