The day in the laboratory

Backgrounds

After finishing CAIE international examinations, our A-level center held an extra-curriculum. It asked students’ parents to provide internship and each student could choose one job to practice. Originally, I would like to work in a bank for one day. However, the opportunities to go there were limited so I made my second option—going to a laboratory to do chemical experiments.

###What we did there

In the morning

At first, we looked around a company (The laboratory was in the company). From a staff in it, we got to know what this company did. Generally speaking, it was a company for graduates from the university to do experiments, they applied for patents and the company tried to produce and sell products related to their patents. In other words, this company was a business incubator for innovation.

The stuff introduced three projects they currently did, including a new kind of insulator (which is used to replace air conditioners in rural areas), a new kind of conductors (which is used in the digital devices, I will introduce it later) and a modern technique to produce masks (by using electrostatic force).

In the afternoon

After lunch, we chose the topic we were interested in and did the experiment on our own. I chose to make the new kind of conductor with my friends.

The conductor we made– why it was uncommon

The purpose of it was uncommon

Have you ever thought about using conductors in the digital devices like mobile phones? It may be ridiculous if you hear of this idea for the first time. You may think the use of conductor make the digital devices hotter. Truth to be told, I had the same idea as well at first. Then the staffs (actually two graduates) told us they would use the conductor to combine the microprocessor (the thermal energy comes from here) and the device to release thermal energy. In traditional digital devices, only air conducts energy from microprocessor to cooling equipment, but air is an insulator to conduct thermal energy. Obviously, this innovation can make thermal energy release more rapidly and thus protecting the digital devices.

The reaction of it was uncommon

They use carboxylic acid and aluminium oxides as reactants (also need a kind of catalyst). This reaction was uncommon because its raw materials were cheap and they were not toxic or poisonous. It is worth mentioning that this reaction happens in room temperature rapidly and the product is in liquid state–which means it could be shaped easily.

Our cooperation during the experiment

You can see our team have six students.

According to the experiment plan, we split into three groups A1,A2,B1. And the two graduates were in group B2. Group A needed to do the reaction without the Al2O3 while group B needs to use both reactants and aluminium oxides.

With the help of precise equipment, we discovered that it was important to use aluminium oxides. Without it, the products we made were still poor conductors.

However, I still didn’t know how to explain this phenomenon. The two graduates simply said this reaction was a kind of additional reaction. Anyway, this experiment boosted my interest of learning sciences, especially Physics and Chemistry further.

The difficulty we met

There were too many difficulties during the experiment. For example, it was too time-consuming to use precise equipment like digital balance to weigh the mass of reactants. One kind of reactants, for example, carboxylic acid, is a kind of ropy liquid. When you add it to the container on the balance, it may stick on the wall of container.

You could see how difficult we weighed the reactants from this picture.

Besides, the reaction was vigorous when you added the catalyst. We needed to stir the reactants by a glass rod to make sure the product was uniform.

Our products and my feelings

This is the product our group A1 made. I am proud of our successful product.

I think it is meaningful to do the experiment in a laboratory today. First, I got to know what I would do in an experiment. This brought benefits not only for my practical A-level Chemistry examination but also let me know what I would do if I decide to be a scientist in the future. In other words, my today’s experience helped me to decide what subject I would learn in the university. Besides, we developed the skill of cooperation（for example, ways to communicate efficiently with each other） and strengthened the fundamental scientific skills(organic chemistry),

Last but not least, I also realized how weak my ability to do the practical reaction. I spent much more time to do this experiment and it taught me a lesson that I should practice and do more experiments by myself instead of simply learning theorical knowledge.