The physics and astronomy department provided a crowd with an exciting hour of learning on Saturday night.  

The 1999 Laurance Brown Memorial Demonstration Show took place in Farthing Auditorium at 8 p.m. and consisted of six sections led by members of Appalachian State University’s physics faculty.  

The first demonstrator was Dr. Thomas Rokoske.  Rokoske, the department’s acting chair, showed “there is a lot of space between molecules.”  He took a glass jug and filled it with water and sugar.  Separately, the sugar and water would take up more space than the jug could hold, but when the sugar dissolves, its molecules can fit into the space between the water’s molecules.  

Next, Dr. Marian Peters showed how a rainbow is formed.  After demonstrating the various parts of a rainbow’s formation, the lights were dimmed and she created a rainbow across the theater’s stage.

Dr. Joseph Pollock followed with a demonstration of Bernoulli’s Principle.  With the help of a jet of nitrogen gas, he “levitated” a ping-pong ball.  

Dr. Karl Mamola exhibited air pressure’s ability to crush steel.  After crushing several smaller cans, he brought out a large metal barrel filled with water.  He boiled the water and then capped the barrel.  

Ice was then placed on the barrel cooling the steam inside.  When the steam condensed, the pressure pushing out was lessened.  Since the outside air pressure remained constant, the barrel was crushed.  

John Hollingsworth, an ASU graduate and teacher at Caldwell Community College, demonstrated resonance in pipes.  For one part of his demonstration, he held a large pipe over an open flame creating a deep tone.  By moving another pipe over it, he changed the tone like a trombone. 

Dr. Claire Olander, a professor from ASU’s chemistry department, ended the show on a seasonal note.  

She made a mixture of chemicals and poured them into a large glass sphere.  

As she shook the ball, its surface became mirrored like a giant Christmas ornament.

Donations from the show will go the Laurance Brown Memorial Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to students.  

Laurance Brown was a student at ASU and worked in the physics and astronomy department setting up lab and lecture demonstrations.  He planned to work in the field of demonstration management. 
 
In 1988, he was killed in an automobile accident on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

His parents, Raymond and Lucy Brown, attended the show.