Where not doing biology anymore dorothy....

Last tuesday, I had the great pleasure of participating in physical chemistry lab. Thermodynamic Physical chemistry is the study of molecular level interactions and how they affect macroscopic results. We study in some depth the behavior of matter and the transformation between different forms of energy. Our task for this lab is to measure the potential energy of a piece of pizza and compare the energy content found between supreme and meat lovers. I am sure this is not a question most people just come up with at random. Only a thermodynamic chemist with waaay too much time on his hands could come up with this one. O well.

In order to measure this potential energy...you have to release it. What better way then blow it up? The instrument used to do this is...yes...called a bomb. Some chemist decided that his job was so exceptionally boring that he decided to name a piece of equipment in his lab something daring and exciting to increase the..."romantic" appeal. So, he named a cup in a bucket with a 200 dollar thermometer a bomb. Sigh. Basically, the bomb, the pic to the right, is placed in a tin bucket full of water. This assembly is then placed in a bigger bucket so as to best simulate a closed thermodynamic system. A dried, compressed pellet of sample is placed under O2 pressure in the bomb contacting a small piece of ignition wire. [Da Bomb]
When the time comes, high current is passed through the wire and the pellet is combusted. As the heat moves out of the bomb it passes into the water surrounding it. This temperature change is measured very precisely and can be used to determine the total energy content of the sample. It doesn't even really blow up...it doesn't even sound cool. You get all psyched up for something cause your pushing the go button on a peice of equipment called an Oxygen BOMB calorimeter and then....nothing. Besides the emotional let down you may be wondering what's so bad about this lab.[Me and the ~200 dollar thermometer.] In the four hours we were in lab, we were only able to complete one of our 3 trials. [Me and the ~200 dollar thermometer]
If this isn't frustrating I don't even know what is. By the end I was about ready to take the whole darn thing and throw it down the fire escape. If one of our runs is an incomplete combustion so help me...I hope there isn't anyone actually using the fire escape right about then.

Don't get me wrong...it is kind of amusing that I can now tell you exactly how much energy is in this piece of pizza but....

I made a realization today. I have finally crossed the line from biology to chemistry. Many of my chem classes prior to this semester have been occupied by biologists from various disciplines. This class, P-chem, is the first class not at all designed to be somewhat condusive to a biological student. The wierd part of it is...I'm not so sure I like it. It's a fact that I am not happy with physical chemistry...this much I know. No one in their right mind needs a thermometer that you read through a magnifying class. You couldn't find a biologist within a mile of this thing. Except of course my lab partner who is the psychotic double major below. This thermometer can be read to the thousandths place. What the heck? I don't need to know that the water inside the bomb is .043 degrees off from room temperature and slowly coming to equilibrium. I...don't...care. I am now coming to the conclusion that spending the rest of my life putting 10 hours a day everyday inside of a lab would, for all intensive purposes, mess me up. I definately still love science...just not the kind where you get to stare at numbers all day and look longingly out the window at the real world. Looking back on my class history, I can see that most of the bio classes I took were really easy for me...and the most of the chem classes I took I had to fight through.....umm....crap? Where was my head? Have I been toying with so the wrong career? Sigh...