Measuring Liquids Lab was our second lab and the most colorful lab I’ve ever worked on. The purpose of this lab was to develop skills in measuring with graduated cylinder. To measure graduated cylinder correctly and accurately, you have to place the graduated cylinder on a flat surface and read the level at the bottom of the meniscus.
After Smile, Annie, and I gathered all the materials and wore our lab coats (so that our school uniforms won’t be stained with the food coloring water in case we accidentally spill them), we read through the procedures twice before we begin. First, we label the test tubes A, B, C, D, E, F, by writing on a piece of scrap paper and putting the paper under the test tube rack as shown in the video. I think the procedure was kind of difficult to understand because some of them didn’t tell us the specific test tube we have to use to pour into another test tube. For example: “From the beaker of the blue water, measure 4ml and pour the rest into test tube F.” Reading the procedure made me feel like I’m a detective trying to understand/figure out some sort of code.
Though we were a little confused with the procedure at first, we managed to finish the lab in time and successfully. Our results were…Test tube A is red (1.5ml), B is orange (12.5ml), C is yellow (9.8ml), D is green (14.5ml), E is blue (7.2ml), and F is violet (15ml). The total amount of water is quantitative, and the color of the water is qualitative. Quantitative is something that can be measured, such as numbers, mass, height, etc…Qualitative is something that you can measure with your sense- like color, shape, smell, appearance, etc… This lab wasn’t as interesting as our first lab, Acid in the Eye Accident Lab, because the results were what I expected. Thus, it was fun and enjoyable.
Before this lab, I didn’t know what meniscus, quantitative, and qualitative mean, and didn’t know how to read the graduated cylinder correctly. But now? Now I do. 
Post time: Feb-28-2017