Category: Blog Entry 2 (Page 1 of 3)

I went into the lab thinking it was not going to be a good experience. In high school, I thought going to lab once a week was boring and I didn’t like it. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Although we didn’t get the result that was intended, it was an enjoyable experience. Experiments fascinate me, maybe because I’m a Statistics major. I enjoy asking a question and then being able to put together an experiment in hopes that it would be able to answer your question. I think that’s what made me want to major in Statistics and I think that’s what made this whole process fun.There are certain things that need to be in an experiment for it to be considered valid and I was able to see that in the experimental design at the end. This also opened my eyes to what scientists have to go through on a regular basis when developing medicine. Granted, they use machines, but even if you do everything right in terms of putting everything together, there can still be a chance that there is a contamination somewhere. As a result, the medicine that you worked hard on wouldn’t be able to be consumed by people.

First of all, I really enjoyed the lab and thought it was a very interesting experiment. I have always been curious about how medicinal drugs are actually created so I felt that it was very enlightening to actually be able to make our own aspirin. One thing this lab highlighted was the importance of following procedures very carefully. My group had to reread each of the steps before doing anything and also read a few steps ahead and then back in order to make sure we were doing everything exactly as written and in the correct order. Thankfully, our efforts resulted in the successful creation of aspirin with no salicylic acid but I could see that many groups were not as successful. I do not blame them since I was still unsure if we had done everything absolutely correct in the procedure but it was probably this attention to detail that made our group successful. One of the greatest strengths of the scientific method is how mathematical and procedural it is, that if it is done correctly the desired result will be achieved. One problem, however, is the potential lack of precision with humans themselves that can interfere with the experiment.

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.

Working alongside my peers in the MakerHub Lab on the TinkerCad interface developing our 3D Healthcare Innovation really opened up my eyes to the importance of the experimental design aspect of a scientific project. Without our initial attention to detail in our learning phases of TinkerCad, properly building our 3D Healthcare Innovation would have been much more difficult without the knowledge we gained from that training period we spent in the MakerHub Lab. Those experiences helped to shape the way we approached the construction and development of our prototype to hold and cool severed body parts in the case of emergencies. Although this process was vital, I never realized how vital it would become because as we developed our prototype, we had to account and include in the previous steps of the Scientific Method. This proved imperative to the success of building an efficient 3D prototype that followed our observations and was measured by data analysis around how large to make the box depending on the average size of common human limbs that were severed. If we didn’t account for this previous data and observations, we would be developing an incomplete and incompetent experimental design. Overall, this learning process building and developing our 3D Healthcare Innovation really taught me to factor in the other steps of the scientific process in order to produce the best results.

– AJ Johnson

Making aspirin in the lab last week was an enticing, yet difficult experience. I have not worked in a lab since my sophomore year of high school, so following protocol was probably the most challenging part of the entire lab. For example, I did not realize that a lot of crystals needed to develop before we began filtering it out (this was towards the end of the procedure). As a result, I was very eager to begin filtration, but luckily Professor Greer stepped in and reminded me that more crystals need to form before we could move on to filtration.

I also found it difficult to follow instructions to-a-T when we were working with TinkerCad. I think the reason why it was difficult for me then, was because of the time constraint. Especially when making aspiring, there was very limited time for Professor Greer to demonstrate the procedure throughly and go through all the safety instructions. She wanted to give us as much time as possible to get the lab done.

Ultimately, my team and I got the lab done, and we created very pure aspirin. In completing this lab, something became very apparent to me, and that is the concept of reproducibility. A scientific finding cannot mean much if other people are unable to reproduce the results. If a researcher can do something only once, it’s not so much a finding, but rather a lucky trial. By the same hand, in order for other researchers (or students in an IDC 3002H class) to reproduce results, directions must be very clear and descriptive. If instructions are not clear, people’s health could be compromised, especially if other researchers are trying to reproduce drugs like aspirin.

Walking away from this lab, I realize the significance of scientific reproducibility, and also the obligation a researcher has to put forth clear and descriptive instructions on their experiments. Without either of these two elements, people’s health and also the progression of science itself is at stake.

After having learned about the processes that go behind scientific research, we were able to implement our knowledge of the scientific process in the lab by conducting the synthesis of aspirin lab. Although this lab has been reproduced many times and it was not a new scientific discovery, it was very helpful in outlining the steps scientists take in eventually making scientific breakthroughs. The question we were attempting to answer in the lab was: how could aspirin be synthesized from salicylic acid through acetylation? We tested our hypothesis that acetylation of salicylic acid will lead to aspirin. In the end, we tested for the purity of our aspirin, and it turned out that the aspirin that Claire and I made was pure and did not contain salicylic acid. I believe that this was one of the most important steps in the whole experiment, because we had to test for whether or not the procedure/experiment went right. In the scientific process, this is significant because this test for purity would signify if there were any errors. These errors would later try to be corrected, and publishing the experiment would allow for others in the scientific community to build on and try to revise these possible errors. This is how the scientific community builds knowledge and experiments that support and further develop scientific knowledge.

Working in the lab and synthesizing Aspirin was a very interesting experience. I learned about the importance of following your procedure strictly and carefully. Accurate measurements of substances and timing was crucial to produce the best results. There were many trials where aspirin still had traces of salicyclic acid in the class, and I believe it may have been due to time constraints.  My partner and I was able to successfully remove salicyclic acid from my aspirin, however, we were the last ones to finish the experiment and stayed over the class time. When considering how this experimental design can be improved to produce more successful results, I believe that a greater understanding of the procedure before implementation is key. Although Dr. Greer gave us a run-through of the experiment beforehand and we did not ask questions then, I believe many of us did not realize how many questions we would have until we actually started the experiment. Many students needed help from Dr. Greer during the experiment, including my partner and myself. Waiting for assistance from Dr. Greer could affect timing of certain steps, and not having a thorough understanding of the instructions could obviously affect the results. If we were to redo the experiment, I would suggest giving more detailed instruction, especially considering our inexperience in the lab.

I thought that the Aspirin lab was interesting. It was different than most of the stuff I have done in any lab room because there seemed to be a more real-life application to it. Aspirin is something that everyone in America has at least taken once in their life. Thus, learning to make such a compound felt more real to me than finding the molarity of NaOH. In addition, the procedure was explained pretty well and in a cool manner. Most of my lab professors or teachers take an hour or so explaining the lab in boring details, while this lab was quick and to the point. However, I think that there should have been a bit more time to complete the lab. It felt like we needed to rush, but we do only have a limited class time. The only sad part is that I couldn’t make a perfect aspirin. Nonetheless, I would be lying if I didn’t feel like I was in Breaking Bad for a moment. This lab has also peaked my interest in chemistry. I am also in awe of how scientists were even able to think of such an innovation. There must have been many experiments, observations, and trials the researchers must have conducted before thinking of transforming salicylic acid to aspirin.

The lesson that prepared us for the lab was extremely interesting because I knew many of the terms but never knew that they were related. An example being finding out that salicylic acid which is something I have found in numerous acne treatments is a component to making aspirin. We also learned that aspirin and heroin had a similar chemical composition which got me thinking about drug development which we had talked about in class. As well as scientific uncertainty because at the time nobody knew how dangerous heroin was since it was so similar to aspirin. Prior to going to the lab, I was excited to do a science experiment since it had been such a long time since I had done one and because we spent so much time discussing its origin I felt like I finally understood what was going on in a science class. While in the lab I worked alongside Mark and we set of goal of having the most orange results after testing which would mean that we had pure aspirin. Unfortunately, we had a tinge of purple in our test tube which meant that there was still some salicylic acid left but it was a great learning experience and taught me about the importance of perfection and trial and error when it comes to synthesizing drugs.

Our Aspirin synthesis experiment was a very interesting educational experience that gave me a better understanding of the process involved in developing an important healthcare innovation.  Aspirin is a very important healthcare innovation that revolutionized the process of treating pain and inflammation.  It was very informative to learn how aspirin is synthesized through the combination of salicylic acid and acetic anhydride along with phosphoric acid, which catalyzes the reaction.  Watching the crystallization of the aspirin crystals was fascinating, and I was very surprised by how much aspirin was created once I vacuum filtered the aspirin crystals.

The aspirin experiment gave me a better understanding of what it is like to conduct an experiment and use the scientific method.  I followed a step-by-step approach and made important observations over the course of my experiment as I used my various science senses.  An important science sense that I used frequently during the experiment was the numbers sense.  The experiment required precise measurements of different chemical compounds, and I needed to use my numbers sense to obtain exact measurements of volume and mass.  In addition to my observations and use of numbers sense, I also needed to establish a control for the experiment to determine the purity of my aspirin.  Methane was used as a control in order to test for trace salicylic acid in the aspirin, and the differences in color helped to show this.  Incorporating these different components of the scientific method made this lab experiment a very educational and worthwhile experience.