Week 4 - Placement 2

This week we were working with Ria in a lab upstairs for a third year practical. For the first hour we had to set up all of hot plates at all 1 stands and begin measuring out the chemicals for the experiment. All of the measuring out was done underneath a hood to prevent any fumes for the chemicals getting into the room.

At around 10:00 am the third years came into the lab to start their practical. While Ria worked with them, Ruth and I unloaded all of the dishwashers full of conical flasks etc. We then had to wash out all of the used test tubes and pt them into the small ovens to dry them off. Next we unpacked some new glass wear and stacked them at the back of the lab. Once we were finished with this we filled up all of the flasks with de-ionised water, and at 1:30 we went for a coffee break.

After break we went to work with ken in his office on paperwork. We had to put all of the invoices from the last month in alphabetical order. Ken explained to us the what he has to do as head of the department each month. This includes ordering chemicals, organizing order forms, invoices, etc. ken showed us how to make an order and what they ask you for when ordering a chemical. 

After lunch, at around 2:00, Ken allowed Ruth and I to place an order over the phone. IT was actually surprisingly easy enough to do even thought I was a bit nervous doing it at first. Afterwards, we measured out the small lego like partials for making up an atom. These will even out to the first years to held them visualize what a certain atom looks like by building it themselves. 

Week 3 - Placement 2

We worked with Ria again this week. This week some of the students were back in the labs doing experiments. We prepared the lab with all the necessary equipment. We cleaned an collected test tubes. We also worked with Ria to prepaid some of the chemicals needed for their experiment.

After break we went to another lab downstairs where they were holding another leaving Cert. revision coarse. We were going to work on a different experiment however there were already 2 other TYs working on it so we went over to the soap experiment. We got to do the experiment again, therefore we will know it off-by-heart for our leaving Cert.  

When we went back up to Ria they were almost finished their experiment so Ria said it was ok for us to go home. 

Week 2 - Placement 2

Today there were a lot of schools in doing the Leaving Cert revision coarse. Therefore  Ken was tied up for the whole day with students, so we were with Ria again for the day. For the first part of the morning we worked in the Lab upstairs setting up the desks for an experiment tomorrow. we had to make up the master mix of chemicals which would be used as one of the main chemicals. 

After morning break Ruth and I began to set up another experiment called TLC. The experiment is kind of like our junior cert chromatography. We then got to us the UV light to see the spots of chemicals on the paper. 

After lunch, Ria introduced us to Dave and Orla, who would be doing the Soap experiment with us again and with a group of students sitting their leaving cert. This time round he experiment made much more sense and I felt I knew exactly what I was doing and why I was doing it. Once our experiment were at the refux stage, Dave showed the test to see it ethanol is produced. Some of the tests were really cool. one test caused the ethanol to form a silver coating on the inside of the test tube. 

I felt that I improved my skills today and that I am beginning to learn a great deal about some of the main leaving cert experiments  The fact that the collage were running these leaving cert coarse was very beneficial. It gave me an insight into the type of work involved in Chemistry. 

Week 1 - Placement 2

This week I met my new Work Experience employer, Ken. Firstly I had to fill out a health and safety form. This there are ongoing collage exams therefore, there went many labs to set up or experiments to do. So for the first part of the morning myself and Ruth organised all of the absent notes for the first years in the chemistry department. 

We had a coffee break at 11:00 and afterwards we met with Ria who brought us over to one of the labs. We had to 2.5g of KOH into small containers. After, we set up the rest of the lab for a leaving cert revision coarse. 

When we finished, Ria demonstrated a how to make soap. Once she had finished Ruth and I got to do the experiment ourselves. The experiment was a success! Although the theory behind it was quite advanced, it eventually made sense when Ria explained it to us in detail. It was just a more advanced version of our junior cert distillation experiment. WE learned how the reflex is formed and what the purpose of each chemical was. 

Overall I really enjoyed my first day of work experience and I felt that I learned a great deal. I found it very interesting. I also discovered that chemistry isn't the easiest subject in the world, that it involves quite a lot of understanding. However, I am already sure that I want to study the subject for my Leaving Cert.