This year, LANXESS is providing ten high schools in Krefeld, Leverkusen and Dormagen with a day full of experiments in the school laboratory at the Leverkusen site. Along with their teachers, the girls and boys can seek out the experiments best suited for their lessons from a selection of around 60. Examples include experiments on material separation, color chemistry and treating acids & alkalies. Youngsters learn how complex substances can be separated, how chemical bonds are made, or how salt solutions are separated via electricity. They also learn which raw materials and energy sources are necessary to manufacture different chemical products. The advantage of different product cycles and efficiently employed energy is also taught.

“We want to get young people excited about science, and particularly chemistry,” explains Silke Jansen, Director of the LANXESS Education Initiative. “This works best via the practical experience of research and experimentation.” To these ends, LANXESS is investing a total of around 25,000 euros.

The 16 ninth graders from the Albert Schweitzer School in Krefeld have chosen “Acids & Alkalies”. Acids are contained, for example, in cleaning products and descaling agents, but are also used for the manufacture of plastics, dyes and fertilizers. Alkalies are, for example, components in laundry detergent and oven sprays, but are also used for soap production as well as the cleaning of wood in paper production. In the food department, they are omnipresent in the famous pretzel. Before baking, the pretzel is dipped in thinned caustic soda, which is where they got their German name from (Laugen-Brezel).

The laboratory days are part of the international education initiative, already started by the specialty chemicals company in 2008. Since then, in Germany alone the company has invested nearly 4.5 million euros in a variety of campaigns and projects. Among other things, LANXESS has already financially supported countless high schools at its German sites. This money has been used to purchase new laboratory facilities, technical equipment and teaching materials for the subjects of chemistry, biology, physics and computer sciences, etc.