Typically British

Today involved a trip to a museum. Truth be told it is a museum that I have passed many times but have never really fancied a trip. The theme of the museum has never really inspired me. However, the day out was suggested by my parents and that was good enough for me to pay the entrance fee and take a look.

Some of the visit was as I feared, displays of not that interesting stuff. A display of some electrical plugs and sockets does not really create a spark for me; get it spark - ok I'm trying here. Moreover a few of the displays looked a little tired; I even managed to break a couple of things (I fixed them again).

But we had some fun.

Without naming the museum the theme involved chalk, good old calcium carbonate and is located on an old chalk quarry. As it was half term there were lots of advertised questionably exciting chalk related activities for the children including: playing noughts and crosses using chalk and a chalkboard; getting your hair coloured using chalk (of various colours) and my favourite the chemistry demonstration.

The problem with the demonstration was that it takes 24 to 48 hours and therefore there wasn't much to be seen. It was also only tenuously linked to the theme of chalk. It involves putting a raw hens egg into vinegar (acetic/ethanoic acid) and over the course of one or two days the shell, containing calcium carbonate, reacts with the acid to create water, carbon dioxide and the salt calcium ethanoate. This leaves the egg surrounded just by two thin membranes which makes it squishy. The egg shell is composed of about 97% calcium carbonate stabilised by a protein matrix but as I mentioned its pretty loosely connected to the extraction of chalk and the production of quicklime.

Much better would have been a demonstration of how calcium carbonate decomposes when heated to form calcium oxide (quicklime) and the subsequent highly exothermic reaction of calcium oxide with water to form calcium hydroxide. Some real chemistry linked to the history of the place. Failing that some powdered chalk with some food dye and some vinegar would have produced the old favourite volcano, or in some sealed film canisters some great little explosions...

But what made this museum and heritage centre typically British were the volunteers. The volunteers were there to guide, answer questions and generally ensure things ran smoothly albeit slowly. Most were at least septuagenarians and all had the same deep, scratchy, gravelly voice that only comes from a long, experienced life. God bless them and their time.

The eccentricity of the guides, the various items on display,the largest jacket potatoes with beans and cheese ever seen and the fact that bits of the museum looked like it had left there to be thrown out as soon as a skip could be acquired was all part of the charm and in my mind could only be found in Britain.

Worth a visit - but perhaps just one.

 

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