Year 10 students visited the department to experience a typical day at Imperial

On 9^th and 10^th July 2024, the department welcomed 80 Year 10 students as part of the taster day series. This gave the students an opportunity to experience a typical day studying chemistry at Imperial. This follows the success of the Year 10 Taster Days last year.

The day started with a short talk by Dr Rebecca L. Jones entitled ‘why study chemistry?’ followed by a lecture on ‘carbon dioxide and its acid derivative.’ This involved working in groups and a practical demonstration involving carbon dioxide.

After lunch, the students spent the afternoon conducting practical work in the laboratory. This involved the hydrolysis of an aspirin tablet, chelating it to copper, and then using the data to construct calibration curves. The data were then used to calculate the mass of aspirin in tablet. This gave the students an opportunity to conduct practical chemistry and conduct data analysis.

Dr Rebecca L. Jones, who headed the Year 10 Taster Day, said “it was fantastic to see so many young people exploring their interest in chemistry. Introducing them to new chemical concepts and lab techniques was a pleasure and I sincerely hope to see many more students next year."

A huge thank you to Kat Harris (senior teaching technician) for developing this practical, and to Raj Sandhu and Keegan Lutherus (undergraduate education team) for coordinating departmental outreach activities.