Revenue – International Year of the Periodic Table

The Faculty of Chemistry of the URV and the ICIQ have created an educational outreach project on the Periodic Table, culminating in the distribution of a collectible sticker album on October 15, together with Diari de Tarragona.

The project involved numerous schools and secondary schools across the province of Tarragona, with financial support from companies in the chemical sector.

On the occasion of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements 2019, the Faculty of Chemistry of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and the Institut Català d’Investigació Química (ICIQ) designed an educational outreach project on the Periodic Table, with the aim of bringing chemistry closer to the public and highlighting the importance of chemical elements as the fundamental building blocks of matter, our environment and, ultimately, life. The project aimed both to give the Periodic Table greater social visibility and to collaborate with the education sector by developing informative material about the different chemical elements.

“Awakening scientific vocations at an early age is key to training future researchers who will design solutions to the global challenges we face as a society,” explains Dr Yolanda Cesteros, Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry at the URV and coordinator of the project, together with Dr Joan Josep Carvajal, Vice-Dean of the same faculty; Dr Laia Pellejà, Head of Scientific Education at the ICIQ; and Ariadna Goenaga, Head of the ICIQ Communication Unit.

The project included the distribution of a fold-out sticker album featuring the Periodic Table. The sticker album was provided free of charge with Diari de Tarragona on October 15, while stickers representing 73 chemical elements were available at pharmacies in Tarragona, Reus and other towns throughout the province of Tarragona until December 15. The initiative was carried out with the collaboration of the Official College of Pharmacists of Tarragona (COFT). The list of the 112 participating pharmacies, as well as the stickers distributed by each pharmacy, was available on the project website: www.taulaperiodica-stem.cat

The project also involved 38 secondary schools in the province of Tarragona, which worked on the different chemical elements represented in the stickers. The information they provided about the elements was displayed on various cardboard cubes placed in the windows of the participating pharmacies. These informative cubes for each element also served as an indicator of the sticker distributed by each pharmacy. In total, 146 informative cubes representing the 73 chemical elements included in the sticker collection were distributed.

The Periodic Table educational outreach project was sponsored by the following organisations and companies from Tarragona’s chemical sector: AEQT (Tarragona Chemical Business Association); AFEPASA; ASESA; BASF; BASF Sonatrach PropanChem (BSP); Carburos Metálicos; Clariant; DOW; Gomà-Camps; LyondellBasell; Messer; Novus; Repsol; Sekisui and SK.

About the International Year of the Periodic Table 2019

On December 20, 2017, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2019 the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT 2019). Through this proclamation, the UN sought to recognise the need to raise global awareness of the key role played by chemistry in sustainable development, providing solutions to global challenges such as energy, food, health and education, among others. The commemoration coincided with the 150th anniversary of Dmitri Mendeleev’s discovery of the Periodic System in 1869. The development of the Periodic Table is considered one of the most significant milestones in science, as it is a unique tool that enables scientists to predict the properties of matter on Earth and throughout the Universe.

More information about activities related to the International Year of the Periodic Table 2019: https://www.taulaperiodica.cat/