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Asked by Mugglewumpf to Francesca, Laura, Matthew, Andrew, Rebecca on 10 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by Joe.
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Andrew McKinley answered on 10 Nov 2014:
Spectroscopy is beautiful! Get your hands on a prism, use it to split ‘white’ light into the colours of the spectrum (or simply observe a rainbow!) – how can you not think it is beautiful?
How we use it to ‘decode’ information on molecules is absolutely amazing, how these reveal fundamental truths about chemical reactions – it all helps to understand the world around us 🙂
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Laura Schofield answered on 10 Nov 2014:
I guess you could say my project chose spectroscopy…
I make small molecules by breaking up bigger ones through reactions. Unfortunately we can’t see any of these molecules with our eyes or even a normal microscope! So I have to use different methods to be able to see what I have made in my reactions. Spectroscopy is the easiest way to see them and gives instant results!! -
Francesca Palombo answered on 10 Nov 2014:
I got enthused during my final year undergraduate research project and then realised you can look at so many different properties of the matter by using light of different colours
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Rebecca Ingle answered on 10 Nov 2014:
What I really like spectroscopy is it’s a really good area for getting to combine really detailed theoretical predictions with experiments. When you’re looking at small enough molecules, you have to think really hard about the rules of quantum mechanics to understand what is going on and it acts as brilliant evidence for a lot of the predictions that quantum mechanics makes.
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Matthew Camilleri answered on 10 Nov 2014:
Spectroscopy is a tool I use in my work, so as long as I want to be a synthetic chemist I have to use spectroscopy.
It is amazing that we have developed tools that can actually decode information from molecules, which can tell you whether your reaction has worked or not.
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