Concentrate!

During my second year in the UG, I had chemistry as the allied paper. It had been my nemesis for quite some time, before, I had a compromise with it in the following manner: "I promise that I will not read you fully and hence get confused in the end. You should ensure me that I will not read you again!". That deal worked, you know.

On the other hand, I had no issue in the practical paper. It involved two parts, the volumetric analysis and salt analysis. Right from class 11, we have been playing with burettes, pipettes and test tubes, so much that we paid breakage charges equalling the exam fees. Sometimes, there would be a contest, as to who takes more solution in the pipette in one breath. I remember myself swallowing bitter solutions in that.

And the practical period had always been on friday, that too, the last 3 periods. We all would assemble there with things setup nicely, say in around 15 minutes. Within 10 minutes, one of our friends would shout the titration readings and another would shout the salt name. All of us would note it down, open the burette to the full and end up with scarlet solutions and put the salt to the dust-bin, only to run to the college ground and play cricket. Only the apprentices and lab assistants would be there in the lab, who would be more than happy to see us leave, so they also could leave early then.

The practical exam came. There was this examiner, who seemed to be seen at the back of everybody. The same pattern followed, but instead of somebody shouting the value, it was passed as a whisper [we excel in tougher situations!]. The value that was offered to me for titration was 22.5. I always doubt even myself, in a small test itself, so, did not want to take a risk. And my solution did not change its colour at that point [to people who need to understand further, this is just a chemistry experiment where the concentration of a solution is determined, by adding a reagent of known value, drop by drop, through the burette. While adding and stirring, we need to note at what point, the solution underneath changes its colour].

I was worried, but still something told me that it was the right thing to do. Finally it changed at 42.0. It was quite high and when I looked up to ask for the salt, only 5 of us were there. I ended up coming out as the last person from the hall.

The results came after 3 months or so. Very few of us got 90+ marks, which was surprising. Because, the practical paper is the easiest and generally the least mark is 80. But that time, we could see even 40 for many, while a few boys failed!

The lab assistant later told me that there were 5 different concentrations kept in random order for us. I could understand why the examiner had a smile then.

p.s.
(1) A burette is a thin long glass vessel with measurements marked on its side. It has a tap at the bottom, which allows the flow of the liquid poured inside.

(2) A pipette is another thin long galss vessel with a bulge in the centre and can help take accurate measure of a liquid. There will be only one marking on the top, to which the liquid is sucked from a jar.

 

Thanks for your encouraging feedback Sreema. I was wondering whether this blog could appeal to you all, or not. -rgs

 

Good to know about one of the incident of your college days, Sunitha. Thanks for your feedback and an apt image. -rgs

 

Thankfully, I listened to my inner voice then Akila. There are times when I lost too. Soon, I will write one of those. Thanks for your feedback. -rgs