Saturday, May 14, 2022

Nanoparticles are between 1 and 100 nanometers. That is one-millionth of a millimetre! Nanoparticles are used in healthcare to deliver medicine to targeted body areas, environmental science to create wires for solar cells, and aerospace engineering for aircraft wings. Typically, nanoparticles are invisible to the human eye. In this session, we will use our microwaves to make nanoparticles that are highly luminescent and visible under UV light!

Preparation: access to a microwave (with adult supervision), one (1) microwave-safe bowl that can hold at least 4 cups, mixing spoon, honey, molasses, blue marker, purple marker, transparent tape, flashlight (smartphone with a flashlight app works),  index card or sheet of paper, scissors, computer with internet connection

Expert: Nicole Ritter is a postdoctoral fellow at York University developing sensing platforms using nanoparticles.