The stuff dreams are made of...

Well, possibly not my dreams... but they must be someone's dream for sure!
I did get quite excited about them though, my precious little creations!

So, here is how the story goes...

A few weeks ago I got sick at college, doctor said I was extremely stressed (may believe him...). Fact is that I was so poorly that I had to leave classes and go home. I must have looked pretty horrible since some of my lecturers even worried about me driving the one hour trip to get home.
Obviously since I'm writing this today, I made it!

Anyway, since I had to leave early I missed a chemistry lab practical with my group and I was told to join the second group which performed the aspirin synthesis experiment yesterday... and so I did.

I have to admit that out of all the practicals we have done, yesterdays' one was my favourite.

There is something really nice about working in a small group - just 3 of us - and having the lecturer right close by, supervising us but also able to have a good laugh while working.

So we did synthesise aspirin and, to my surprise, it was so simple that the next time I get a headache I may even try it at home myself rather than go buying it somewhere!

Or maybe not... See, some of the stuff we used had a powerful stink to it so, possibly, I'll leave the making to someone else.

Well, in the making I have witnessed some very cool things happening right in front of my eyes:

- the first thing was seeing crystals forming in the tube I was using.
"Yeah, big deal...." you may think, but you should have been there to see it! Since nothing was happening, Andrew, our chemistry lecturer, put a tiny crystal of aspirin (apparently it's called 'seed crystal') in the tube I was using and in seconds it started growing hugely just because finally the particles found a surface to attach to... I couldn't take my eyes off it!

These are actually not my crystals but it's to give you an idea of what happened...
all in the space of a few seconds...

- the second thing is that the first group of people doing the experiment had a bit more time than us so they left their crystals to dry in an oven while we did something different and flash dried them over a Bunsen burner. Somehow I got spike looking crystals... Andrew tried to explain me how they came about (something to see with direct deposit from gas to solid phase but it got lost somewhere in translation... sorry Andrew! :-p) but the fact is that they just looked amazing to me! So, as a proper geek (you people know me!!!), I had to take pictures of them and post them here. Aren't they just beautiful?!

So here we go, who would have said that I would have enjoyed a chemical experiment... I am discovering a lot about myself and I am quite impressed...
Or more simply put, I think I am becoming a sad person (in the affectionate way!) just like my lecturer...

Oh well, could be worse!

This post is also dedicated to my wonderful dad whose attempt to teach me 'acetylsalicylic acid' as one of my first words didn't go unnoticed! Obviously dad I have you to blame for a lot of what I am today!!! :-)