Laboratory Facilities for Schools
Held year-round on demand
Why not consider combining a half-day Laboratory Session with a half-day Spectroscopy Visit to make a full day event?
We host an increasing number of visits annually where schools can either carry out their own experiments in our laboratories or choose from our list of available practicals which are tailored to the requirements of the major A-level specifications but often involving apparatus not available in schools, e.g. fume cupboards, rotary evaporators and infra-red spectrometers, thus giving their students the experience of practical Chemistry in a university setting. We are able to assist by providing lab space, equipment and technical assistance, and in most cases all the chemicals.
Some of these experiments are also suitable for GCSE Triple Award Chemistry students too! e.g. the stage 1 undergraduate esterification reaction being done by the students in these photographs.
Typical organic chemistry experiments which schools have carried out in recent visits include nitration of methylbenzoate, synthesis of food-flavouring esters and the production of the pharmaceutical antifebrin. We also have a range of quantitative analytical practicals including analysis of the copper content of brass and measuring the concentration of sulphate or nitrate ions in water, all by colorimetry. Our range of available experiments will be widened by the autumn as a result of the work of our two year 12 Nuffield Bursary summer holiday project students.
Sessions will be held in our dedicated Chemistry Outreach Laboratory which is available to schools on demand for groups of up to 14 students for fume cupboard experiments; larger groups can still be accommodated in our state-of-the-art £2.8m Undergraduate Synthetic Chemistry Teaching Laboratory, but this is only available on a Wednesday during University term time.
A summary of our bank of available A-level practical activities will appear here soon.
Schools may also attend for a lab visit to talk with our Technical Services Manager to discuss issues relating to topics in the BTEC Nationals in Applied Science. Please contact us for further information.
Dr Peter Hoare
Chemistry Outreach Officer
E-mail: peter.hoare@newcastle.ac.uk
Tel: 0191 222 8542