Exhibition on Acids, Bases and Salts by Std 10 students

I Hear And I Forget,

I See And I Remember,

I Do and I Understand.

Chemistry is a science of experiments. Scientific concepts can be easily understood by performing experiments. Students learn how to handle the equipments and develop a scientific attitude.

Students of Std 10 recently organised an exhibition on Acid, Base and Salt. They gathered the information about the topic from various books, encyclopaedias and websites.

Students presented experiments to the visitors (students and teachers) to detect whether the given substance was an acid, basic or salt by nature. They gathered many food items and checked their nature with different indicators (litmus paper, phenolphthalein and methyl orange) and also measured pH of the given material with pH strips and universal indicator.

In the process, the students (both - the presenters and the visitors) not only learnt about the topic but also understood the nature of the food they eat daily. They also found out the three gunas of the food that is, Satvik food, Rajas food and Tamsic food. Many students became aware that taking certain types of food (like soft drinks, tea, coffee, spicy food, junk food, etc.) in excess is not good for the health. They learnt about 10 different ways to maintain a balance in our body by exploiting the neutralising nature of the reaction of an alkali and an acid.

The presenters also gathered soil from different areas of the campus and measured pH of these samples and understood the nature of the soil and types of crops that grow in a particular type of soil.

The school principal, Dr. Vijay Patel, all teachers, especially the Chemistry teachers (Anand Sir and Archana Madam) encouraged the students and discussed with them about their selected topic(s) and gave them some very valuable feedback. Their questions made the presenting students think differently at times to find an answer and a few were left unanswered on the day for the students to dig out an appropriate explanation.

Overall, the "fair" turned out to be a great learning experience for both the participants and the visiting students. 

Written by: Swayam Madam