After reading the lab before the actual experiment, I was a bit overwhelmed and nervous about it. Having not taken a science class in a little over 3 years, I felt ill-prepared and unfit for making actual aspirin. It was intimidating. However, I was surprised to find the experiment was not only very manageable, but enjoyable as well. It was a nice change from very research-heavy and writing-based classes to something hands-on. I found that measuring things in the correct beakers was actually more meticulous and difficult than it sounds. Even the slightest cross-contamination or wrong measurement could throw off the entire experiment. For example, my partner and I forgot to let our beaker cool to room temperature. Instead, we went straight to the ice bath. Also, we reused our measuring instruments, rinsing with tap water and shaking them until semi-dry. I think this could explain why our aspirin was not pure when we tested it at the end. It was disappointing to learn that our aspirin was not pure, after all the work we had put into it. It seemed like we followed all the steps and even our final product looked like aspirin, but the little mistakes alluded us. It just goes to show that it’s important that during the actual experiment, you follow the experimental design very carefully, which is something we discussed in class, but never did in practice until now.