As soon as a repulsive odor is detected, everyone assumes it’s a deceased cat from human anatomy or a pig fetus from biology. This time, it wasn’t them. This time, it was AP Chemistry.

After the AP Chemistry exam on May 6th, AP Chemistry students have been conducting labs and various activities that incorporate elements from the material they’ve learned in the course.

“Preparing for the AP exam was stressful and it’s nice to be able to finally relax. The labs we’re doing now are so fun and interesting!” said junior Leah Surratt.

Immediately after the exam, students were given an unknown solution and were expected to figure out which elements were present by doing various experiments.

Today, students prepared different smells by combining various acids and alcohols. After heating the prepared solution, they smelt the test tubes that often featured smells that resembled apricots, pears, apples, bananas, and even rum and raspberry.

The smell that permeated the science hall was ultimately a fusion of different smells to produce one giant odor.

“The labs that we’re doing might not be the most pleasant to the senses, but they definitely are a lot of fun, especially after AP exams. It was a little hard to tell between some of the smells, like pear or apricot, but that just made class more interesting in my opinion,” said junior Katherine Tan. “At times, people in my lab group stopped random people in the hallway and asked them to smell things.”

Besides producing smells, AP Chemistry students took a step back to the 70’s. They brought in white shirts, socks, tank tops, or jackets and tie-dyed them in class this week.

Using their AP Chemistry knowledge, they managed to tie-dye their clothes in such a way that they’ll never fade. “I like how we found an application of our knowledge of chemistry that applies to our lives and we can take, and wear, out of the classroom,” said junior Tien Comlekoglu.

Next week, they will be conducting various chemical experiments on freshmen. Stay tuned to find out what happens.

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Photos by Amirah Ahmad