Physics and Chemistry Labs
I had already mentioned that we were the first plus2 batch to join the college. (Previously, the course used to be a post graduate B.Tech program for B.Sc students.) This meant that some of the facilities like Physics and Chemistry laboratories were not available at the institute. Instead of setting up new labs at our campus, the university had decided that we can use the labs in College of Engineering, Guindy (main campus.) So, one afternoon every week, we used to travel to the main campus in our institute bus. When I say bus, some of you may think of the Volvo Air Bus that takes you comfortably from one city to another in long rides. Gotcha..!! What I refer to is a cuboidal metallic structure, fitted with only the most essential items such as tyres and seats, as provided by statutary mandatory requirements of the Indian constitution for such a thing to be called a bus. OK, in order to avoid anymore confusion, I will henceforth call it as "travel enabling entity" instead of bus.
So we will begin our journey in this travel enabling entity. Now, if one had done enough good deeds to accumulate some "punniyam" in the preceding week, the bus will escape the Chromepet Railway signal. Otherwise, after a loooong halt there, we will enter the GST Road and proceed towards Guindy in full throttle. We will arrive at the CEG campus, unmindful of the looks of CEG students as if we were some lesser beings.
Now, the class was divided into two groups. We would alternately go to the Physics and Chemistry labs each week. I somehow always enjoyed the Chemistry lab sessions more. We did one titration in the first class which brought back all the memories of higher secondary chemistry practicals. After that we moved to more sophisticated and scientific experiments in advanced topics such as photo-chemistry, electro-chemistry, acidity/alkalinity, etc. The Physics lab experiments were similar to what we had done in higher secondary. We still had to wrestle with the physical balance. Especially the milligram weights would cause much problems for me in terms of handling. Zero correction of Vernier Calipers is another interesting activity for me. Here too we had some advanced instruments like spectro-photo meter, etc. Overall, both labs used to be much fun and less problems, for most of us, I may say.
As a day scholar, I would be glad that I did not need to travel back to college by our afore-mentioned travel enabling entity. Instead, we day scholars would first go to the CEG canteen for two reasons, one of them being the good food available there. And we would never be disappointed on the other reason too. ;-) ;-)
After having a satisfying fill, we would walk to the IIT/ Gandhi Mandapam bus stop to catch a bus to home.
When we were in the third year, the Physics and Chemistry labs were set up in our institute. I reckon our juniors missed out on the special enjoyment that we had in making the weekly trips to CEG. It was COOL..!!
(Posted on 12-Aug-2003)
So we will begin our journey in this travel enabling entity. Now, if one had done enough good deeds to accumulate some "punniyam" in the preceding week, the bus will escape the Chromepet Railway signal. Otherwise, after a loooong halt there, we will enter the GST Road and proceed towards Guindy in full throttle. We will arrive at the CEG campus, unmindful of the looks of CEG students as if we were some lesser beings.
Now, the class was divided into two groups. We would alternately go to the Physics and Chemistry labs each week. I somehow always enjoyed the Chemistry lab sessions more. We did one titration in the first class which brought back all the memories of higher secondary chemistry practicals. After that we moved to more sophisticated and scientific experiments in advanced topics such as photo-chemistry, electro-chemistry, acidity/alkalinity, etc. The Physics lab experiments were similar to what we had done in higher secondary. We still had to wrestle with the physical balance. Especially the milligram weights would cause much problems for me in terms of handling. Zero correction of Vernier Calipers is another interesting activity for me. Here too we had some advanced instruments like spectro-photo meter, etc. Overall, both labs used to be much fun and less problems, for most of us, I may say.
As a day scholar, I would be glad that I did not need to travel back to college by our afore-mentioned travel enabling entity. Instead, we day scholars would first go to the CEG canteen for two reasons, one of them being the good food available there. And we would never be disappointed on the other reason too. ;-) ;-)
After having a satisfying fill, we would walk to the IIT/ Gandhi Mandapam bus stop to catch a bus to home.
When we were in the third year, the Physics and Chemistry labs were set up in our institute. I reckon our juniors missed out on the special enjoyment that we had in making the weekly trips to CEG. It was COOL..!!
(Posted on 12-Aug-2003)
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