Chancellor, Chemist Make Pickle Glow to Light Up Students Interest in Science

Ioana Patringenaru | Feb. 22, 2011

Chancellor Marye Anne Fox sets up for an experiment at Serra High School in San Diego.

How to you make a pickle glow? With the same chemistry principle that drives electric turbines, it turns out. Well, that and a couple of forks, clamps and a transformer. That’s one of the discoveries dozens of Serra High School students made Wednesday during an experiment led by UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and her husband, James Whitesell, a UCSD chemistry professor.

During their three-hour visit, the two scientists did a series of hands-on experiments, answered questions and met with a group of studentsto promote women in science. Fox talked about her career path and how she sought to balance her personal and professional lives. She recently received a National Medal of Science from President Barack Obama.

“You don’t have to give up your life to be a scientist,” she told her young audience. “The world is open to you."

Fox was on campus as part of the Nifty 50 program, which sends 50 prominent science professionals from a wide range of fields and backgrounds to schools all across San Diego County. The goal is to raise interest in careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  The program is part of the San Diego Science Festival.

Fox’s visit definitely had an impact, several female high school students said. “It was really interesting and inspiring,” said Katie Shepherd, 17. “We got to see how she made a career for herself when circumstances were stacked against her.”  Alex Espinoza, 18, said she always thought she would have to give up her personal life to succeed in the sciences. It was reassuring to hear Fox say she could have both.

Chancellor Marye Anne Fox talks to a Serra High school student who is a member of the Ladies of Science in the City outreach program.

Female high school students need to hear from role models like Fox, said Serra High teacher Ericka Senegar-Mitchell. “It’s priceless,” she said. To encourage girls to pursue careers in the sciences, Senegar-Mitchell started the “Ladies of Science in the City” outreach program.

The 30 members polish their academic and leadership skills. They also visit colleges and labs. Many land internships at local biotech companies. Alumni have gone on to several highly-ranked universities, including UC San Diego and Cal Poly.

Building a career

Conditions for female students were quite different when Fox was in high school, the chancellor said. The only two career-oriented clubs available for women were the Future Nurses of America and the Future Teachers of America, the UCSD Chancellor told the high school students at Serra High. She chose teaching. She became a researcher after moving to New Hampshire, where teaching jobs were scare. She had found her passion, she said. “Once research gets under your skin, it’s there forever,” Fox said.

She went on to earn at doctorate at Dartmouth College and had her first son. She later worked at the University of Maryland and the University of Texas at Austin. She focused on solar energy conversion.

Fox advised her young audience to find mentors who will guide them throughout their career.  One of Fox’s mentors put her in contact with the National Academy of Sciences, where she became a government advisor. She went on to advise both former President George H.W. Bush and former President George W. Bush. Before coming to UCSD, she served as the chancellor of North Carolina State University.

Ericka Senegar-Mitchell, a Serra High biology teacher, talks to Chancellor Fox.

At Serra High, Fox also talked about how she made time for her sons while pursuing her career. For example, she often took along a recorder and dictated notes from the sidelines during her children’s Little League games, she said.

An experiment

After her talk, Fox and Whitesell staged an experiment that demonstrates electrons’ energy states in various gases. Electrons normally are attracted to each other, Whitesell explained. But a powerful electric charge breaks these bonds. However, the electrons soon drop back down closer to the nucleus, emitting light.  To demonstrate, Whitesell used a Tesla coil on glass tubes filled with several gases. Each glowed a different color, from yellow, to blue, to pink.

Then it was time to get down to business. Whitesell extracted a pickle from a jar, sandwiched it between two forks and secured it with two clamps to metal poles. He then hooked up a variable transformer to the forks and started cranking up the current. Slowly, the pickle began to sizzle and emit loud crackling noise —until it finally emitted a faint, yellow glow.

James Whitesell, a UCSD chemistry professor, sets up the pickle experiment.

The light comes from the sodium contained in the pickle, Fox explained. The energy going through the pickle is splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, which later recombine and create heat, Whitesell explained. It’s the same principle that drives electric turbines, Fox added. The heat generated disturbs the sodium electrons, which emit light. “Even this simple experiment helps you understand how things emit light,” Fox said.

The importance of research

After the experiment, both Whitesell and Fox urged students to consider a career in research and be creative. The inventor of Velcro came up with the idea while examining plants stuck in his socks, Whitesell said. “He wasn’t trying to discover Velcro,” the UCSD chemist said. “But he had an open mind.”

Kristina Fialko, 17, said they appreciated that Fox and Whitesell highlighted research as a career path. High school students mostly hear about becoming doctors and lawyers, she said. Kristina wants to become a conservationist, conducting research in the wild. “It was incredible,” she said of Whitesell and Fox’s visit.

Chancellor Fox and her husband, James Whitesell, a UCSD chemistry professor, pose with members of the Ladies of Science in the City outreach program and the group's advisor, Ericka Senegar-Mitchell.