Reporter Volume 25, No.29 June 13, 1994

They came to hear about what's really hot...     
and what's really cold, from the very small to the very large, on this
earth and out of this world.
	Students from 35 high schools throughout the Western New York
region were on the North Campus May 18 for the 11th annual Science
Exploration Day, sponsored by the Niagara Frontier Science Supervisors
Association; Western Section, Science Teachers Association of New York
State; UB's Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Office of
Admissions and Graduate School of Education; and Wilson Greatbatch,
Ltd.
	There was something for everyone with presentations such as
the "Cold, Cold World of Cryogenics," "Science in Our Everyday Lives,"
"Itty-Bitty Holes in Cells" and "Exotic Invaders of the Great Lakes,"
"What the World is Made of" and "Life in Space."
	Robert McClellen of Praxair Inc. demonstrated that ordinary
objects react in extraordinary ways when subjected to super-cold
temperatures. Rubber balls shatter glass balls, metal rods snap like
twigs.
	With beakers of liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen boiling at
his side, McClellen explained the relative temperatures of the
super-cold liquids he was using. Oxygen turns from a gas to a liquid
at -297 degrees F; nitrogen at -346 degrees F. "At 80 degrees, we
would be 400 degrees above the boiling point of this liquid," he said
pointing to the nitrogen beaker. "The liquid actually is boiling
away."
	He bounced a rubber ball on the floor, then placed it in
liquid nitrogen and submerged it until the liquid stopped "boiling."
Removing it from the super-cold liquid, he casually tossed the ball in
the air. It shattered upon impact with the floor. Super-freezing also
has a practical application, McClellen noted. It is used to recycle
old tires, which are then used in paving material.
	Later in the demonstration, McClellen submerged a fresh
carnation in liquid nitrogen for about a minute. Removing it, he
crumbled the frozen petals with his heavily gloved hand. The same
technique is used industrially, he said, in a technique called
cryogenic grinding: super-cooled flowers are passed through rollers;
the crushed flowers then are used to scent products.
	As a science, cryogenics is most often associated with
freezing people to be revived later, McClellen noted. "Freezing people
is something that really is done," he says. "All of the experiments
show that cooling to liquid nitrogen temperatures does damage to the
brain that is irreversible and all the studies that have been done
show this....Folks, that is only in the movies. Right now there is no
way to do it."
	While McClellen demonstrated the practical aspects of
cryogenics, Don L. Birdd, associate professor of science education at
Buffalo State College, was demonstrating the practical aspects of a
broader type of scienceQscience in our everyday lives.
	The wildly costumed professor, who has taught at Buffalo State
since 1985, also does a "science on stage" program at the Buffalo
Museum of Science.
	"We learn science in theory, but not how it affects us
personally," Birdd said. "It's important to look around us and see
what's going on in our lives....I'm here to raise thoughts in your
minds."
	For example, he asked, why doesn't toothpaste have an
expiration date on the tube? It's made from all inert ingredients. Why
doesn't a woodpecker get a headache from all that pounding? Its bill
isn't attached directly to its skull; there is a shock absorber in
between. Why does your stomach growl when it's empty? Your stomach
churns all the time, but when it's empty the sound is magnified.
	Simple explanations to everyday phenomena, based on science.