The One where the Coopers have Talent!

A few weeks ago our ward celebrated its 163rd birthday.  We had a big ward dinner and a talent show.  A few weeks before the party Justin mentioned a sign up sheet had been passed around in Elders Quorum but he wasn't sure what he could do as a talent.  He brought up the idea of doing chemistry experiments and I jumped on it.  Brilliant!!  In undergrad I was part of the chemistry club and once a year we would hold "Magic Shows" and do science demonstrations.  Everybody loved it.

We got everything ready to go on Friday and went to the party a little early to set up.  Unfortunately some of the kids found our props and if one kid had a balloon, they all needed a balloon :)  Thank goodness I brought the bag!

Justin and I were actually going out to dinner after the party with his dad and sister so we decided not to eat any Hawaiian Haystacks.  They smelled so good!  It was only the thought of Settebello's that kept us from eating.  We were pretty hungry though so I asked Justin to go get a small salad or something.  This is what he came back with.  One plate with a few handfuls of chow mein noodles!  Too funny!!

The bishopric kicked things off with a Simon and Garfunkel number.  For not being a real band they were really good!  His face is blocked but Brother Taft (far right) has a masters in music and plays the trombone.  I love when he plays for church activities!  What random talents we all have huh?!  The kids in front could not help dancing to any musical number, so cute.

And here it is, our talent.  "Chemistry with the Coopers."
We're so nerdy.

This is obviously not my video.  I just thought it was fitting :)

If you have questions about any of the people, topics, etc. mentioned in the video- we honestly know about it.  And I like Picard.  Maybe I shouldn't admit that.

Justin gave a little intro.

Then I explained a little bit about phases of matter illustrated by liquid nitrogen.  We "froze" the balloons so they shriveled up and then re-expanded once we took them out of the lN2.

Next we did a luminol experiment but we turned all the lights off so there aren't any pictures.  If you can't tell from the name, luminol is chemiluminescent and gives off light when catalyzed by hydrogen peroxide.  Think glow bracelets and fireflies.

Our grand finale was "elephant toothpaste."  This is a really common demo because people LOVE it.

 The demo ends at about 45 sec but I didn't want to edit.  Sorry, I'm lazy.

 
I was worried that after our "talent" people would either think we are even weirder than we really are or really cool.  I think it was the latter and we may have inspired some kids to learn more about science.  And possibly some of the adults.  One of my favorite primary kids came up afterward and told me "That was great chemistry!"  Thanks Arthur :)