2021 questions (29/365)

[nanila]

January 29
What was your favourite subject in school?

I don't think this answer is going to surprise anyone. It was chemistry. For me, experimental chemistry still can’t be beat for combining fun + intellectual stimulation.

Comments

[cmcmck]

You can guess for me! :o)

[nanila]

It can't possibly have been history, can it? :D

[cmcmck]

You got it!

That and Eng Lit.

[davidgillon]

I'd actually have guessed physics for you, but chemistry makes sense too.

[nanila]

I did enjoy physics, too, just not as much as chemistry; the labs had a big impact on me. The chemistry ones were a lot of fun and the supervision was light touch for high school, looking back on it.

[davidgillon]

All six of my A Level science teachers (two each for Biology/Chemistry/Physics) were very relaxed, and that probably helps attract people to making a career of it, I suspect.

[silveradept]

I'm sure most chemistry is not nearly as exciting, but I feel like chemistry as a subject would be made significantly more interesting if someone could promise that by the end there would be flash or explosions or other such.

[nanila]

Yes, and I had a professor in my first year of university who had a firm grasp on the appeal of this. He was a solemn-faced, deep-voiced Chinese man who gave some of the clearest lectures I can remember. Every Friday at the end of his lecture, he would summon the lab techs, who would wheel out an experiment --- and a blast shield.

You could tell who came to lectures every week, because the first three rows of the lecture theatre were always empty on a Friday, except for those who didn't.

[silveradept]

That sounds like the perfect chemistry course. Clear explanations and effective visual aids.