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.