It's in the clothes we wear, the food we eat and the cars we drive.

Chemistry is inescapable.

"I like to do things that illustrate the uses of chemistry," chemistry professor John Fortman said. "I try to show things chemists do for companies or as consultants."

Fortman, of Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, shows audiences its practical applications in a series of demonstrations. He showed science classes at Bismarck High School the internal combustion engine and explained other chemical properties of the products used in cars.

He will appear at 7 p.m. today at the Bismarck State College Armory with a variety of chemistry demonstrations. One will show the different combustibility of gas mixtures.

"That last one, when he was comparing fuel types," was his favorite, Bismarck High School senior Jacob Strombeck said. "I think everyone liked it the best."

He used water jugs to demonstrate how methanol and rubbing alcohol, or ethyl alcohol, mixed with water burn differently.

In a car or airplane engine, a slow burn is optimal for performance, Fortman said.

Fortman is in Bismarck as part of National Chemistry Week events. Chemistry week officially was last week. Fortman spoke to college students about airplanes and high school students about cars Tuesday.

Today he speaks to sixth-graders about toys and gives a public performance with a variety of chemistry demonstrations tonight. The morning and afternoon performances at the Gateway to Science about the "Chemistry of Toys" are filled with advance reservations by sixth-grade teachers. The evening event is free, as were the other demonstrations.

His presentations are sponsored by Bismarck State College Foundation, Gateway to Science, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and North Dakota Society of Professional Engineers.

The sponsors have brought in a guest lecturer for at least 20 years for chemistry week, former BSC professor Frank Koch said.

The goal of the presentations is to get students excited about science, he said.

"That's what we want to do. When they study it, someone is making use of the information," he said.

Fortman gives travels for two to three presentations a year on behalf of the American Chemical Society. At Wright State University, the chemistry department gives 15 demonstrations in December and five in March for junior high students who are brought in from local schools, Fortman said.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)