the last time i'll ever use the chemistry lab...

(typed out on 27 may but due to exam rules i'm posting it today..)

Today i went for my practical exam..

It was kinda weird coz back when we were in AS we were pretty much trained to do experiments whereas in A2 we weren't so.. trained -.- ... i seem to have no proper way of saying it but that's how i feel anyways..

So.. i was really thinking what i should study and stuff and flipped through here and there making sure i pay attention to the titration calculations and what not and then.. it did not come out for the exam -.- .. pfft...

I felt more secure the last time i did the practicals.. like i had a whole bunch of time left to check.. not this time.. but anyways..

I had fun doing the qualitative analysis :) .. it's my favourite part.. back in form 5 when we were studying it and not doing practical work based on what they taught us, i thought it was a bitch of a topic since all we did was memorise and stuff but when you're doing practical work it's pretty fun :3

But this time it was even more special coz they asked us to make one of the reagents ourselves.. Tollen's reagent is what it was.. by mixing AgNO3 with NaOH and dropping in some NH3 bit by bit you get tollen's which is used to differentiate an aldehyde from a ketone... and all this while we were studying the effects of adding in the tollen's but we've never seen it.. (maybe only i've never seen it since i was absent a few lab classes) and today when i saw it i was mesmerised~~

It's so shiny.. and metallic and :D .. yes i had this :D face when i saw it.. -.- .. i may still love chemistry after all... :/

Anyways.. this is not to say i did the paper well... -.- .. coz the bulk of the marks come from the more tedious part of the paper so.. yea..

BUT.. i have some ranting to do.. haha...
We're seated 2 to a bench and i ended up with someone i don't know... so i did my thing, he did his thing and as the 2 hours progressed i seem to grow more and more annoyed by him..

Oklah... you can call me too proper in my experimental methods but, basic heating method, when you heat a boiling tube you SHOULD NOT just put the tube there stationary.. you should move it around a bit and after all the question DID say HEAT GENTLY.. not put it on a stove..
and secondly.. i dunno if it's his bunsen burner or he just didn't care but he didn't even adjust the flame to a blue flame.. So while he was putting his boiling tube there it got all black and the contents looked like they were gonna fly out at any moment but he didn't care and he DID NOT point the boiling tube away from me.. (i was very close to putting on my safety goggles)..
and another thing about his flame.. we were supposed to prepare a water bath and so i did and my beaker was fine and not "chao da" (charred) even if i left it on for a long long time but HE... arrghhhhh.... he had a big flame.. a big YELLOW flame.. which sort of burned the wire gauze and made the area so damn stinky!! and his whole beaker was charred and he didn't care... he just left it on... charring away... and i couldn't say anything because it was an exam...
and overall his experimental methods were pretty weird.. i remember him smelling the thing he heated -.- .. and opening up the stuff we were given and smelling them... i wonder if his teacher told him smells could give clues but..oh well.. -.-

So.. if all goes according to plan, 27 May 2010 marks the end of my touching chemicals and being in a chemistry lab.. Time to wash my lab coat and keep it for good :) .. (will include a picture here once i upload it)

-llen-