17.3.10

I'm a mess, I guess

It's like a typical day in Organic Chemistry lab...

I'm about to perform oxidative coupling of alkenes. Every compound is carefully weighed and mixed. My set-up is perfect. I caulk all the joints of the glassware. Twice. When everything looks like it's perfect, I check again. & then ask for the professor's approval. Three times. So the moment begins, I start the system and allow the mixture to reflux (gently 'simmer') for the time alotted. This time, we got lucky. Roughly only about thirty minutes of watching something boil... I mean, "reflux". Much better than the days when I watch it for hours. The mixture is a clear seafoam green. We just have to wait for it to turn blue. Things are looking good! The pipette is just below the solutions surface and air bubbles are coming up. The magnetic stir bar is doing its job. The Copper Chloride catalyst has dissolved and the system is heating to reflux.

10 minutes.... 17 minutes..... gosh I really wish we had chairs in here ... 20 minutes... LOOK IT'S CHANGING COLOR! or is that my imagination?! ... 23 minutes... totally my imagination. still green. 27 minutes... why is ours the only one that isn't blue... 37 minutes... 45 minutes...

A Complete and Utter Disaster. That's what this experiment should be called. The mixture splashed up on the sides. Some of it is dark blue in spots, but most of it is a light green wet solid at the bottom of the round bottom flask. Not at all what it's supposed to look like.

That's what this life is-- an experiment. A series of guess and checks. Successes and failures. Mistakes, regrets, and no turning back. Sometimes no matter how careful the preparation, no matter how accurate the execution, the result is never quite right. But then again, what would be the point of experimenting if everything always turned out right? And isn't the anticipation and waiting for the "chemicals to react" worth it when it actually does come out with the right product?

Until then, there is only hope.

1 Comments:

Blogger Alyssa Puckett said...

i like this analogy.
i enjoy reading your blog.
i enjoy being your roommate.

March 17, 2010 at 8:27 PM  

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