Today, 28.07.09

We did TLC in chemistry today and some recrystallising work. I thought nothing could happen again after yesterday's epic desiccator accident, but apparently I was wrong and my days are destined to be filled with chemistry-related adventures.

I didn't panic today, which had obvious benefits. I had really nice conclusive TLC results with no contamination and I did the desiccator again and got it right this time.

When I had to do a recrystallisation which was really strange because it wouldn't crystallise. Even Dr Hinks was puzzled. But thankfully I was able to apply what I had learnt that morning and I used TLC to check if the crystals were in the solvent at all. Apparently they were because the TLC results showed a huge conc of the compound in solution.


So evidently NOT panicking in the lab works. And as a huge bonus I was able to apply what I had learnt before to solve new problems, which is probably the whole point of our studies. That was meaningful. Meanwhile my solution sits on my lab bench at the chemistry faculty slowly evaporating.

Today, 27.07.2009

For electrical engineering and computing students, we visited the high voltage laboratory and were divided into pairs to do our own ion drives, which could fly on their own when electricity was applied. We also managed to get a close look at the library and computer facilities. The sports that we played at the end of the day was absolutely the highlight of the day. Afterwards, we cooked our dinner and celebrated the 18th birthday for one of our groupmate, Yingxiang.


Here is a chemistry joke:
Q. A bear walked into a river and disintegrated. Why?
A. It was a polar bear.

I had to tell you the joke first because what follows is a tale of woe and failure. Get your hankies/tissues now and save the rush later. I was in the chemistry programme and we had to purify an organic compound using recrystallisation. At the last stage of the experiment we had to use an apparatus called a desiccator to dry out the crystals. A vacuum is created in a chamber where the crystals are placed and there's a tap at the top to let air in. But you're supposed to open the tap slowly- I forgot to open the tap and when Dr Hinks pointed it out I panicked and opened the tap full blast and blew my crystals all over the place. I think only 1/3 of the crystals survived, the rest of the crystals I'd spent the last few hours purifying ended up all over the desiccator.

I was very traumatised after the lab accident. Moral of the story: NEVER PANIC IN THE LAB.

Ha you are wrong. I still know when there are new postings. =)

pictures

guess i am the only user and viewer of the blog now. However, I shall post something new; otherwise the blog will be dead.

a picture of jellicoe taken from google earth

Finally, your irresponsible IC on the last day :)

Haha sorry for the delay of the posts we should put on after we go back to Singapore. I bet SOMEONE has forgotten about it, haha, but since I shall continue to see him every chemistry lecture, I could think of better ways to tease him face to face:)
It is hard to believe that more than one month has passed since we started our journey to UK. I could still feel the sense of joy when we arrived at Heathrow Airport--it just seemed to happen yesterday. On the last day of the trip, since I was one of the "early birds", I had time to explore Heathrow Airport. Though we all carried huge luggages, Yi Ting, Tao Tao and me managed to take the cool shutter train to Terminal Five, the newest terminal. It was very spacious and it looked quite different from other older terminals, but I would say it is only reaching the standard of Changi Airport :) Since there were many shops like my all-time-favourite Mark&Spencer, we did some last-minute shopping. I had heavy cold so I could not really taste anything, but I could still feel the cream in the delicious milk :) Like the seniors predicted in Cambridge, I miss UK's milk and diary products dearly.
The weeks after we safely arrived home seem to fly by, however I could still feel the impact of UK trip on my daily life. I tend to search for gloves and goggles whenevr I enter the chemistry lab, and I feel quite disappointed that I am only handling low concerntration HCl instead of doing ultra water-sensitive Aldol reaction in dry ice (-78 degrees). I yearn for my own kitchen when I have to put up with hostel's food, as I truly enjoyed the time we had in our little kitchen in Jellicoe, as Pan Tao, Peijun, Yi Ting and me take turns to boil water, cut cabbage, make spegetti and steam egg. Yesterday I went for chemistry Olympiad training, and surprisingly it was on NMR, the experiment technique we dealt with almost every single day. I remember how confused we were when Dr Ganesan introduced us to the complicated graphs on the first day--it just didn't make much sense to us, all the peaks and numbers. As I listened to the teacher carefully I finally began to appreciate the technique and learn to interpret the information there, but how simple the diagrammes in the most difficult chem o questions look when they are compared to that generated by our products?
Our lives will continue after the UK trip. Promos, tests, projects--we are almost drowned inside the hectic life here. However I will always appreciate the sunny days we had in Southampton, United Kingdom. The days when we learned and had plenty of fun. The days when we reached out to our dreams of being scientists, and enjoyed every second of it.
Fangzhou 09S03M

'Nade in Jellicoe

Random Photoshopped Pics

Picture taken at London

Picture taken at Winchester. Two of us took this photo.