Westminster Professors Host Chemistry Students
The Westminster College Chemistry Department hosted Wilmington’s chemistry classes for a fun day of experiments and a tour of their new laboratory facility. It was a great experience for the students to perform college-related experiments, work with materials not accessible at the high school, and communicate with professors about opportunities after high school. The students enjoyed the hands-on work and how well the professors explained and discussed concepts throughout the experiments along with the beautiful new laboratory rooms.
The Chemistry 1 classes collected & analyzed data to determine the identity of unknown soft drinks based on sugar content and density. The professors said the students showed impressive precision and accuracy skills in their calculation results.
The Organic Chem class used IR spectroscopy to determine the organic chemical they produced in an oxidation reaction. They applied concepts of physical properties to extract their product in order to purify it and interpreted an IR spectrum to determine their results.
The College Chemistry class reacted a metal with acid and collected the gas, produced over water, in order to compare their theoretical calculations with their experimental results. They applied prior knowledge concepts with new concepts introduced by the professors relating to chemical reactions and gas laws. The students enjoyed the problem-solving challenges and working with the professors.
Wilmington is grateful for this unique collaborative opportunity with Westminster College and looks forward to continuing to offer this experience to our students.
