Term 1
During Week 2 Term 1(right after our orientation week), we went straight into the science syllabus by conducting experiments in the science lab. When I was in primary school, our science teachers only showed us how he/she did the experiment in front of us, but did not allow us each to carry out the experiments on our own as there was not enough materials for everyone to use. But in Hwa Chong, we have sufficient materials for us to be able to carry out our experiments ourselves. The first experiment I did was on the bunsen burner. It was where we each learnt how to light and use a bunsen burner. First, we had to close the air hole at the bottom of the bunsen burner to prevent a strike back from occurring. Then, we turned on the gas tap, followed by lighting the bunsen burner using the lighter.Since we wanted a hot flame, we opened the air hole partially to obtain a non-luminous flame. We had to wear safety goggles in case any harmful gases/smoke emitted from the bunsen burner entered our eyes. Since heat would be vital in most experiments, we had to make sure that we mastered the basics like how to use a bunsen burner therefore this experiment was considered to be an important one!
Term 2
In term 2, one of our first lab sessions required us to make use of various measuring equipment. First, we learnt how to use the vernier caliper(which I have never seen before in my life). Since the vernier calipers in our school's science lab has been used by thousand of students and teachers in our school before, it is most likely to have "zero error", where the vernier calipers are sort of faulty, therefore we have to plus/minus the "zero error" into our answers. Besides that, we also got to lay our hands on the micrometer screw gauge! I felt that it was a little harder to use the micrometer screw gauge although our Science teacher said that most students had more trouble using the vernier caliper than the micrometer screw gauge. But nevertheless, I was able to use and read the readings off the vernier caliper and micrometer screw gauge accurately. We also got to use the measuring tape, meter ruler etc. We had to be careful of parallax error and had to make sure that we read the measurement at eye-level. We had to measuring interesting things like the diameter of a marble, height of a stool etc. I felt that this lab session would be important as we would have to use the vernier caliper and micrometer screw gauge in the time to come.
Term 3
This would probably the last lab session of the year before our EOY. We were going to test for starch from a leaf with iodine solution. Although this experiment wasn't new to us for most of us, since we were also supposed to have done this experiment in primary school, but for me, I only SAW my Science teacher do it,not do it with my own hands. I paired up with my friend,Jun Hao to carry out the experiment. First, we had to boil the leaf in order to stop all life processes so that the starch in the leaf won't be used uo. Secondly, we had to immerse the leaf in alcohol to remove all the chlorophyll pigment that would musk all the starch. Then finally, we added a few drops of iodine solution onto the leaf. During the experiment, we met some difficulties:1)It took around 7 mins to start the water boiling 2)We did not have the time to wait till the leaf turned white therefore after it turned whitish green, we already took it out to test for starch. But in the end, we manage to get our success; the iodine solution turned dark blue when it touched the leaf. I was rather satisfied with my results since only a few groups manage to see their iodine solution turn dark blue. From this experiment, I learnt how to test for starch using iodine solution!
