7-day photo challenge

On 23 May, the folks at @PictureItChem gave us the challenge of posting “7 black and white photos of your life. No humans, no explanations. Challenge someone new every day.”

Last week we took them up on it. Along the way we thought a bit about chemistry in daily life [oops, that was an explanation] and got back in touch with a few local organisations…

Taking a break

Hello fellow Particulart-ers, crafty craftivists, and all. This is just to say that we are taking a break from Particulart. Not for ever, we hope. We still have plenty of chemistry to explore! And we’ll probably pop back from time to time as governments come and go, and we need to keep the site up-to-date. And we’re still tweeting occasionally about the issues.

Happy knitting!
Clare and Diana

Fun Palace pop-up

Fun Palaces is a movement campaigning for culture by, for and with all – with a firm belief that community belongs at the core of all culture – and an annual weekend of events, where arts, crafts, science, tech and digital are a catalyst for community engagement and full participation for everyone, from the grassroots up.

Fun Palaces are made by local people for their own communities, bringing together arts and sciences, crafts, tech and digital, free and fun, linked by the the Fun Palace network – Everyone an Artist, Everyone a Scientist.”

In 2016, Exeter Library got on board late on, and at short notice organised a fun weekend of art and science related activities. We got involved with Particulart on the Saturday. The weekend mostly attracted children, and we swung the earth a lot and made carbon dioxide pompoms. Sadly I don’t have many photographs, only those @ExeterLibrary tweeted.

Popping up in an allotment shed

Clare was at the Greenbelt Festival over the August bank holiday. As part of a fantastic weekend, she gave a Pecha Kucha talk about her art work, and “Particulart: Up in the Air” popped up in the Allotment Gallery.

There was visual art dotted around the site at Boughton House near Kettering, including three venues in shed down by the lake: the Garden, Allotment, and Potager Galleries. The Allotment Gallery hosted a series of installations from different artists over the weekend. Particulart took the 12-4pm slot on the Sunday.

Clare had a series of great conversations across the ages and genders, from small children attracted by the inflatable globe and hanging molecules that could be swung, to young people interested in data and/or science; from knitters gaining new ideas for how they can use their craft in activism, to a mechanical engineer thinking about communicating data and information, and a psychotherapist pondering the benefits to mental health of knitting and making generally.

Half way through, she was approached by a woman from Radio 4 who asked her whether she would record some of the Daily Service for Wednesday, part of a special week of programmes from Greenbelt. So her voice can be heard reading some prayers halfway through “A Different Type of Power: The Power of Art”.

The mechanical engineer provided one of her favourite quotes: “When I read the board outside, I had no idea just how amazingly cool this was!” Her other favourite quote was a throw-away line from a couple of women as they went on to their next thing: “I love Greenbelt!” Presumably because Greenbelt is the sort of space where they can happen upon stuff like bonkers installations involving knitting, chemistry, contemplation, and gentle protest. Clare loves Greenbelt too!

Here are some photos of the shed, with thanks to Sue Holden.

Pattern – “Exhausted”

Download this pattern as a pdf

See also the patterns for the atoms and bonds between atoms.

Colours

Carbon
Oxygen
Nitrogen
Black
Red
Sky blue

Particles

Carbon dioxide

CO2

 

Atoms

1 carbon
2 oxygen

Bonds

4 carbon-oxygen

Carbon monoxide

CO-web

 

Atoms

1 carbon
1 oxygen

Bonds

3 carbon-oxygen

Particulate matter PM2.5

PM2.5

 

Atoms

1 carbon

 

Nitrogen dioxide

NO2

 

Atoms

1 nitrogen
2 oxygen

Bonds

3 nitrogen-oxygen

Nitric oxide

NO

 

Atoms

1 nitrogen
1 oxygen

Bonds

2 nitrogen-oxygen

Pattern – “Greenhouse Effect”

Download this pattern as a pdf

See also the patterns for the atoms and bonds between atoms.

Colours

Hydrogen
Carbon
Oxygen
Nitrogen
Fluorine
Chlorine
Sulphur
White
Black
Red
Sky blue
Light green
Medium green
Deep yellow

Particles

Carbon dioxide

CO2

 

Atoms

1 carbon
2 oxygen

Bonds

4 carbon-oxygen

Nitrous oxide

N2O-1

 

Atoms

2 nitrogen
1 oxygen

Bonds

2 nitrogen
2 nitrogen-oxygen

Alternative version
3 nitrogen
1 nitrogen-oxygen

Methane

CH4

 

Atoms

1 carbon
4 hydrogen

Bonds

4 carbon-hydrogen

Tetrafluoromethane (PFC-14)

CF4

 

Atoms

1 carbon
4 fluorine

Bonds

4 carbon-fluorine

Fluoroform (HFC-23)

CHF3

 

Atoms

1 carbon
1 hydrogen
3 fluorine

Bonds

1 carbon-hydrogen
3 carbon-fluorine

Trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11)

CCl3F

 

Atoms

1 carbon
3 chlorine
1 fluorine

Bonds

3 carbon-chlorine
1 carbon-fluorine

1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane (HFC-134a)

CH2FCF3

 

Atoms

2 carbon
2 hydrogen
4 fluorine

Bonds

1 carbon
2 carbon-hydrogen
4 carbon-fluorine

Sulphur hexafluoride

SF6

 

Atoms

1 sulphur
6 fluorine

Bonds

6 sulphur-fluorine

Particulart goes to Oxfordshire part 2

A month ago, Particulart was in Wallingford, featuring in Oxfordshire Artweeks.

This weekend, there are going to be not one… not two… but yes OK two Particulart events in Oxford as part of Low Carbon Oxford Week, and they’re both brand new exhibitions and both FREE!!

LCO_Week_A4“Greenhouse Effect”…

…is happening from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm on Saturday 18th June in Bury Knowle Park, Headington. As the poster says…

Human activity, and resulting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, are increasingly changing the Earth’s climate and our weather.

Come to Bury Knowle Park for a family trip out, and happen across a whole new way of seeing climate change! Explore the greenhouse and knit your own carbon dioxide molecule.

18th June is also World-Wide Knit in Public Day. Bring your knitting and other yarn-based activities, have a picnic, and join in.

Anyone who wants to volunteer a bit of time would be more than welcome. Waitrose next door are kindly providing volunteer refreshments. Please get in touch.

“Exhausted”…

…is from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm on Sunday 19th June at Magdalen College School. And the blurb…

The scandal over Volkswagen’s cheating over exhaust emissions testing has disappeared from the news, but the scandal over exhaust fumes and poor air quality in our cities remains.

Air pollution as you’ve never seen it before! Children of all ages can make their own exhaust fumes!

“Exhausted” is also featuring alongside Test Drive the Future in association with Oxford Festival of the Arts, with the support of BMW North Oxford.

Particulart goes to Oxfordshire part 1

Oxfordshire Artweeks

A few greenhouse gases and accompanying information are currently winging their way over to Wallingford. They will be popping up as part of an event under the Oxfordshire Artweeks umbrella.

Artist Janey Carline, who set up Everyone’s An Artist, is teaming up with Sustainable Wallingford on 14 May to celebrate their work and the planet, and then opening her studio and garden over 14-19 May.

We’re looking forward to seeing what she does with carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.