DLD students visit UCL
3rd October 16
On Thursday, 22nd September some A-Level Chemistry students enjoyed a day trip to University College London (UCL) and participated in a Spectroscopy workshop. Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation. The morning consisted of tours around the various labs, including some hands-on IR analysis. After lunch, we had a short lecture about Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and how to interpret the results; then it was time to solve some problems. The students had to put all the clues together to deduce the structure of the molecules that had been analysed. This is not as easy as it sounds, yet everyone did very well. The afternoon ended with a short lecture on how spectroscopic techniques are used by climate scientists to monitor the atmosphere and included a rather explosive demonstration involving solid carbon dioxide.
