Working in a Chemistry Lab
July 5, 2018
by Jessica Chaikof
Since my sophomore year of high school, I dreamed of majoring in chemistry with the intentions of going into teaching at the high school level. At the beginning of freshman year, I told my advisor, I was considering a major in chemistry but was concerned about my vision affecting my capability of completing the lab work. Her response was, “Want to major in chemistry? Let’s do it then!” My advisor and I were not sure about what accommodations, I would need; therefore, we decided to do some experimenting. Since my advisor was teaching the intro chemistry evening lab that semester, she placed me into her section.
In the lab, I struggled with reading a thermometer, measuring the correct amount of a liquid substance, or reading to the nearest significant figure. To successfully perform the experiment, everything must be measured out as accurately as possible. When someone tells me to pour fifteen milliliters of hexane, I’ll think that I did it correctly. However, there is a concave (a dip), so instead of pouring fifteen I had poured thirteen or fourteen. No matter how small of a difference, it can still affect your experiment by giving you inaccurate data results.
Titrations are used to determine the concentration of a known analyteand are one of the most valuable skills, you can learn as a chemist. To complete a titration, you need to use a burette then slowly dropwise let your titrant out into the solution. After the solution changes color, it means you are at the endpoint and need to write down the volume to the nearest significant figure (usually the nearest tenth). Given the issue with not seeing the concave (a dip), my advisor would have somebody come into the lab to help me. The person would place an index card behind the burette then take a pencil to point out the dip. This situation is an example of the many strategies; my advisor would create to ensure I had equal access to the material. I only ended up minoring in chemistry, but I am still grateful for the experiences because I learned how to work in a lab setting despite my Usher’s and had an advisor who went above and beyond.
