On the19^th October, a group of A-Level students attended the Danielle Lecture at UCL. Named after the inventor of the battery, these lectures provide unique insights into university level Chemistry for school students. This lecture was about the element Carbon which has a lot of potential in the area of nanotechnology. Carbon is a special element because it is able to form radically different structures (allotropes) which will have many uses as the 21^st century progresses. Whilst diamond and graphite are the most common forms of carbon, the lecture considered recent innovations like graphene whose discovery won the Noble Prize for Physics. Graphene itself is a single layer of Graphite with wondrous possibilites in the area of computing, medicine and in solar cells. Other structures discovered was the ‘Buckyball', discovered by Sir Harry Kroto, can be used as an electron acceptor which is useful in many areas. Nanotubes are tubes made from a carbon rings and being tested to be replace silicon in computer chips and even dubbed strong enough to build the ‘Space Elevator'. As part of the lecture, we were shown the evolution of analysis from the humble Microscope to the more advanced Scanning Tunnelling Microscope. With these tools, we can see on the nano-scale and allow scientists to see how are they are affecting conditions on an atomic scale. We were even shown how we can grow nanotubes and how they can be used to solve some of the problems facing us in the near future. Overall, I found this lecture extremely interesting and I would recommend this lecture for those who have a genuine interest in Chemistry and Physics.

Josh Carr (Year 13 Riding's House)