Come be in your elements with Exploratorium host Ron Hipschman. Follow tales of intrigue and invention, join in dynamic demonstrations, and uncover fascinating connections between individual elements and our collective human experience.
Explore the lightest and most abundant element. Discover its history and highly flammable properties with host Ron Hipschman and watch Exploratorium teacher-in-residence Zeke Kossover use electrolysis to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen gas. Learn the origins of the periodic table with Exploratorium exhibit developer Paul Stepahin, and find out how the ancient elements of fire, water, earth, and air led to an elegant system based on the predictions of quantum mechanics.
Featuring
The Lighter Side of Hydrogen with Ron Hipschman
Electrolysis of Water Demo with Zeke Kossover
A People's History of the Periodic Table with Paul Stepahin
Presenters
Since joining the Exploratorium in 1971, Ron Hipschman has worked as an exhibit developer, author, teacher, and webcast host. He hosts a colorful physics lecture series, Full-Spectrum Science, on the fourth Thursday and Sunday of each month.
Zeke Kossover is Teacher-in-Residence at the Exploratorium Teacher Institute, where he trains and supports coaches and mentors who work with novice science teachers in the classroom. For fun, he puts on physics circus shows that work as magic shows in reverse—making confusing things easy to understand.
Exhibit developer Paul Stepahin grew up in San Diego but has never been on a surfboard. He studied physics in college but still can't understand how zippers work. He's been at the Exploratorium for the last decade, building boxes, changing lightbulbs, and occasionally speaking to the public.
Upcoming Programs
Thursday, January 29, 2015: Helium
7:30 p.m. | Phyllis C. Wattis Webcast Studio
Thursday, February 19, 2015: Lithium
7:30 p.m. | Phyllis C. Wattis Webcast Studio