Hello!

My name is Nathan Klintworth.  For those who don’t know me, my wife is Heather Klintworth who teaches at CHC and my kids Corbin, Amalia and Archer all attend CHC.

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I work for the Michigan State University Bioeconomy Institute in Lansing.  I have a degree in Molecular Biotechnology and Chemical Process Technology, but my current career focus is around bioprocess engineering.  I help clients in the biotechnology industry by doing pilot scale development and production of fermentation-based processes.  It sounds all fancy and complicated, but what I do is like brewing beer, accept instead of producing alcohol, we produce all kinds of things!  Like synthetic spider silk, protein-based polymers (plastics), agriculture pro-biotics, and the list goes on.  I have a passion for learning and love to have fun with science experiments!

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I will be giving a lecture and demonstration on kinetic energy and temperature!  What does that mean?  We will be asking some simple questions and visiting concepts that we are all familiar with, but with a little twist.

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Like what is hot and cold?  “Hot” and “Cold” are relative, it all about perspective! 

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What is kinetic energy?  We may have heard about the difference between kinetic and potential energy in terms of movement, but how does that relate to temperature?

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My lesson plan is simple, we will explore the relationship between kinetic energy and temperature in a fun way.  With LIQUID NITROGEN!  I will bring in a bunch of fun props to help demonstrate what happens to things that we think of as soft, squishy, and bouncy have all their “kinetic energy” removed by lowering their temperature and then warming them back up again.

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I will give a brief and simple lecture (targeted for each age group) on the concepts of energy, temperature, and movement.  Followed by a hands-on demonstration that the kids will love!

 

I will provide a safety overview prior to the demonstration, including providing safety glasses and cryo-gloves for the class to use.

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Below are a few links to some youtube videos that show a good example of what I have planned.  The first video is from Jefferson Lab showing a public demonstration at one of the labs open houses.  The other videos are from Texas A&M Physics and Astronomy.  I highly recommend watching their really fun demonstration videos!