Here’s what happened to me the first time I walked into organic chemistry lab. After being assigned a bench, I opened the lab manual and saw a long list of things to weigh out, then there was a wall of text about what to do with those things. I got my compounds and headed to the back of the lab to wait in line to use one of the balances.
After I’d weighed everything out, I saw that the next thing to do was to add compound number 1 to a flask of solvent and get it started stirring. I actually had to stand there and wait while it stirred before I could do anything else. I learned my lesson right then and there: Start long-running tasks first when possible!
The other thing that happened that afternoon was that several of the apparatuses to set up were totally unfamiliar to me, so I took a long time to get my experiments going. In fact I took so long that I had to go back on the “make-up day” to finish my work.
My lack of preparation for lab essentially cost me a whole afternoon that I could have spent either studying or living “real life.” Don’t do what I did. Take the necessary half hour or so and get familiar with what you’re going to do in lab, including making a rough plan of what should be done first. You’ll learn more from the lab, and you’ll get out of there faster too!
Photo credit: amarette