Those of you who have been to my workshops will know that I have a real interest in combining Chemistry and Art. In the past Science and Art were very much inter-related (see, for example, the painting “Experiment on a bird in an air pump” by Joseph Wright of Derby in 1768) but for the last two hundred years or so they have been portrayed as very different disciplines. Once they are exposed to the possibilities of combining Chemistry and Art most students find that it is something that they very much enjoy – particularly those who also study Visual Arts as one of their IB subjects. We also all know that students tend to be much more savvy with IT than most of us ‘oldies’ so why not give them a Chemistry/Art project to get involved in where they can really use their IT skills as well. Such a cross-curricula project can lead to a much greater appreciation and understanding in all three areas. Traditional teachers may say “but this is not on the syllabus” but, as the IB Learner Profile suggests, take a risk with a short amount of your allotted 240 or 150 hours. You might be surprised at the benefit that students gain, not only in increased understanding but also in their enjoyment and enthusiasm for Chemistry which will set them up for the more traditional parts of the course.

One person who has been doing this successfully is Kim Pimmel. In the example below called ‘Compressed 02’ he combines soap bubbles with a ferrofluid liquid and a red dye and sets it to music to create a story using macro lenses and time-lapse sequences. This involves both magnetic forces with the iron particles and also involves the hydrogen bonding attraction between water molecules which accounts for the capillary action. Kim also has several other examples of similar ideas shown as videos (the site calls them vimeos) on his site.