Murphy’s Law states,
”
If anything can go wrong, it will.
”
Many corollaries have been written to Murphy’s Law, one of which
adds simply
”
… at the worst possible time.
”
Murphy’s Law rules over households and chemistry labs. My
kitchen is both this year, since Anne and Steven are learning
chemistry.
Murphy’s Law states, “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Many corollaries have been written to Murphy’s Law, one of which adds simply “… at the worst possible time.”
Murphy’s Law rules over households and chemistry labs. My kitchen is both this year, since Anne and Steven are learning chemistry.
I did not have time to teach chemistry this year, in addition to Algebra I and II, trig, and calculus, but Anne had completed biology, thankfully under the tutelage of another homeschool mother. Both of her elder brothers had taken Chem 1 at Gavilan at this age, walking into class with only a hazy notion that there were things called atoms and molecules.
Nick had found a study group where his math skills were an asset; his classmates filled him in on the empirical side; he earned an A. Oliver focused on his art classes, and earned A’s in art and a B in chemistry. I decided to enlighten Anne about the periodic table before inflicting her on Dr. Clark.
We knew we would need at least one classmate, however. Otherwise bitter experience has proved that chemistry would inevitably take a back seat to her more formal classes. But it had to be an intelligent and self-motivated student, because I would not have time to spoon-feed him or her. Steven fit the bill: he had earned A’s in biology and in Algebra II.
Next, I called Anne’s biology teacher Virginia, who had also taught chemistry a few years before, to see if she had any equipment she would be willing to lend. I was hoping for a few test tubes and maybe a thermometer.
Instead, Virginia loaned me: 2 mass scales, 2 stirring rods, 8 test tubes in a test tube holder, 2 graduated cylinders, 2 thermometers, two 150 ml beakers, two 250 ml beakers, 2 pairs of safety goggles, 2 pairs of rubber gloves, 2 eyedroppers, 2 alcohol burners with wire stands to go over them, two squirt bottles of distilled water, a half meter stick, several cm rulers, a test tube cleaning brush, pH indicator paper, chromatography paper, filter paper, batteries, funnels, balloons, and a MicroChem lab complete with reactant plates and various chemicals in neatly labeled bottles.
I installed it all in a cabinet above my drier, and for weeks I would drag every unsuspecting guest into the laundry room, fling open the cabinet doors, and say, “Look!” The guest would invariably exclaim, “Chemistry!” It was very satisfying.
The “lecture” portion of the class has had its ups and downs. Mostly, the two students have studied the modules, answered the questions and gotten A’s on their tests. Then Anne started spending too much time at the stable, and Steven was in a play. Their grades slipped, their mothers set firmer rules, their grades recovered.
The lab portion has been an unmitigated blast – sometimes literally. Early in the year, I showed them what I wanted to see in their lab books. Now they saunter into the kitchen, open their books, read the experiment, leave a page blank for their abstract, list their materials and equipment, outline their procedure, do the experiment, collect their data, write up their analysis and then write their abstract.
They particularly enjoy the whiz-bang stuff, such as blowing up freshly disassociated hydrogen. I particularly enjoy the way they never miss a test question that refers to something they have done in lab.
But two weeks ago, Murphy’s Law struck. The ice melted in my freezer, and naturally it happened the day we needed to examine the effects of temperature on the solubility of solids and gases.
Fortunately, I noticed that my fridge had broken before class actually began. While frantically moving all my perishables into ice chests, I called Steven’s mother, and Steven arrived with a large container of ice. We managed to chill and heat as needed for three of our four experiments.
We finished the last one today, observing the depressing effect that a solid solute has on freezing temperature of a solvent in the freezer compartment of my brand new refrigerator, while simultaneously titrating a base solution with an acid of known molarity to determine the concentration of the base.
