Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.
“Let’s use sodium sulfide,” I decided.
I snatched the bottle labeled Na2S and placed three drops of the foul-smelling liquid into a well on the well-plate. Then, I added some of the clear unknown solution I had been given and watched the reaction unfold. Upon contact, the two combined to form an obvious white solid.
“Not again!”
I stared at the chart we had been provided: seven of the twelve metal cation combinations with sulfide were white. The teacher had also informed us of other methods to differentiate between cations such as the flame test, but many were too time-consuming to use for the compound-identification race. It was time to innovate.
My mind wandered to when our AP Chemistry class had covered certain properties of metals and their ionized forms. There was something special about aluminum and zinc…
“Wait! Don’t aluminum and zinc form acidic complex ions with water?” I exclaimed to the instructor. He smiled, nodded, and gave me an encouraging wink.
“And aluminum’s is more acidic than zinc’s. So, blue pH paper should be able to determine that it’s aluminum or zinc, or eliminate them from the options entirely,” I reasoned.
I took a strip of the paper and dipped it into the unknown solution. It turned a distinct shade of red: it had to be zinc. I could barely contain my excitement as I scribbled down the answer on a sheet of paper and turned it into the teacher for evaluation.
“Good job, Kevin; four points for correct identification.”
Though the method I had developed did propel me to the top of the class, the experience was not the least bit about points. Instead, it was about the process of creating something new and effective, which showed me the value of innovation and applying classroom knowledge to real situations.