If you’re as ancient as I, you’ll remember the time when the Miss America pageants were a big deal. Everyone reserved the evening to watch the finals on television, often eating before the screen on t.v. tables (remember them?). And whoever won was given big-time publicity.
But times have changed, and I think for the better. It’s no longer acceptable to see women flaunt their bodies in swimsuits as a criterion for the crown, and many of the “talents” were laughable. Ratings and viewers for the show have plummeted, and it’s been decades since I watched it.
We can thus take it as both good news and a sign of the times that, as Dallas station WFAA reports below (click on the screenshot), a talent this year involved science, the swimsuit competition is gone, and the science performer, Camille Schrier, who was Miss Virginia, actually won, becoming Miss America for 2020. You can read about her victory below, and see the “experiment” that helped her nab the title.
From the report:
Camille Schrier, a biochemist from Virginia, says she hopes to “break stereotypes” about what it means to be Miss America in 2020.
The 24-year-old wowed the crowd at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, with a science experiment, a first for a Miss America winner.
She wins a $50,000 scholarship.
Schrier’s victory comes as the 99-year-old contest tries to change its image and focus on women’s accomplishments and not appearance.
Here’s Schrier’s demonstration when she won the Miss Virginia pageant.
She did a similar demonstration at the Miss America pageant, below, but here you can see her explanation of what she’s doing. More good news: it’s not just a “gee whiz” moment, for she describes exactly what’s happening. She also had some good answers to the panel’s questions:
Well, I could quibble: I’d call it a “demonstration” rather than an experiment, as does the New York Times in the text below (Schreier herself says it’s a “demonstration”, so the exaggeration isn’t her fault). But the important point is that it is a demonstration of scientific principles, and it sure isn’t baton-twirling! I could also quibble with the term “biochemist” applied to someone in the process of getting a Doctor of Pharmacy degree—perhaps “budding pharmacist” would be better. But that’s not important.
This excerpt from the Times article tells what happened above. The piece also tells you how you can do a similar demonstration at home:
When she walked onto the stage for the talent portion of the Miss America competition, Camille Schrier wore a simple white lab coat, stood in front of three flasks containing hydrogen peroxide and joked, “Don’t try this at home.”
Soon-to-be-Dr. Schrier (who is studying to obtain a doctor of pharmacy degree at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond) picked up a beaker of ominous yellow potassium iodide, dumped it into the peroxide and sealed her legacy as a Miss America who would be remembered for winning over the judges with science.
. . . The 24-year-old’s classic chemistry demonstration showed that hydrogen peroxide decomposition can be sped up to fantastic effect. But lower concentrations of hydrogen peroxide that are typically found in stores and used for cleaning cuts and scrapes can be safely used to reproduce the experiment at home.
. . .What Ms. Schrier demonstrated in her experiment was that semi-stable compounds like hydrogen peroxide need a little help to speed up the decomposition process at room temperature.
“You can imagine that it’s like trying to go over a hill,” Dr. Morris said. “It takes some energy to walk up the incline and you’ll sweat a little bit, but once you get past the top, you can keep going really easily.”
Adding a catalyst, such as potassium iodide, essentially bulldozes a path through the hill. The substance helps hydrogen peroxide form less stable compounds that can stroll through the newly opened path to the other side. Basically the catalyst helps produce water and oxygen, while releasing some heat.
Store-bought yeast also contains a chemical called catalase that can help break down hydrogen peroxide, although its effects are not as dramatic as potassium iodide. This means that adding yeast to a solution of hydrogen peroxide will break down the peroxide. The oxygen gas that’s released will form bubbles and try to escape.
Mixing in a little bit of dish soap in the reaction will create enough surface tension that oxygen bubbles will get trapped, Dr. Morris said.
“It helps you visualize what’s happening by creating foam.”
Schrier was celebrated by Virginia Tech, her alma mater.
.@MissAmerica can be a scientist because a scientist IS NOW #MissAmerica2020!! 👩🔬👸 Congratulations to @VT_alumni @MissAmericaVA — you've made @VT_Science, #HokieNation, and #WomenInSTEM everywhere so proud. 😭 🥳 https://t.co/1Ubxp29yaa pic.twitter.com/57eTxkpjz3
— Virginia Tech (@virginia_tech) December 20, 2019
The only question that remains, and I have no strong opinion about this, is whether the entire concept of a “Miss America” and the attending pageant is outmoded. After all, beauty is still part of it, and the ladies parade their evening gowns. But I’ll leave this one to the readers. In fact, let’s have a poll:
h/t: cesar
