Chemistry experiments beyond the book.

When does being a student end and being a scientist begin? When the student goes beyond the book and does something new.

Ainan regularly goes beyond the book. He does his own thing. He thinks up his own experiments. This past week or so, provides an example.

Ainan has a chemistry set at home. It is pretty basic since I haven't seen anything sophisticated on sale in Singapore. One surmises that, in this age of threats from far and wide, that this is probably policy. The kind of chemistry set which used to be so readily available when I was a child (one with plenty of different chemicals in plentiful supply) doesn't seem to be so easy to find. At least, not in the shops here.

Nevertheless, given the severe limitations of the chemical resources available to him, Ainan has managed to find something new to do with his chemistry set.

The details of his reactions are unknown to me - but I saw them in action. In one he combined two seemingly uncoloured items, to produce a virulent blue product. It was quite the strongest colour. "This is a dye, Daddy.", he announced.

It seemed like it would make a good dye, to me.

"That experiment is not in the book, is it?" I checked, for I had read it myself and saw nothing remotely resembling this reaction in it.

He shook his head, in confirmation.

"How do you know how to do that?"

He just sort of shrugged. "I know.", he said, before launching off into a rapid-fire explanation of what exactly he had done - which I failed to follow well enough to describe here.

Then he did it again. He produced another tube of clear fluid, dropped another fluid into it - and produced a rich brown colouration. "And this is another dye." he declared.

Sure enough the colour was rich enough to be so used, to my eyes.

I don't know what the reactions were - but I know this: they weren't in the book. Nowhere in the materials provided to him, was this particular suggestion present. He had, therefore, gone beyond the book.

I think when a child does this - when they venture out onto their own and make something new (to them, at least) out of the resources to hand - they are demonstrating that they have the instincts of a scientist, of an independent thinker.

I am left to wonder what he would do - or try to do - had he a greater range of resources to hand. Given the constraints on chemical purchases here, I don't think a home lab is a feasible possibility. We will just have to get him consistent access to a fully-equipped lab. (As regular readers will know, this has proven anything but easy, here in Singapore. Lab owners seem most reluctant to let an interested young scientist into them. They only cater to bored older ones, who have lost their enthusiasm.)

Of course, there are dangers inherent in open experimentation. Some end products are not to be made lightly. It is clear, in this instance, however, that he knew what he was doing.

Furthermore, he is aware of the dangers of chemical synthesis - and knows how to steer clear of making commonly known dangerous products. So, I am not concerned that he would stumble on a dangerous outcome. He knows what to avoid. Nor would he ever deliberately seek to make a substance that would be hazardous to him.

However, if you have an experimentally minded child, it might be wise to supervise them, lest they be less circumspect than I know Ainan to be.

Of course, if you have a commercially bought chemistry set, it is unlikely that any of the chemical possibilities found within it, could result in a dangerous outcome - so that is another layer of safety.

These concerns aside, I was pleased to note that Ainan was applying his imagination to the possibilities inherent in the relatively few reactants available to him. I now have two samples of dye in my house to prove it: one a deep blue, the other a rich brown - both quite beautiful.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Does water boil at room temperature?

Ainan, seven, is fond of his home experiments. By this I mean, he is ever tinkering with his world in ways which are often surprising.

Last week, he came to me and showed me a little device he had put together for the manipulation of air pressure. Within it he had a little water.

"Watch Daddy.", he commanded, at the beginning of his demonstration.

He proceeded to lower the pressure in the container. At first, nothing seemed to be happening but then something strange began to happen: bubbles started to form in the water. It appeared to be boiling gently.

"It's boiling." He announced.

Then he reversed the procedure and increased the pressure. At some point, there was a sudden condensation of water vapour on the inner surface of the vessel. "And there," he declared, "is the proof that it was boiling."

Excess water lined the vessel, Ainan's proof that it had boiled away to fill the tube, only to condense again.

Now, I had never seen that done - and didn't expect it to be done by my seven year old, at home - but that's Ainan.

Please note that Ainan did not heat the water to achieve this effect: he simply manipulated the air pressure - and this did not heat the water, either.

(If you would like to know more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and six months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Ainan's gum arabic flow experiment

Ainan is an incessant experimenter. He never ceases to engage with the world in an experimental manner, testing it, learning about it, studying it in an active, responsive manner. This, however, is something I have come to be used to. It is the daily background of our life with Ainan. What ever manages to amaze me, however, is the degree of control he exerts over nature in his experiments: he seems to have an instinct for what to do to achieve the end he desires.

I will give you an example. About a month ago, Ainan had in his possession something he called: "Gum arabic". Where he got it from I do not know. Yet, he had some. I didn't know anything about this substance so he decided to show me something which he believed he could do with it.

He took the gum arabic in his hand and pinched it with his fingers so that it formed a dumbell shape - two spheres connected by a bridge. He then stretched it out so that the bridge became longer - yet it remained connected. He placed one end of the dumbell at the base of a door, sticking it to the surface of the door - the other he stretched until it was high up and held it there.

"Watch." he said, knowing what would happen but not telling me.

Before my eyes the "gum arabic" flowed down from the upper dumbell to the lower, along the bridge that still had not broken. This surprised me because the bridge was about one and a quarter metres long at this point. The material flowed continuously, the bridge becoming hair thin - perhaps thinner - but still it flowed and didn't break. As I watched the upper dumbell flowed down into the lower one - and, despite the greatly stretched nature of the bridge, it remained unbroken throughout.

This moment is typical of Ainan's gift for experimental interaction with the world. He seems to understand the properties of substances very well and knows how to relate to them to achieve his end - however unlikely those ends might be. Perhaps what I see here is the foundation of an experimental scientist to come, one who will, one day, engage with the world in new ways, with new results that advance whichever science he eventually chooses to contribute to.

(If you would like to read more Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and four months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three and Tiarnan, fourteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Child prodigies and the media

Interviews with the press can be difficult at any age, but how much more difficult is it when the interviewee is a child of seven?

Yesterday, I had a chance to find out. A couple of journalists came to see Ainan, to have a word with him and get a story out of him. Ainan received the first one with a quiet welcome and went along with his requests for photographs. He posed as required and was quite co-operative. All went well with that one. It is the second, however, that showed how careful one must be to approach a child prodigy in the right way.

I was asked to speak on tape, for a radio broadcast, about Ainan. I did so. The reporter was a general reporter, rather than a science reporter and so matters were kept non-technical. This was fine for me...but for Ainan it wasn't the best approach. When asked general questions, he wouldn't answer. In this I see a lot of shyness, at work. He didn't have to speak to the other journalist, for that one only wanted photographs. This one wanted speech.

"So, Ainan what do you find interesting about Science and Chemistry?"

A long silence as the tape listened to nothing.

I knew what to do:

"So, Ainan what is special about fullerenes?"

"They have a lot of delocalized electrons..."

"And what does this do?"

"They hold it together..."

Only on science itself, would he speak.

He busied himself with bashing the hell out of something in a metal box. From my perspective I could see that he appeared to be pulverizing something. I am not sure she could see that.

She tried to engage him:

"So what are you doing there?"

Another long silence.

"OK...don't force him." The journalist said - and left the matter alone.

I pointed to my son, Ainan, as he bashed away, ignoring her and said: "He is always experimenting with things."

I don't know whether she really understood that he was engaged in some kind of experiment. He always is. I know him well and even if I don't understand why he is doing something, I know enough to know that it is ALWAYS going to be part of an experiment he has in mind.

She left, shortly, without the quotes she needed for a full interview with Ainan.

After she had gone, I asked Ainan about his bashing:

"So what are you doing?"

He looked up, then, as if suddenly freed of a burden and able to speak once more and informed me, quietly: "I am making a non-Newtonian fluid."

That quietened me. Why didn't he say that to her?

Ainan is concealed from the gaze of strangers. In their presence he will not "perform". It is only when they are gone that he relaxes and becomes himself. In this way, he may prove difficult to pin-down, to observe, or capture. It is my duty therefore, to paint a portrait of him - for others may find him less accessible.

It was funny in a way. She probably thought he was being childish, bashing away at a box, for reasons that seemed utterly trivial - but what was he engaged in: a synthetic experiment, to make a material with a particular property.

Later on, he showed me the material. He had indeed made a "non-Newtonian fluid".

Well done, my elusive boy.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or his gifted brothers, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Ainan walks on water - an experiment

Ainan doesn't know about Jesus Christ. He doesn't know much about any religion, in fact. That part of his education has been omitted for we live in a mixed environment: which religion should he learn of, when he lives between alternatives?

For now, he has not been strongly immersed in any of the religions. He knows of them. Yet, he does not know them explicitly or deeply. In some ways, his scientific bent precludes much inquiry into the matter, for he takes a scientific view on all things.

Thus, Ainan doesn't know about the miracles of Jesus. He hasn't heard the stories told by christians everywhere of the loaves and fish feeding the five thousand; of the water turned to wine; or of Jesus Christ walking on water.

It was funny therefore, that Ainan independently set himself the challenge of walking on water, on Sunday, at the pool. He didn't know that this was a biblical thing to do. He didn't know it had religious overtones reminiscent of Jesus. Yet, he tried to walk on water.

Being Ainan, he adopted a scientific approach. Firstly, he took two pieces of styrofoam that he had found from some box and placed one on each foot. Then he stepped into the pool. He sank - but with a noticeable slowing. He noted this and decided to test it further. He jumped into the pool without the foam and sank quickly to the bottom. Then he tried it again, holding a piece of styrofoam in each hand. He sank to the bottom again, but was noticeably slower in doing so. He remarked on this.

Finally, he took a large float of the kind used by trainee swimmers and stepped onto it. Then he jumped into the water. He didn't sink to the bottom. His descent stopped at just below his shoulders and there he floated in the water, head above the surface, balanced on the board (quite a neat physical feat that).

So, in a limited sense, Ainan succeeded. He didn't exactly walk on water, but he didn't sink either. He was supported from below and didn't submerge.

What I found interesting about this is the precedents to the situation. Leonardo Da Vinci also tried this, unknown to Ainan. He invented shoes that would allow one to walk on water (if memory serves me right). His shoes were impractical - less so, in some ways, than what Ainan did.

The difference between Ainan and Leonardo Da Vinci, is that Da Vinci would have known about Jesus Christ. Ainan didn't. So, in a very real sense, his experiment was a creative act, from Ainan's knowledge perspective.

Anyway, it was fun to watch - especially when he half-succeeded, spookily balanced in the water.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, thirteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.

Ainan's experimental flair: a practical scientist

Yesterday, Ainan took something out of the freezer, and said: "This is super-cooled water, Daddy."

Now, until Ainan first mentioned it to me, a few months ago, I had never heard of super-cooled water. As is becoming increasingly the case, it is Ainan who introduces me to things scientific.

I looked at the water. It was just liquid, like any other water. There didn't appear to be anything special about it. I went about making a cup of tea.

Then Ainan did something magical. He swirled the water in the vessel - and all at once, it turned to ice, as if some Wizard of old had cast a spell.

I had never seen that before in my life. If I had not been scientifically trained, and I had seen that in a time before science, I would have thought it magic, at work. The liquid crystallized as ice, in an instant. Uncanny.

What I found revealing about this, is that Ainan has good experimental control. He is able to get the world to do things, experimentally, which, frankly, I would have thought unlikely. He has, to use an old word, the "knack" for experimental design and interaction with the world.

Don't ask me how he got the water to do that - but he did. What a curious boy.

The Chemistry of Charisma

Eight days ago, I saw something both sweet and surprising.

I had brought Ainan to the playground where we live and, instead of playing with the other kids he had set about doing an experiment with the materials to hand in the park area, next to the swings.

Studiously, he attended to the details of his work. I didn't approach closer to see what exactly he was doing, but I knew him well enough to understand that it was The Great Experimenter at work on some investigation or other.

He never looked up once to see what the other kids were up to in the playground, but focussed on his craft. Yet, I was touched to see that, after a few minutes alone with his project, a blond German girl, of the same age as him, left the playground and her friends, to join him. I could see him explain to her what he was doing - and then she began to assist him. The two worked together quite amiably, Ainan quietly directing her efforts. She was still there half an hour later.

It was sweet to see that though he had made no effort to do so, his intensity had drawn the girl to him. There is something charismatic in his manner, that even a young girl can see across a crowded playground.

I think sincerity of purpose is attractive to people of all ages: it has a charisma all of its own - and Ainan has it in plenty. I didn't approach them for fear of disturbing the sense of unity they had achieved, but watched from afar.

It was a beautiful sunset, with my son, at play.