This week marks the celebration of something that relates to every part of life: chemistry.

As a part of National Chemistry Week, which is this week, the department of chemistry and biochemistry is kicking off the party today with chemical demonstrations.

The department will hold a number of demonstrations involving ice cream, cooled by liquid-nitrogen, mini explosions, cylinder barks and cleaning supplies, sponsored by the NIU Chem Club. The demonstrations begin at 5 p.m. for students and 8 p.m. for the general public today at Faraday Hall, Room 143.

The American Chemical Society sets the tone each year for National Chemistry Week with this year’s theme, “Chemistry Keeps Us Clean,” falling on Mole Day.

Mole Day is Oct. 23 every year in celebration of the unit of measurements chemists use.

“In order to have a meaningful amount of material, all chemists and anyone who’s ever taken a chemistry course knows that a mole is a number that corresponds to 6.02 x 1023, and from that number, if you look at the last part of it, the scientific notation part is 1023,” said David Ballantine, professor of chemistry and faculty adviser for the Chem Club.

This is the first time the department will formally celebrate Mole Day, because it coincides with National Chemistry Week.

“We use soaps to do some fun demonstrations,” Ballantine said. “We’re going to do soap bubbles with hydrogen gas and then blow up the soap bubbles.”

Lynn Killberg, treasurer for the Chem Club and a junior biochemistry major, helped in the planning of the chemistry demos.

“It’s a fun way to try to get people involved and interested in chemistry,” she said.

The chemical demonstrations go back throughout the years in the chemistry and biochemistry department. Four years ago, Chris Simkus, who is now a chemistry graduate student, decided to bring them back.

The idea behind the demonstration is to show the fun side of chemistry and how it’s used in all aspects of society, Ballantine said.

“When a lot of people think of chemistry, they think of guys in white coats with test tubes and lots of cool liquids fiddling around and they don’t realize that somewhere along the lines, just about everything relates to chemistry: the clothes that you wear, the soap that you wash with, the toothpaste that you use,” said Michael Spires, coordinator for recruitment and public relations for the department of chemistry and biochemistry.

Last year, the department celebrated National Chemistry Week with the theme “Chemistry and the Arts” and “Chemistry in the Kitchen.”

For last year’s art theme, demonstrations consisted of painting fish with household items like vinegar and ammonia.

Chem Club events later in the semester include the NIU Chemistry Club’s annual glass-blowing demonstration at 8 p.m. Nov. 19, in the glassblowing lab.