The Wednesday my chem lab group actually worked perfectly

I had this one day last semester where our orgo lab experiment actually went right on the first try. We were synthesizing aspirin and my partner Sarah took the temperature readings while I handled the Buchner funnel filtration. Everything crystallized at exactly the right moment and we got a 92% yield which is way above the class average. The professor even came by and said our product looked cleaner than most. Has anyone else had a lab day where nothing went wrong for once?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_ross20d ago

Buchner funnel for aspirin? You mean a Hirsch funnel, right? They're different.

wrenwilson20d ago

My buddy in the chem lab grabbed what he thought was a Buchner funnel for a batch of aspirin crystals. Turns out it was a Hirsch, and he spent half an hour trying to force a filter paper that was way too big. It was a mess, but he learned the hard way that they look similar but the plate setup is different.