• Question: what made you like chemistry ?

    Asked by anon-247474 to Martha, Dan, Ben, Baptiste, Jennifer on 9 Mar 2020. This question was also asked by anon-247473.
    • Photo: Jennifer Carroll

      Jennifer Carroll answered on 9 Mar 2020:

      I liked chemistry at school because I was good at it. But it’s also hands on and precise, you get to follow a method (or recipe – I like baking :D) to create the desired product at the end.

      Chemistry can be applied in so many different areas of life as well – At university, I got to make paracetamol in my chemistry labs, something most of us will use on a regular basis. I work in the nuclear industry now where chemicals are used to protect equipment from rust and make sure it is reliable over the 40 year lifespan of the power station. And I used to work for Cadbury making new types of chocolate and I applied the same precision and method I learned whilst studying, to my shelf-life trials to see how long the chocolate would last on the shelf in a shop, changing the temperature that the chocolate is kept at.

    • Photo: Ben Rowsell

      Ben Rowsell answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      At first I only really did chemistry because I was good at it at school but it was mainly when I got to university and was able to do all the practical experiments that I enjoyed it a lot more. This was because you actually got to see the theory turn into reality, which isn’t always seen in all subjects. I think as well when you’re taught at school the level isn’t deep enough to show you how much of all of your life is related to chemistry, from the products you use and buy to how your body and mind works. It’s just really cool when you actually see what chemistry is.

    • Photo: Martha Jesson

      Martha Jesson answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      Practical experience. So when I was at school we learnt a lot about the theory behind chemistry but then we were able to experiement and watch the theory come to life!

    • Photo: Baptiste Ravina

      Baptiste Ravina answered on 11 Mar 2020:

      I quite liked chemistry for a while, because of all the obvious experiments we could do in class. When we got to organic chemistry, I realised – hang on, there’s a lot of stuff to memorise here, but they’re not really telling us how everything works. It started feeling a bit more like “stamp collecting”. Of course I’m sure this is not true, and had I persevered and went to study chemistry at university it would have changed my mind completely.

      But I didn’t, and turned to physics instead.

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