MISSION COLLEGE : ‘Chemist-Tree’ Captures Spirit

Move over, noble fir. Make room for the “chemist-tree” by chemistry students at Mission College.

The four-foot tree, made with colorful, liquid-filled test tubes, beakers and flasks from the chemistry lab, is on display in the atrium of the college’s instructional building.

It was created to send a message to other students, said chemistry instructor Maria Fenyes, who supervised the project.

“The message is that you can be creative with a rigid and demanding subject such as chemistry,” Fenyes said.

Nine beginning chemistry students helped build the tree in three hours.

“Chemistry is a beautiful course and we like to tell people that,” said student Duc Hyunh, 29.

The “chemist-tree” depicts the beauty of chemistry through an eye-catching combination of colors and construction. Holiday hues of blue, green and red are captured in beakers and flasks, while molecular models of compounds such as water, carbon dioxide and table salt hang as ornaments.

The entire structure of clamps, funnels and other lab equipment is supported by a vertical metal rod used in conducting chemistry experiments.

For some passersby, the myriad connections of the “chemist-tree” are immediately recognizable.

“It’s great. It has everything to do with chemistry,” said Danny Suter, 19, a student aiming for a medical degree.

For other students, however, the Christmas combination of lab experiments was more of a psychological experiment. It took Ana Harris, 34, a paralegal student, a few minutes to recognize the molecular metaphor.

“It’s kind of abstract,” Harris said. “You can stare at it and figure out anything you want. I think it’s extremely interesting.

Asked if the “chemist-tree” caused any chemical reaction in her brain, Harris said, “It makes you think of Christmas.”