Saturday, July 3, 2010

End of the First Week

Today in chemistry we continued our experiment from yesterday by testing our aspirin crystals for the impurities and checking the yield. To do this we used a number of methods including an iron(III)chloride phenol detector and an infrared spectrometer test. Our professor then gave a much more detailed explanation of the workings of an infrared spectrometer before we left for lunch. After eating with some fellow students, I returned to class where a lecture on green chemistry was given by Dr. Rachid Skouta.

The fact that today is Friday means that curfew was extended to midnight instead of eleven, which it is on a school night. Some of the chemistry students were considering exploring the city but scheduling problems prevented this. I finally got around to doing laundry this evening because I was almost out of clothes to wear. I finished up the evening by exploring the area around the campus. I may go to the natural history museum tomorrow morning but judging from how late I’m up tonight, it may just be a better idea to catch up on sleep.

2 comments:

  1. Michael,

    As I read what about the complicated tests to determine the purity of the aspirin you made I'm reminded of the early days of space travel.

    The Americans spent a gazillion dollars to develop a pen that would write under zero gravity and pressure conditions. The Russians just sent their cosmonauts into space with pencils.

    Sometimes there's a simple solution to problems sitting right in front of us. Instead of the complicated tests to determine the purity of your aspirin, just grab an unsuspecting soul with a headache and give him an "aspirin". If his headache goes away and he doesn't keel over then you know you did a good job. With the opposite of results, it's back to square one.

    Then again, maybe you should give as much credence to my drug trial techniques as the FDA has.

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  2. What did you finally end up doing on the 4th?

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