Distillation in Action

Year 5 enjoyed an exciting visit to the Secondary Science Laboratories this week, where they took on the role of real scientists. The focus was distillation, a process used to separate and purify liquids. It was a great opportunity to experience learning beyond their normal classroom and see science in action.

During the experiment, the children carefully heated different substances and observed what happened as they changed state. As the liquid heated up, it turned into vapour and travelled through a condenser. Here, the vapour cooled down and slowly dripped out of the apparatus as a liquid again. The most surprising part was seeing how clear and clean the new solution became after this process.

To test their results, they used litmus paper to measure the pH value and a TDS reader to check how many particles remained in the liquid. The results showed that the distilled liquid was much purer than before. The children were amazed at how effective the process was and how something that looked blue could become transparent so quickly!

This hands-on experience sparked lots of discussion. The children were prompted to considerhow distillation could help in real-life survival situations, such as being stranded in a rainforest like the characters in The Explorer or surrounded by seawater like the character in their current novel Floodland. Could they recreate the distillation process using everyday materials?

It was a fantastic first visit to the secondary science lab, inspiring curiosity, creativity, and a deeper understanding of science. Now, they can’t wait for Year 7!