In an everyday scenario, teachers would persuade students to not play with fire. However on Nov. 8 and Nov. 12, teachers encouraged their students to explore different elements using a bunsen burner. Prior to the lab, students in Ms. Reilly’s Chemistry Honors classes learned about electrons and how they move from the ground state up to the excited state and back down to produce energy in which the excess energy releases light.

Furthermore, students used spectral tubes, gas filled tubes that are inserted into an energy source, to examine a band of colors known as the atomic line spectra.These bands can be seen by using a spectroscope, an instrument that creates an emission spectra showing all of the possible photons of light that are released as the electrons return back down to the ground state.

“We prepared for the lab by having an understanding of how elements give off different colors of light because of how the line-emission spectrum works,” Mackenzie Jones ‘27 said.

Additionally, students were instructed to find the approximate wavelength based off of what color the elements burned during the flame test. By sticking a dowel covered in an element into a bunsen burner, students were able to explore which metal elements turned orange and which turned red. 

“I liked the chem lab because we were able to see how certain elements reacted when energy was added. Many of the flames were unique colors when the metals were added,” Addison Evert ‘27 said.

By incorporating this type of lab into everyday learning, it engages student’s’ minds and helps them understand the material in a unique and hands-on setting rather than on a lab bench taking notes. 

“I thought the lab was interesting and made me more engaged and interested in learning more in Chemistry,” Sofia Zapparoli ‘27 said. “I would like to do [this] type of learning over notes because it’s more hands-on and fun.”

In addition to the spectroscopy lab, chemistry classes also participated in a mold day lab, a particles in a bag lab and a density lab. These labs are beneficial for students because they provide ways for students to experiment with chemicals and elements in a controlled laboratory environment. 

“I thought the chem lab was cool because I was able to burn metals and see the colors they emitted,” Aiden Jang ‘27 said.