Identification of an Ion Lab

Ashlyn Byars, Newspaper Editor

Today on this beautiful Tuesday, December 8, 2015, the Chemistry classes all over the school are doing an Identification of Ion lab. They are mixing a solution with an unknown solution. Students use different solutions each time they mix one solution with the unknown solution.  They used the bunsen burner to burn a cation, which is a metal from the periodic table, to see what the correct reaction is.

“I like chemistry because we get to set things on fire,” Autumn Charnoski (10) said.

During a past lab, the students lit a bunsen burner and and burned different metal ions. When they put the wooden sticks with the ion on the flame, it would turn a certain color depending on the chemical used.

“My favorite lab was the flame test, and my favorite was when we burned copper, because it turned a blue-green color and was really pretty,” Gabriel Gomez (10) said.

When students have the opportunity to do labs some get a little too excited. They are able to do something fun and interesting but they are happy they aren’t sitting in a chair learning all day so they want to mess around in a lab full of expensive equipment. That’s the reason we have lab safety procedures, and when you follow them you have a good time, learn, and don’t get into trouble.

“My favorite part of chemistry is when we do labs so we don’t have to sit in one place all day,”  Taylor Howell said. “We are able to talk and do something other than just sitting and listening.”