Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Oh, what'd I do if I didn't have you?
I survived yesterday's qualitative analysis experiment. From now on, sinusumpa ko na ang lahat ng solution na yellow na naglalaman ng Fe(III) at Ca(II) ions.
There were only six of us who haven't identified the unknown ions yet and it was already 2:30. We were all under time pressure since we've been attempting to identify those ions since 1:00p. Only an hour and 30 minues left and still no certainty. We were actually allowed to ask our lab prof two questions, and I had used up those two precious credits. Ma'am Cardona said I should give my final answers on the third time I'll be going to her, otherwise one point each time would be deducted from my score.
So there I was, close to tears (actually, a few had managed to fall), simply hopeless. Meg and I were the only ones still doing the experiment among Khwekhkhwekh. The confirmatory test gave me Ca(II) but with NaOH, it was only Fe(III) I got. Daryl said if it was Ca(II), the precipitate would have settled. But it didn't. The precipitate actually dissolved. And no, it couldn't be thiocyanate or zinc or copper or ammonia. But Ma'am said I only had two cations in my solution. And bromine was an anion, although it seemed like bromine during the initial testing. But Ma'am Cardona said it was wrong.
But then came Clauds who started helping me test my solution for other anions. And then Shobe volunteered helping me with cations. And then came Lee-Ann to pat my back when I started crying. And then Joy came to help Shobe and Clauds for the tests. Mindy, Mico, and Karen were also there to help Meg. And there we were, almost all of the Khwekhkhwekh, crowding that side of the laboratory where all the reagents were kept.
"Pag kunwari kulang, sabihin mo na lang nakalimutan mong ilagay yung bromine," said Clauds.
"Oo nga, konting drama lang yan," added Lee-Ann, trying to encourage me.
And so I mustered the guts to go for my final try. Please let it be calcium, I thought. And as my prof looked at my data sheet, she checked both and said, "Tama yan."
They say the strongest of friendships are formed through the weirdest of ways.
And so I thank God for putting Chem 16 in the BS Psych curriculum.
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*Chemist at work? Last week's flame test. (Thanks for the pic, Clauds!)
