Chemistry Then and Now

The last time I was in a chemistry lab was nearly 50 years ago, in my junior year of high school. It certainly wasn't as much fun as I had with Z today in a chemistry lab at Western Washington University, where our Grandparents "U" class met.

"Doctor Betsy," as the young students called the professor, communicated cheerfully and clearly with her young and old students alike as we moved from safety in the lab to mixing drops of food coloring with water and then with each other and recording the results (seen above) to doing the same with the contents of glow sticks, as seen in Phil's blip, a class favorite.

Lava lamp lookalikes were made by mixing salad oil, water, and food coloring in a plastic bottle, and then dropping Alka-Seltzer tablets in and watching the bubbles rise. Milk in a petri dish was dotted with food coloring and a toothpick with a dab of dish soap was inserted into one dot after another, resulting in a pattern reminiscent of the psychedelic art of the 1960s.

I'm as eager as the young students to see what we do tomorrow!

(No time to look at other journals today, or for the next few days, but I look forward to catching up.)