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Potions Lesson 2 - the Kuznetsov indicator It’s a warm spring day outside, and the morning sunshine streams over the lush green mountainside and through the windows of the potions classroom, even with the white fabric blinds lowered to reduce the glare. On the benches in front of the windows, trays of glassware shine and sparkle in the light. Several of the trays house familiar shapes, at least to the older students – test tubes, conical flasks and measuring cylinders – whereas another contains a pile of long, thin demarcated columns with strange looking taps. The Potions professor is at the front of the class, extracting the juice from a lemon with his wand. Beakers of other liquids line the desk, alongside several brown bottles and what looks to be a bowl of sugar from the kitchens. “Hurry up and find your seats,” he says, gaze steady and tone as no-nonsense as ever. “Chop chop!” |
It was never a good sign when the required equipment for a Potions lesson didn't include a cauldron. That had always been the case for Kaiser, but especially now... though admittedly even brewing something was not as easy as it had once been. Since his lengthy stint in the infirmary for the broken bones and head injury - cause still unknown, but he didn't fall, he never fell - his ability to concentrate had been proven to be the biggest casualty, but his emotions had taken a not insignificant hit too. It wasn't... easy. School was almost unbearable. Trying to ignore the ghost of a headache that lingered threateningly above his eyes, Kaiser entered the potions classroom, bag slung over his shoulder. "Morning," he half mumbled - it was largely automatic by now - as he found his seat and settled himself into it. |
So theory class.... yet again. Jillian enjoyed the experimental side of Potions more. All these theory classes are dull and ugh... But oh well, it's better to have them than nothing at all. Whilst walking towards the classroom she was making sure that all her stuff are in her bag like textbooks, her quill and notebook because that seems to be the only thing they will be needing for today. Fun. Entering the classroom she paced towards the nearest seat she can find. Trying her best to be as quiet as possible "Hello, Professor" she said in a rather soft voice as she sits down while setting her bag near her. |
"Hello, Professor Noble," she greeted upon entering the classroom and finding her seat. Honestly, she didn't mind theory classes so much. And with as much as they had been shuffled around the place this term, she could understand the idea behind them. I mean, carrying all that stuff everywhere? No es bueno. Anyway, she had the required stuff in her bag, so she was good to go. |
Blake wanted to brew something!!!! Why couldn't they just brew a potion. I mean finding out Schmoe was a cookie thief was kinda fun, but he was ready for something more this time. Coming into the classroom Blake took at seat and gave a head nod to Professor Noble. Not daring himself to say anything, it might come out snarky if he did. |
Truthfully, Claudine liked the theoretical lessons so she didn’t mind one bit as she set foot in the room. Mercifully, there had not been a need for the lesson to be relocated as with the case of Transfiguration sometime back. The Snakette was in a fairly good mood though it wasn’t reflected on her face. She nodded to Noble and flashed him a tiny smile; she liked him, he was one of those Professors that explain things clearly and made learning somewhat easier. Ignoring everyone else, including Blake, Claudine selected a seat at the back as usual. Out came her books, quills and ink. She was quite ready for the lesson. |
Lucas didn't know how to feel about this lesson. The sign said that they'd only need their textbooks, wand, and writing equipment, which meant that they were going to have a theory lesson, no doubt. And that was something he was always okay with. No chance of something exploding or chopping something wrong or...... or any of it. But, then again, this was a theory lesson. They could always get a little boring, couldn't they? Yawning, the Gryffindor entered the room, one hand gripping his bag while the other covered his mouth. He instinctively made his way towards a nearby desk, one that happened to be close to where Jillian was sitting. His eyes didn't take long to find Noble - not when the man was already shouting instructions - and he said a simple, "Hello, Professor." Hey. Hi. Hello. But then, his eyes found something a lot more interesting - no offence, sir - and they immediately lit up. Test tubes? Flasks? Measuring cylinders?? Was this a more science-based lesson? Because if so, maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all. It was only after he sat down near Jillian - "Hey!" - that confusion settled in when he noticed the....... bowl of sugar? Uh?? |
The hour of the day hadn’t bothered Carys one bit. Mornings were always good for voluntary exercise, and also for art. Morning light was different than the rest of the day, after all, and that made it beautiful. Just as evening light was also beautiful, but it was morning. And it was Potions, so art theory wasn’t exactly something that she needed to go into, even in her head. Especially when it was probably going to be a theory lesson, so that definitely meant she shouldn’t distract herself. Even if there was an awful lot to distract her. Either way, her head of house got a bright smile from the brunette as she’d headed into the classroom. “Good morning Professor Noble,” she added, heading to an open seat, waving at Jillian, Dalia and Lucas. Leaving a seat open in case her sister was going to be coming soon. Just in case. |
Fiona was feeling very irritable thanks to the atmosphere of Beauxbatons combined with recent events. Was it too late to send an owl to her parents begging them to remove her from such a toxic place? Those dark thoughts swirled around in her mind as she entered the classroom. "Good morning, Professor Noble," she greeted with an actual smile since he was a decent enough teacher. Heading for a seat in the middle of the class in front of Claudine and got ready for the lesson. |
Potions was usually a good class no matter what time of day because it often reminded Carsyn of baking, which was something she was conveniently decent at. Also it was two days before her fifteenth birthday so nothing could really damper her mood. The weather was looking great, which only made her long even more for her traveling summer adventures. "Good morning, Professor Noble," she greeted, sliding into the open seat next to her sister and nodding at her. |
"Hello Professor," Cecelia greeted cheerfully as she entered class, looking neater than she normally did. She always made an extra effort with Professor Noble 'cause he was kinda judgy as professors went and she didn't want him to think that she was the messy little tornado of a girl Looking around for a moment, curious as ever, the blonde smiled a little and then headed off to grab a seat. She was READY to go. |
Despite recent occurrences, Gunnar was in a fairly good mood this morning as he entered the Potions classroom, though it had nothing to do with the particular subject. "Good morning, Professor," he greeted Noble in a civil tone as he passed the man, his eyes soon falling on the objects in his hands before noticing the items on the desk next to him. He hoped they wouldn't be making lemonade today. Not that he didn't like the beverage, it was just a very underwhelming thought. He cut his eyes towards Kaiser momentarily, but soon found his own usual seat and began pulling out his necessary class materials to prepare himself for the lesson. |
SPOILER!!: Kaiser It was a good job the classroom was empty, otherwise Noble might not have heard that mumbled greeting. “Morning, Kaiser,” he replied, eyes narrowing. He was well aware of the Slytherin’s stay in the infirmary, and wondered if he should be concerned. Whilst there wasn’t need of cauldrons today, there was need of focus and concentration. SPOILER!!: Jillian Noble tossed the lemon half he’d been juicing into the bin, before repeating the charm he’d previously been using to start squeezing the other half. As he looked up from the citrus fruit, Jillian arrived as settled into a seat near the door. Someone trying to make a quick exit at the end of class, perhaps? “Hello, Jillian,” he greeted with a nod. SPOILER!!: Daila The lemon juiced, Noble moved to trash the other peel, and then put the glass beaker to one side. They’d be needing it later. “Hello, Daila,” he greeted the fifth year Hufflepuff, as he used the sink at the front desk to rinse his hands. “Textbook and quill out, if you please.” SPOILER!!: Blake My my, everyone was quiet today…and Noble wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing or not when it came to Blake. Hopefully the Slytherin would keep his snark, and his judgement, to himself. SPOILER!!: Claudine A fellow first-year snake soon followed, and Noble nodded in response to her silent greeting. Her immediate organisation of her workspace was noted, even if she was trying to hide at the back of the class. SPOILER!!: Lucas Yes, it was nine in the morning. Just like every other week of the term. And no, Noble didn’t appreciate that yawn, as he made known in his reply. “Wakey wakey, Lucas.” That look as the Gryffindor spotted the trays of equipment though? A pleasant surprise indeed. SPOILER!!: Carys The corner of Noble’s lips curled at the bright and breezy greeting of the fourth year Hufflepuff. Good to see that some people were awake and ready to go. “Morning, Carys.” They’d soon find out whether it was a good one or not. SPOILER!!: Fiona It was always interesting, seeing how the first years settled in. Especially when it came to this time of year, with the summer holidays looming. He’d gotten the distinct sense that Fiona wasn’t the fondest of the stay here, which was understandable enough. “Morning, Fiona,” he replied with a nod. SPOILER!!: Carsyn He wasn’t at all surprised to see Carsyn follow not far behind her sister, and then join her at the same work bench. “The same to you, Carsyn,” he replied as she settled into her seat. SPOILER!!: Cecilia That extra effort was worth it, though honestly, Noble had seen enough of the first around the school to she was more than that neatened uniform suggested. Not that he minded though, as long as she was conscientious in her work in his class. “Hello, Cecelia.” SPOILER!!: Gunnar Noble glanced up to the clock, noting it was soon time to start. The Slytherin Prefect slipped in just in time. “Morning, Gunnar,” Noble replied as Gunnar got settled in his seat. And with that, it was time to start class. Noble clapped his hands together loudly to get their attention – or, possibly, for some of them, to wake back them up. “Your starter for ten this morning… what can we use to identify potions? I’m looking for the obvious things…and the not so obvious things.” And he expected everyone to answer. There were plenty of viable answers out there. |
Claudine, having set up her lesson materials neatly before her, switched her attention between arriving classmates (she may or may not be keeping an eye out for Bernie) and Noble. She was intrigued at what he was doing. She spared a moment to give Fiona a nod. Most students tended to sit in front of her and that was the way she liked it; this way, she was able to observe them. Then the lesson was starting. Claudine’s quill was already in her hand, ready to make notes. The tip hovered over her book as she paused to think of an answer. Up went her hand with the quill. “Our senses, especially by using our eyes and noses.’’ |
Carsyn may have arched an eyebrow at the Slytherin First year, and had she been older she might have even said something. But as she was only a first year, there was a certain level allotted. The eyes were fine and definitely one of the obvious answers that she would have given, but one didn't go sticking their nose in unknown potions. There was a reason for the saying 'don't stick your nose in other people's beeswax'. Actually, did people say that or did she make that up? Who knew? But what she did know was something she may have used to identify potions. "Color and consistency of the potion. The potions that we have brewed up to this point, color is a big factor because it's generally pointed out in our textbooks what color something should be at every step of the way, including the final product." |
If he had noticed the narrowing of Noble's eyes, Kaiser gave no outward sign. The same went for the glance from Gunnar. Perhaps he had noticed both and opted against reacting, and perhaps he had noticed nothing. It depended, really, on whether he was the kind of person who was apt to not notice his surroundings. He had his book and writing implements out, though it was difficult to say how much use either would get. It didn't seem like very long at all before Professor Noble did the hand clap that indicated he wanted their attention. Okay. So. Identifying potions. What... could they use? How did they do that? For a moment, Kaiser completely blanked. The only thing that came to mind at first was 'the label', and he had a feeling such an answer might not go down well. Or maybe it would, but he decided not to let someone else find that out. After a lot of turning the question over in his head, to the point that it started to not make much sense at all, Kaiser reluctantly put up his hand. "Test subjects," he said, and left it at that. He would likely never test a random unknown potion on anyone or anything, but the question was about what could be used, and, technically, you could use a test subject. |
Jillian focused at the materials they were going to use for today. None really caught her eye to be excited for but she did take note with most of it. And also trying to think of what kind of experiment they will be doing today... Just in case Professor Noble won't make it a theory class all the way. Fingers crossed. Jillian straightened her back a bit when she saw Lucas sat close to her. Smiling at the Gryffindor and her hand slightly waving at him. "Hello" she whispered back at him. More familiar faces came in as well, giving a soft smile at Carys and gave her a wave as well. A big clap startled her a bit... which came from the professor himself. Focusing on him now as he started his lesson. Of course first 15 minutes of the lesson will always be the theoretical part but this one question in particular seemed a bit...... vague?.... Difficult?... There are a ton of possible answers for this. Jillian thought hard for a second. "the smell, professor." Some potions have a distinctive smell, could be nice and sometimes could be foul. |
Potions was the one solace of the term he could unequivocally rely on and that went beyond his own preference for the subject about just about all others and even his own agenda in his performance hinging on his ability to take Alchemy next term. While he would never actually say it to the man's face, much of the relief he felt in stepping into the Potions setting was because of the professor himself. It was why Eiji often offered a half smile whenever he entered. Today was no different. Though the site of a lemon and bowl of sugar...set him on edge a bit and only because of his mum's baking tendencies that went hand-in-hand far too often with his little sister's like of citrus. Though he DID also remember, and no one ask him why, that lemon and sugar could make for quite the nice facial scrub. Again. No one ask him why he knew this. No one. Eiji was well settled into his seat beside KAISER as the lesson began and rather liked his fellow Slytherin's answer. The fifth year was quite ready to sit the question and answer out as he usually did, but something in Professor Noble's eyes told him that that would not entirely fly today. So, his hand was up. "The label," he offered. The man HAD said obvious. Could not get any more obvious than that. |
A theory class was on the schedule yet again it seemed as Cole sat in the back of the class next to Claudine and viewed the beakers of liquid up on the professor desk. He had slipped in just before Professor Noble had gotten things started and had waved a silent hello to him. Cole was in a mood that he would describe as best as grouchy considering that he had overslept and missed breakfast. He wasn't very talkative when he hadn't eaten anything since last night. The peers around him quickly started to sprout out ways to identify potions. Cole thought hard on what he could say that nobody had said because he usually didn't like repeating answers, but nothing new came to mind so he raised his hand anyway to give an answer. "You can identify potions by its odour or lack their off, it's colour and consistency like if it's thick or watery." |
'Wakey wakey, Lucas.' ........ ................ Lucas froze. Eyes wide and his heart thumping wildly, he first stared at Noble and then stared at a patch on the table in embarrassment. There was an odd feeling that he had a million lights shining on him right now. Or that he had every pair of eyes on him right now and he wanted nothing more than to sink under the table. Where was that black hole to swallow him up? In the end, he just gave the man an odd smile and said nothing. Wakey wakey. If this wasn't going to wake him up, nothing would. Maybe it was a good thing that he'd noticed Carys's wave at that moment. He managed to offer her a smile and a wave in return before turning his attention back to the front and to that hand clap, that was enough to cause him to jump a little. Right. Question. Focus, Dakest. What could they use to identify potions? The answers were....... obvious, weren't they? You could just...... tell. Or maybe it had a lot to do with being in magical education for four years that helped. But not all potions were as easy as that, were they? Because they even looked too similar and that only confused him even more. He didn't know how long he was sitting there, lost in his own thoughts, but eventually, he raised a hand in the air. "Uh, well, see," Not a great start. "Some potions give off a..... a bit of steam? Or a sheen? Because of the nature of the potion itself, I guess. And that steam will immediately tell you that there's something magical about the liquid and it's obviously a potion," he finished off lamely. |
The trouble with not raising your hand straight away was that everyone else took your answer before you even got the CHANCE to offer it up. Cecelia was having that issue now and it seemed like her classmates were making it their mission to force her to think a LOT more than she'd intended to in order to find an answer to Professor Noble's question. Hmm.. "Well, if you're able to SEE what ingredients a person is working with WHILE they're in the process of brewing the potion, you could make an educated guess on what potion it was they were trying to make." Uh-huh, you could! |
Well then. Yes, he had said he was looking for the obvious things too. But really, was it so hard to actually read the textbook, and not just repeat each other? Sigh. “Yes, sight and smell are the two primary senses we use when approaching a potion for the first time,” Noble responded, picking up a stick of white chalk and writing sight and smell on the blackboard at Claudine and Jillian’s answers. “Colour is a particularly important visual cue, as Carsyn noted. As are other visual cues, such as the appearance of the surface of the potion…whether it has a shimmer or other evidence of magic, as Lucas said. A great example of that is Felix Felicis…otherwise known as liquid luck. When brewed properly, it resembles molten gold, with golden droplets that leap across its surface.” He added colour and magical qualities to the list on the board under sight. “And it is definitely always worth considering the consistency, or viscosity, or mentioned by Cole…either by gently swirling the container the potion is held in, or by using something like a glass rod to try stirring and moving it. Is the potion thick or thin…smooth or lumpy?” All important things to think about. Kaiser’s hand went up next, with what could only be described as a controversial answer. Noble’s brow furrowed a moment, briefly reminded about one of his former students. And when he spoke, his expression was serious. “That rather depends on what you’re testing, and why,” Noble replied to the Slytherin. “For potion identification purposes, it should certainly not be a first port of call. There are plenty of other features to consider first. If it’s absolutely needed, however, it is important that experiments on any living cells, beasts or beings are done in an ethical manner.” That stressed, he moved on. Eiji decided to employ a different tact in his answer, and Noble’s lip curled into a smirk. The boy had guts, that was for sure. “The label is certainly a good place to start. It’s best not just to rely on it though…labels can easily be out of date or changed. Always check that what’s in a container resembles what the label suggests it should before using it…and if in doubt, run further tests.” He added labelling to the list on the board. He turned to Cecelia next, and he was relieved that the first year had taken the time to think about other features one might see. Noble nodded. “Yes, knowing even one of the ingredients can help narrow things down…especially if you have some idea about the potion’s purpose too.” Known ingredients was written on the board. “You could also consider temperature of the potion, either with a thermometer, or by hovering your hand over the potion itself,” Noble said, adding it to the other suggestions, before putting the chalk on his desk, and straightening his robes as he strolled around his desk. His lips were pursed, a sense of stern disappointment in his gaze. “But the key answer I was looking for is that was can identify potions by observing how they react with other potions.” He looked over the class, looking for a flicker of recognition; testing their potions in such a way was something Noble regularly did when marking their efforts to check their potency. And their safety, if he was letting them keep their brew to try. “There are a special class of potions for exactly this purpose,” he continued, “known as indicator solutions. These are potions that react in known, obvious ways when they come into contact with certain chemicals, most usually by changing colour.” He reached for the brown bottles on his desk. “For our first activity, I’d like you to try out two simple indicators on page 259 of your textbook. Litmus solution,” he lifted up one of the brown glass bottles, “Can be used to test the pH of a sample….that is, how acidic or alkaline it is. On the desk, I have some known acids – including vinegar and lemon juice – and some baking soda, which is an alkali. Put a small sample of each into a test tube, and add a few drops of litmus solution…and see what happens to the colour.” Simple enough, right? The acids should turn red, and the alkalis should turn blue. He put the litmus solution at the front of the bench, before picking up one of the other brown bottles. “Benedict’s solution detects the presence of glucose when heated. The sugar in this bowl, is currently made up of sucrose molecules. If I dissolve a spoonful in 20ml water in a test tube, add Benedict’s solution, and, using tongs to safely hold the tube, gently heat it over the flame of a burner…nothing will happen. However, if we add 5 drops of sucrase,” he pointed to a third bottle, “we can break the sucrose down into glucose and fructose. Then…since we now have glucose present, you should start to see the colour change." To yellow, hopefully. "I want you to try using different amounts of sugar… a half teaspoon, a teaspoon and a tablespoon what happens with the colour?” Hopefully they should see that the more sugar that they added, the more orange and then red the colour turned. Hopefully they followed that. If not, it was in their textbooks. “If you have any questions…I’ll answer them now. Otherwise, you may begin.” |
Ah-haaaaa, other potions... right right. Bernie was being quiet and careful today, so as not to lose too many points Who--- um, who was Benedict, and why did they care about his solution? Was it Benedict Litmus??? Was that his name? Huh? Bernie scrambled to follow the directions of this and that and gathering the things and the tubes and the bottles and the bowl of sugar. She had her test tubes and all these brown bottles... now what? She checked her notes. He said to add a small sample of each acid and alkali to the tubes and then they could.... uh, put in the Benedict Litmus Solution. So, she did step one: adding a bit of each acid to each test tube. So far, so good. Should she check on this sugar, maybe just a little? The first year tapped her lips with her index finger, then got an idea. She'd just make sure this sugar was real before she got any further in her experiments. That's right. She sneakily licked the tip of her index finger and dabbed it into the bowl of sugar, then dabbed the sugar back on her lips. To someone NOT watching her closely, it'd just look like she was thinking about what to do next. She looked like that famous sculpture, you know, of the thinker? The thinking guy? That's right. Then she licked the sugar off her lips and grinned a little to herself. Bernie had better repeat this sugar-tasting experiment, with a larger index-finger-ful of sugar. Mmmm yum. |
Claudine began making her notes, jotting down as much as she could once Noble had agreed with the answers provided. Who wanted to make notes of incorrect things, right? There had been many provided but none as to what her professor was looking for. To be honest, in her mind, these indicator solutions sounded very interesting. She quickly wrote the two words on a new line, underlined it then began to make more notes. Once that was done, she calmly began to carry out the instruction. First, she labelled three test tubes with the names of each (here, she inhaled the citrusy flavour just for fun… and because she enjoyed the scent)of the samples before a bit of each was poured into the corresponding tube. Once the Litmus Solution was secured in a dropper, Claudine added a few drops to each tube. Now for the fun part. She stood back, her eyes lighting up as the colours changed: red for the vinegar and lemon juice and blue for the baking soda. |
Kaiser could only really shrug at Noble's response, then nod. He was... admittedly not following very well. A lot had been said even before his answer, and though Kaiser had reached a stage where he didn't struggle quite as much as he used to when it came to following lectures and the like, there had, of course, been recent setbacks. He did his best to look like he was keeping up, at least, and like he wasn't planning on testing potions on people any time soon. Though that last part was easy, given the fact it was true. Though he had so far made a vague attempt at writing notes, they were all but useless, and Kaiser gave up on them as a bad job just as the first activity started. He threw down his quill, and pushed it and he parchment away. Rubbing his forehead with the fingers of his right hand, Kaiser managed to look only slightly overwhelmed at the instructions they had been given. Not even started yet, and his mind had begun drifting. Concentration was a distant memory. Noble had spoken only moments ago, and his words had basically leaked out of Kaiser's ears without making any impression on his brain. He couldn't even remember the right page of the textbook he should have turned to. Preferring not to draw attention to his predicament, Kaiser did what he knew best, and decided to look busy, and act natural. He went to get himself samples from each of the bottles, as well as some sugar, before returning to his seat. It was at this point that he realised he hadn't made a note of what each of the liquids were, but then it hardly mattered at this point. Kaiser cast a sideways glance at Eiji, who had taken the seat beside him, then back to his array of substances. It crossed his mind that he was probably about to look like a complete idiot to anyone paying close attention, but rather that than make it obvious he'd not been able to grasp those very simple instructions. Anyway, it wasn't like there were actual potions involved. Nothing was liable to go boom just yet. Pushing the image of an exploding bowl of sugar to the back of his mind, Kaiser just went ahead and sort of... added drops of something to a tube of something else... and watched and waited... while nothing happened. Interesting. |
Claudine’s face showed a hint of a smile as she watched the colours. Colours were always important and attractive to her and she would sometimes spend long periods of time selecting coloured pencils for her sketches to give them the perfect look. Then she reminded herself that she had to move on to the next set of instructions. What were they again? Her eyes fell on the sugar Noble had used for his second display. Ah yes… she recalled what those instructions were now. That serious look back on her face, Claudine retrieved a bit of sugar; enough to complete the exercise. Twenty ml of water was measured out into a tube then the Benedict’s Solution, half a teaspoon of sugar, the drops of sucrose were added. Once the flame was going on the burner, the Snakette held the tube over it with the tongs, just as Noble had done. Slowly but surely, the colour began to change. A light shade of orange appeared. |
Jillian said the first thing on her mind and she's just thankful that her answer was right up in the alley. She nodded whilst looking at Professor Noble. Her eyes then looked at the table once again and looked at the ingredients. There was something particularly soothing about Potions and as Professor Noble had said 'potions reacting to other potions'. THAT she is pretty much excited to see. Focusing back at the professor, she watched as he began to demonstrate what they will be doing for today. She opened her book to page 259, skimming through the paragraphs and taking notes on what Noble was talking about. And here comes the experimental part... Litmus Solution. There was a lot of information there and Jillian is trying not to get too overwhelmed with everything. Okay, focus for now. Right... after getting all of her materials in place and taking note of each sample in front of her, she starts pouring a few drops of the solution on each. A pencil on her right hand ready for results if there is a change in color that is. So far only the test tube with lemon juice in it changed color. It immediately changed into red as soon as the solution was in contact with it. She noted that one down. Glancing over to her other test tube, the baking soda is not reacting to the solution. She thought to herself that adding a few more might do the trick and besides it's not like they're brewing up a potion that needs exact measurements right? Jillian poured in a few more drops and to her surprise it worked. The test tube with baking soda inside turned blue. Looks cool. She isn't done yet. She still needs sugar. Oooooh yummy. |
Cool, she'd been right! The first year grinned a little, looking around to see if ANYONE else saw just how smart she was. It was impressive stuff, really. ALSO impressive was the fact that there were potions that could identify OTHER potions. She SUPPOSED it wasn't THAT crazy, but STILL. How handy was THAT?! When it was time to move, Cecelia went to gather her materials in several trips so she didn't drop anything. She HIGHLY doubted Noble would appreciate a mess. Vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda were all given their own test tube and she was careful to only put a little in each. Then she needed the...the what? UH. Notes were consulted and AH-HA, she needed the Litmus solution! Weird name, Litmus, she wasn't really a fan, but you know. She got herself some of THAT, too! She dropped a FEW drops of the liquid into EACH of the test tubes and watched excitedly as...nothing happened. At least nothing happened straight away, which was disappointing. Lucky that she KEPT watching because each test subject WAS going through a change color-wise and she was RELIEVED. |
Time for the Benedict's solution... who is this Benedict person anyway? Jillian read the name somewhere in the book but never mind that, she needed to do the activity. The instructions from earlier was a lot and she had to take a moment to pause and take a mental note of what she saw from professor noble's demonstration from earlier. She poured in water-- 20 ml to be exact in the test tube and pulled the bowl of sugar near her. Taking the spoon and sorta eyeballing the 'spoonful' term. It doesn't matter all she needs is to have the sugar dissolved into the water and adding the solution which she did, before holding the test tube above the fire. It only took a few seconds for the water to be heated and with that cue in the sucrase.... How many drops was it? Five drops right? She placed the dropper near the mouth of the test tube and started adding the sucrase. One... Two... Three... Four... aaaaand five. She carefully watched the water waiting for a change in color but so far there is minimal change. It did turn yellow but not what she saw from the demo. Made sense because he did say that they should all try different amounts. Maybe she didn't put a lot of sugar in her mixture. |
That whole repeating thing, that was exactly why she hadn't answered. But as Noble added the last bit, Dalia felt pretty stupid. Such an obvious one, yet she'd missed it! Ugh. Also, highly reminiscent of a chemistry class. Anyway, she copied down the notes, put her quill and paper aside, flipped her textbook (which she'd pulled out of her bag earlier as asked) to the correct page then retrieved the samples. Once she had the samples (labeled of course), she returned to her seat. Adding a few drops of the litmus solution to the vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda, she watched as the two acids turned red and the baking soda blue. That done, she added 20ml of water to an empty test tube, added a half teaspoon of sugar, Benedict's solution and the five drops of sucrase, then, using her tongs, held the test tube over the flame from her burner. The liquid turned yellow. |
So the sheen - or magical qualities, as Noble put it - was a good point? And included a great example? A sheepish smile spread across the fourth year's face as he picked up his quill and started making a note of the answer. Or answers. As many as he could write down while trying to ignore the very loud thumping of his heart and the constant feeling of a thousand lights shining down on him. But they felt a little less....... uh, intense? Yeah. With his thoughts full of other things, his writing started getting lazier and lazier until........ Blink. What started out as words turned into a line that went across his parchment and even across some of his notes. And he didn't recognise what he'd written? Picking up his notes, he squinted closely at one of the words, or 'words', on there. Ot....... oth........ othfgllllllll???? Uh. Right. Confused, he placed the parchment down again and looked up in time to see Noble giving a set of instructions about special potions and indicators and changing colour. Did he...... he hadn't missed anything important, had he? No? Okay. He was, uh, going to look natural and pretend nothing had happened. He was glad when instructions were given and he was given something to do and concentrate on. Namely, a page in his textbook that was talking about the Litmus and the Benedict's solution. He let out a tiny gasp as he glanced up at the indicators that Noble was showing off. This was it! This was going to be simple, right? With that thought in mind, Lucas got up from his seat and started gathering the materials he needed. Three test tubes - ones he held up to a light source to check were clean - and a dropper. Or, uh, two test tubes for now because he only had two hands and if he dropped and smashed anything, Noble would NOT be happy. Unhappier than usual. And Lucas didn't want to see that. In the first test tube, he poured a small sample of vinegar. The second test tube? Lemon juice. As similar amounts as he could get it. But did it matter? Probably not. Heading back to his table, he placed the test tubes in a small stand, first vinegar and then lemon juice. Remember. It was only after he was sure they were safe, that the fourth year wandered back to grab a test tube of the baking powder. Did he know how much he had? Not really. And it was a little hard to scoop it into the small tube without it spilling everywhere so, uh, sorry? Yeah. The sample of Litmus solution was easier to collect and after he had collected both, he wandered back to his table and placed the baking soda test tube in the rack as well. In the right order: vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda. With that thought in mind, Lucas bent down and started added a few drops of the Litmus solution to each sample of the, uh, ingredients? Yeah. He stood back, the dropper in his hand and an odd feeling inside him. Oddly enough, this experiment made him feel like..... a scientist. It almost made him feel like he'd achieved something or done something great, a feeling that was only heightened when the...... gasp! His eyes widened, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The samples were changing colour! Thank Merlin. |
After watching them get started for a moment, Noble had turned to write some notes on the blackboard. When he looked back, however, he scowled. "Bernadette Grantham," he said, raising his voice as he slammed the chalk down and strode towards her desk. She might think she was being clever and looking thoughtful, but Noble had seen what she was really up to. Teacher's instinct. "You do not, under any circumstances, eat in the potions classroom unless I give you the okay to do so. Who knows what touched that bench last lesson and could be on your hands? Five points from Gryffindor." A deep frown creased along his forehead. "I suggest you start doing the actual experiment, before I take more." Grumble grumble. Thankfully, the other first years were doing better. Claudine’s experiments seemed to be progressing well looking at the red and blue liquids in the test tubes on her desk, and Noble gave her a nod. “Try adding a little more sugar now,” he said, after the Benedict’s solution turned orange. Cecelia also seemed to be getting on okay, though there appeared to be a bit of a delay in the colour change of the Litmus solution. “Try swirling it around, to help mix it together,” Noble encouraged. “And perhaps adding an extra couple of drops of the Litmus solution.” The indicator solution wasn’t something they had to measure…not yet, anyway. Kaiser, on the other hand…well, what was he doing? Not what Noble had told him to, that was for sure. “If you actually opened your textbook to page 259,” Noble said as he came up behind the Slytherin. “You’d find that you’re meant to be adding the Litmus solution to the acids and alkalis…not the Benedict’s solution.” The Potions Professor flicked his wand, and the contents of Kaiser’s test tubes soon vanished. “Please try to concentrate on the task at hand.” Or he’d be staying late over break. That said, Noble re-holstered his wand, and continued moving around the classroom. He paused for a moment to observe Jillian testing her sugar solution. “Give it a gentle swirl,” he guided, “and then hold the test tube a little lower in the flame, where it’s hotter. We don’t need the water to boil, but the heat helps speed along the reaction.” Someone who was having no such problem with the colour change was Dalia. Her solution quickly turned a bright, Hufflepuff yellow. Rather fitting, honestly. “Nice work,” he replied with a nod. “Now add some more sugar, and see what happens.” He started to head back towards the front of the class, when he saw that expression on Lucas’ face. It was a good feeling to see the Gryffindor quite so captivated in his class. Potions might not be his thing…but perhaps science in general was. The pursuit of that ‘aha!’ moment. He didn’t want to distract the boy though, so he continued on to the front desk. “Both the Litmus solution and the Benedict’s solution you’ve been using are mundane indicators, and are commonly used by muggle scientists and wizarding potioneers alike. Whilst you’re finishing up trying them…what do you think might be some pros and cons of these tests? And what other things can you think of that might it be useful for an indicator potion to react to?” |
Bernie mention ^_^ It was at that moment that Claudine decided that Potions was her best subject. Really, all it entailed was focus and following Noble’s instructions. She was secretly pleased when the man encouraged her to try using some more sugar. This only cemented her opinion about the subject. If only Bernie would focus too… Claudine sighed. “Do you need some help?’’ she asked her friend then proceeded to add a teaspoon of sugar. The entire process brought about a deeper shade of orange. Wow. So that means the more levels of glucose there was, the deeper the colour. At least she thought as much. “You get almost instant results. That can be an advantage,’’ the first year volunteered, her hand up. Then it was lowered because she wasn’t bothered with the second question as much as she was with adding a tablespoon of sugar to the mix. |
Had nobody ever taught Noble it was a bad idea to come up behind someone like that? Was that a thing people were taught? Should Kaiser tell him right now? He... was probably not going to do that, but all the same. He had been aware of the professor approaching him, but the very nature of his Kaiser watched the contents of the test tubes vanish into thin air with an unaffected sort of expression, and clicked his fingers in an 'aha' kind of way when the professor was done talking. "Two-five-nine," he repeated distractedly, and quickly flipped to that page in his textbook before he forgot it again. "Concentrate, right." That last part came more as a muttered reminder to himself, as though he could speak it into existence. Starting again then, so Kaiser went to get the liquids he needed - taking his book with him this time as a reminder, and remembering at least to label things - and brought them back again. Using the textbook to help was all very well and good, and at least there were only a few short instructions at a time, but keeping his concentration felt like the mental equivalent of trying to hold a handful of water in his cupped hands. Working slowly, because he kept having to check back because his brain could only keep hold of one simple step at a time, Kaiser added some of the Litmus solution to the tube of lemon juice, and then to the baking soda. Giving each a gentle shake, he watched one turn a kind of pinkish, vague shade of red, and the other a pale blue. As he poured and idly watched colours change, Kaiser heard Noble pose another question to the class. He glanced up for just a moment, then looked back towards the equipment he had on his desk. At first he thought he might just sit back and not give any sort of answer, as he struggled to really wrap his head around it all. He definitely had nothing for the second question, that didn't change, but the first... well, it was a practical thing more than needing to understand the process. With one possible answer in mind, Kaiser kind of dipped his hand into the air briefly. "You have to use up some of what you are testing to do the test, and will not be able to put it to any other use. If you do not have much of it, or if every drop counts... then that is a disadvantage." Kaiser supposed that he should also do the thing with the sugar, but it did seem like a lot of effort for not that much of a result. Maybe it only seemed that way because all this 'sucrose' and 'fructose' stuff was of little interest to him. He was just here to brew the potions. Though he was sure the lesson would be moving along any second now, Kaiser went ahead and begrudgingly added water, sugar, and that other solution to a test tube and set about following the other set of instructions, which were also (mercifully) printed in his textbook. |
At least his answer had been accepted as good, Professor Noble hadn’t cast it away as repetition. It made Cole’s spirits lift just a little. What came after even brought a small smile to his face. He always liked doing something with his hands over just reading or listening to a lecture. He learned better that way and he took that after his father. Listening and watching closely to the demonstration of the activity Cole jotted down the steps to perform as prof Noble showed them. It looked easy enough which he was very glad for on this particular day. Opening his textbook to the mentioned page of 259 he quickly skimmed over the facts about the Litmus and Benedict solutions. Cole got the instinct feeling that’d be hard to not mix up the two, but he’d do his best and hopefully wouldn’t end up causing any trouble. When they got the signal to start he was among the first students to get the required test tubes and the brown bottle of Litmus solution. Back at his desk Cole set up the test tubes in Professor Noble’s order and poured a few or really 3 drops of litmus solution into each tube. Peering down at the liquids he saw no immediate change and started second guessing if he had seen and done wrong. Cole was about to signal for Professor Noble when the acid tubes of vinegar and lemon juice turned very red and the baking soda turned sea blue. Success! He was relieved and thought he was done, but then he remembered the second part and made a grimace behind his hands hoping the nobody saw him. Getting up from his seat Cole headed over to the professor’s desk to fill a test tube with whole teaspoon of sugar. He then proceeded to pour in 20ml of water and 5 drops of sucrose into the test tube. Going over to the burner he held the test tube over the flame and waited for a reaction. Cole stood and watched the sugar turned first orange and then red, but before he could do anything else he stumbled backwards, dropping his tube on the floor as he turned to Professor Noble confused. "Professor I think I seared my fingers a little...but it doesn't hurt." To Professor Noble’s question Cole answered even if his mind was on his pained fingers.."A pro could be that laboratories can get fast results on what ailment a patient in St Mungos is suffering from with the use of these solutions..." |
Now. Test 2. With a smile on his face, Lucas went to the front and started gathering some of the other ingredients for the second test. First was the water, 20ml of it, in fact, which he veeeeeeeeeery carefully measured out. Why did it have to be 20ml? He didn't know. He almost wanted to ask but, uh, Noble was making his way back to the front already. And he was a little scary but he would never say that. Next, the tongs, which were easier to pick up and keep hold of while he had a test tube of water in one hand. Sure, nothing would happen if he dropped the water - it was only water, after all - but smashing things, uh, didn't sound like a good idea. With that thought in mind, he walked back to his desk and placed the two objects down: the tongs on the desk and the test tube of water on the test tube rack. Before he knew it, the Gryffindor was back at the front of the class again, this time, gathering some sugar, some sucrase and however much of the Benedict's solution he thought might be necessary. It was only when he was heading back to his desk that he caught sight of something that made him furrow his eyebrows in confusion. But then his dormmate was talking about searing his fingers, which caused him to...... blink. He shuffled a little quicker back, only vaguely hearing Noble's question about pros and cons about the indicators. But his mind was entirely on the Gryffindor next to him so he turned to him and whispered, "Psst! Cole! Are you okay?" He said it didn't hurt, right? Right? This was fine? When it came to Noble's question, he glanced down at the dropper of Benedict's solution in his hand and frowned slightly. Well, he...... hadn't started this yet so he couldn't comment on it, right? But the Litmus solution..... the Litmus solution....... "Uh, Professor Noble?" he started, his hand going up in the air, "See, with the Litmus solution, it only tells you if the, uh, substance, I guess, is an acid or an alkali. It doesn't tell you what the substance is." Pause. "I mean, it works for this because we know that we have baking soda here and lemon juice there but if we had an unknown substance, it wouldn't....... really tell you much. So I guess...... it can't be the only test that you do. You can use it but you'd need..... other indicators to find out what the unknown substance is." If that's what they were looking for. Stop talking, Dakest. A little red in the face, Lucas slowly lowered his hand and tried to distract himself with the test, instead, the next step of which was lighting a flame on the bunsen burner. A flame. Just like a cauldron. This was fine. He added half a teaspoon of sugar into the water and, picking the test tube up, stirred it gently to, uh, get the sugar to dissolve. Was this important? He didn't really know. But Noble wouldn't have mentioned it if it wasn't important for the sugar to be dissolved, right? Right. Yeah. Okay. Nodding to himself, he moved to add in the Benedict's solution and, using the tongs, held the test tube close to the flame. Don't drop it don't drop it don't drop it. Holding the tongs and the test tube with his right hand, he used his left hand to add in the drops of sucrase. Five, was it? Five drops. One, two, three, four, five! Done. He watched, in anticipation, as the colour slowly started changing to yellow and then, slowly, becoming more and more orange. |
Gunnar turned to page 259 in his text book as he thought briefly about the indicator potions. At its basic, they seemed boring. But he wondered if they could be useful in what he was anticipating his post-Hogwarts studies to be, especially the Benedict's solution. He decided to try that one first. Gunnar set about adding a spoonful of sugar to a test tube of the instructed amount of water. And then the Benedict's solution before using a pair of tongs over a flame. He knew it wasn't going to change color, or at least it wasn't supposed to, so he wondered how long he was supposed to hold it there. After another moment in this exercise in futility, Gunnar added a few drops of the sucrase and watched it slowly turn yellow. Before he'd experiment with different amounts, he listened to his peers offer answers to the questions posed by Noble. Uh. He was sure there were specific applications and good reasons to use either indicator, even the generic ones offered by his classmates. As he thought about his own answer, he added more sugar to his test tube and watched as it turned from yellow to a bright orange. Interesting. The Slytherin prefect raised his hand. "With the Benedict's solution, it might be good for determining just how much sugar is in a potion or other solution, and would be useful for people or creatures that have to regulate the amount of sugar they are allowed." In fact, that could be very useful. |
Cecelia sat up just a BIT more when the professor addressed her, nodding eagerly in response to his suggestions. "Thanks Professor, I'll give that a try." She offered the man a slightly sheepish smile before adding just a BIT more Litmus solution to each of her test tubes and giving them a bit of a swirl to mix each more thoroughly. HEY! Hey, it WORKED! The blonde looked around triumphantly before smiling down at her work, pleased. This lesson was kind of fun! She was on to the sugar and Benedict’s solution now, testing different amounts and trying to be SO careful with the flame 'cause SHE didn't want to burn herself like Cole seemed to have done. Poor Cole. Some kids just couldn't catch a break. SPEAKING of breaks, it seemed she wouldn't be getting ANY because even as she worked, she had to think of MORE answers to NEW questions and WHEW, this was a lot of work. "Professor, I think a benefit would be you could do the tests easily out in the field? Like, well, if you had to test a substance at a crime scene or something!" Yes, she was STILL on that clues and crime solving kick, but it was ALL Noble's fault. |
Noble rotated the blackboard, ready to start summarising their answers to his question, when he heard the definite sound of a test tube smashing on the floor. It didn’t take long to spy Cole’s confusion, and Noble was already unholstering his wand as he headed towards the Gryffindor’s desk. Did he believe it didn’t hurt? Not at all. And even if it wasn’t, it wasn’t worth the risk of not treating it appropriately. Burns weren’t to be trifled with, as evidenced by the scars on Noble’s arm. “Hand under the cold tap. Now.” Noble’s tone was serious, as he cleared the mess of the test tube and its contents from the floor with a couple of flicks of his wand. “This is why we use tongs when heating test tubes in the flame. Your hand should have been nowhere near the heat.” Either the burner or the glass. “Keep running your hand under the water for at least five minutes.” That sorted, Noble returned to the front of class to continue. “A definite pro,” Noble nodded at Claudine. “Sometimes an indicator potion might need a short time to react, just like the Benedict’s solution needs heating, but on the whole, they’re designed to be instant.” It seemed like Kaiser was finally getting back on track, and though his brewing was still somewhat lagging behind the rest of class, his answer was a good one. “Correct. Whilst some tests can be used in tandem, that is, performed on the same sample at the same time, most need to be performed independently. If you don’t have much of what you’re testing, you need to carefully consider which tests to run so as not to waste precious material. A good answer.” Not such a good answer? Cole’s. And no, Noble didn’t excuse him from having burnt fingers. “Doubtful,” Noble replied. “By themselves, these solutions won’t generally diagnose an ailment quickly.” He would have explained, but someone beat him to it: Lucas. Noble’s lip curled upwards. He didn’t know what Lucas had had for breakfast that morning, but Noble was impressed. “And that is exactly why. Indicators help us identify features of the potion, rather than the potion itself. Conducting different tests…and using our senses like sight and smell like we spoke about earlier…they can all build up evidence to help us deduce what the potion is. Whilst, of course, staying cautious of how many tests we’re doing, as Kaiser said.” Noble twiddled the chalk between his fingers. “A well-reasoned answer, Lucas.” Gunnar responded next, and Noble tilted his head at the Slytherin Prefect. “Diabetes is what you’re thinking of, I assume?” It was probably the most well-known disease related to the regulation of sugar levels. “It’s a valid suggestion, though not particularly useful for any fine scale regulation. As I’m sure you’ve all probably noticed by now…Benedict’s solution changes from blue to yellow, orange and then red, depending on the concentration of glucose. It’s somewhat hard to quantify when orange is orange versus dark yellow or orangey red though… You’d want more accuracy for a medical condition.” And last but not least, Cecilia answered. And Noble got the sense that the young Gryffindor had been very inspired by forensics and case-solving. Fact was though, she was right. “Yes, these sorts of tests, because they’re so easy to do and don’t need much in the way of equipment, are very portable for use in the field.” *** “As I hope you’ve all seen by now, Litmus solution turns red in the presence of acids, and blue in the presence of alkalis. In neutral liquids, such as tap water, it’s green. And following on from Cecelia’s point, Litmus can also come in the form of testing papers, that you just dip into your sample….so very easy to carry.” And he’d already covered the outcomes from the Benedict’s solution, so it was time to move on to the next experiment. “I already mentioned that these are mundane indicators…so next we’ll move on to a magical one. The Kuznetsov indicator tests for basic toxins, turning from lime green to bright pink in the presence of toxins.” He moved to pick up the last remaining brown bottle on his desk. “By adding a known concentration of antidote to a sample of toxin and indicator one drop at a time, we can test how strong much antidote is required to neutralise the toxin. Simply put: the more antidote that is needed to change the colour, the stronger the toxin.” Which was the part they were doing today. Next lesson, they’d be doing the calculations to work out the exact concentration. “First of all, we’re going to show that the Kuznetsov indicator is indeed an indicator for toxins.” He reached for some berries on his desk. “These are baneberries, which you should know from herbology are poisonous. Mash them up with some water with your pestle and mortar, and use a pipette to transfer some of the liquid to a vial.” He demonstrated, mashing the berries before extracting a sample of the juice into a test tube. “If I now add three drops of Kuznetsov indicator and swirl it, the solution turns bright pink due to the baneberry toxin.” Again, he showed them as he spoke. “Then add 50 ml of general purpose antidote.” He carefully opened a clear bottle with a silvery looking solution inside, and used a clean pipette to add some to the test tube. “The solution then returns to lime green.” “Once you have seen the colour changes for yourself, retrieve a conical flask, burette and stand from the side bench.” The burette being the glass tube marked similarly to a ruler with a tap at one end. |
Taking the professor's words Jillian tried it out and had better results. The colors were more vibrant....? She did make notes beside the blank pages of her textbook. There are a lot of pros with this solution, Jillian mentioned that it is "simple and direct" which is a very good thing especially to students. Hence, why it is part of the curriculum. The cons for this solution is probably the same thing as its pros. It is simple. Some potions are quite complex and require more than just blue and red indicators. Jillian set the test tube aside for now and decided to note down the main parts of the lesson in a small parchment that she will be attaching it in her book later. Kuznetsov indicator... Kuzzy something... Again there were a lot of instructions involved. Professor Noble makes it look easy but Jillian is trying to keep her focus with it. Perhaps her brain is panicking at the amount of materials used for this experiment? Anyway, as long as her book is right next to her she will be fine. Okay... Focus. She mashed up a bunch of the baneberries in a mortar, adding a bit of water into the mix. When she's happy with the consistency, she took the pipette and transferred the liquid into the vial-- just like what the professor did. So far so good. She's getting back on track with the activity. Jillian looked at the vial and added the solution, 3 drops as instructed. Moving her hand in a soft circular motion, she watched the solution swirl until it turns pink. This one looks cute-- except for the fact that baneberries are quite toxic but the color is pretty. Are they allowed to keep this? Oh right... Next one. Scourgifying the pipette, she used it to transfer the silver colored thingy to some of the test tube... Professor Noble mentioned that the solution will turn into its original boring lime green color.... Hmmmm... She took a deep breath and added 50 ml of the solution into the mixture. Watching it carefully as the bright pink changed back into lime green. Nooooooo... the pink is gooooone. Now moving on to getting that flask and burette. |
Wow. The entire thing just turned bright orange. Caudine was impressed with the entire ‘experiment’. This was one of the best Potions lessons ever. She offered Noble another small smile when he further explained her answer then proceeded to make some more notes. She watched with careful attention at the next set of demonstrations. Forget about brewing potions, these were the kinds of things she loved. Though she supposed there was only so much of these experiments one could do for seven years of Hogwarts education as opposed to brewing potions. Then Claudine got started. In went the same amount of baneberries into the mortar. With the pestle, they were ground with the pestle. With the pipette, the Snakette gingerly sopped up some of the liquid then added it to a vial. Three drops of Kuznetsov indicator, a bit of a swirl and viola! A pink solution. The girl felt very proud of herself of having being able to follow the instructions so far. And so she continued. Using a fresh pipette, 50ml of the general purpose antidote was measured out. Instead of adding it all at once, Claudine decided to add it slowly to see the colour change. It was quite the fascinating thing to see the contents of the tube change from various shades of green the more antidote she added. It wasn’t until all 50ml was added that she achieved the required lime green colour. Now for the last bit: to retrieve the three items from the side bench. |
Adding more sugar and some more, Dalia watched as the solution turned bright orange then deep red. That was actually pretty cool. Moving on, everything she could think of as an answer to the professor's question had been said, so she kept silent. And then, toxins. And Kuznetsov indicator, which actually sounded pretty useful. Though, hopefully she would never need any. After watching the color change, she fetched the requested items from the side bench and returned to her station. |
So far, so good. No one had tried to poison themselves yet. As the first few started to collect their equipment from the side bench, Noble did likewise. Once he returned to the front, he started with the instructions for the next step. “To test the concentration of toxin, we’ll be doing a titration.” Hopefully some of them recognised the term. “First, we need to set up the burette.” He picked up the glass tube with volume markings on. “The tap goes at the bottom, and you’ll see it’s marked with millilitre measurements with 0 at the top, and 50 at the bottom. Carefully clamp the tube into the stand, tightening the grip gently so it has a good hold on the glass.” He did so with his own set up, before looking back to the students. “Now we need to fill the burette. Before doing anything, check the tap is closed. For these burettes, that means the hand being horizontal.” He turned the handle of his tap to show them. “Now, pour antidote into the top of the burette. It might be easier for you to put it on your chair, so you can see what you’re doing.” Noble was tall enough he didn’t need to. “You don’t need to go all the way to the top. To between the 30 and 40 ml mark should be fine…just make sure to write down where the meniscus is starting.” “When you’ve done that, get a conical flask, and add 50 millilitres of our sample of toxin from this bottle.” Noble retrieved a bottle marked with a skull symbol from the locked cupboard under his desk, measuring out 50ml into his conical flask before leaving the rest of the bottle for the students to come take from. “Add three drops of the Kuznetsov indicator and swirl gently to mix. It should be bright pink, from the toxin. Our aim is to add drops of antidote using the burette to work out how much is needed to cause the colour change and neutralise the toxin.” He added the indicator to his flask, and it soon turned a vivid pink colour. “We’re going to do this part twice. First, we’ll do a rough titre. This means we’ll add around one millilitre of antidote at a time, to get a rough idea of how much antidote we need. Open the tap, watch the meniscus until you’ve added 1ml, and then close the tap. Give the conical flask a swirl, and check the colour. Keep doing this until the colour changes.” He demonstrated, doing repeating this action until the colour turned to green. “So…I took 10ml to change colour. This means that next time, I can let the burette flow for 9ml, and then go drop by drop to accurately determine the amount of antidote needed. Does that make sense?” He looked around the class for a moment, giving them chance to process what he’d just said. It was a lot, he knew. “You can start with your rough titre now.” ooc note: Confused? This video might help. |
Claudine had just a few moments of idle time before Noble was moving them along again. Somehow, she got the feeling this would be complicated in terms of procedure and she tried to do her best by following along simultaneously with her professor. Burette in hand, she set the tap for the bottom so that zero was at the top. So far, this was easy. Carefully, she set about clamping the thing while hoping she had done it properly, and it won’t fall off later on. Horizontal handle on her burette? Yes. This meant that it was closed. Indeed this first year had to move things to her chair to see; she was so short. But once she had a better vision, she poured antidote in until it was at the number 33 mark. She wrote this down. Claudine collected the skull bottle then measured out the required 50ml into the flask. Three drops of the Kuznetsov indicator was added which made the solution turn bright pink. It was at that point that Claudine got hopelessly lost. The pride that she had been feeling earlier seemed to seep out of her, leaving her deflated. It was for this reason she was looking at Noble so dejectedly. |
catching up :3 The main difference between baking/cooking and potions lessons was that Professor Noble tended to use big words. Not necessarily the first part of the lesson, as she was well aware that glucose was just a fancy word for sugar. Taking some of the lemon juice in a test tube, Carsyn added a few drops of the litmus solution and watched as it turned red. Next up was the Benedict's solution, to which Carsyn carefully added some sugar and water and the solution to a test tube and swirled it around a bit before holding it with the tongs over the flame. An orange color ... which meant ... she added too much sugar?? From consulting the page on her textbook, it appeared so. Oh wait, she was supposed to test it before adding any sugar at all. Adding a little more water, she swirled it again and noted the orange color lightened somewhat. And added some more sugar and it got dark to an orange-red. So wait, wizarding potioneers used mundane tests? How interesting? She supposed one of the pros would be that the tests were quite accessible. Nothing rare or hard to find in terms of what one needed. Maybe testing how sweet a cake is? But what did that have to do with potions? And why would one need to use that? She would guess if time was of essence, these tests would be good as well, since they didn't seem to require much time in order for them to work. Ah so there was another indicator test, but a magical one they were learning. Taking some of the baneberries into her mortar and pestle, she carefully and methodically mashed them up with some water. Once resembling mashed potatoes, Carsyn pipetted some of the liquid into a vial and then added a few drops of the Kuznetsov indicator and swirled it around as she'd done before. Bright pink, as Noble had demonstrated. Now time to add some of the antidote, to which she took a clean pipette and used that to add some to her solution and watched as she swirled it around to a lime green. Time for the big words, such as titration. Her burette was closed and she carefully set it up and poured the antidote into the top of the burette until she had about 36 milliliters in there. Fifty milliliters of toxin sample in a flask, adding three drops of Kuznetsov indicator and swirl. Opening the burette tap, she let it flow about two milliliters and closed the tap, swirling the flask some to check the color change. Still pink. Add a few more milliliters. Pink. It had dropped down to read 20 milliliters and ... color change. Or well the color change probably happened before that because the green wasn't quite the lime green as before but a darker green this time. Could one go back if added too much? |
Claudine’s gaze, after a moment, shifted to other students. The advantage of Potions lessons was that everyone could almost always copy each other’s work. This worked for a disadvantage for if the other person was doing something wrong and you copied… After a moment of observing multiple of her classmates and their actions, she got to work, hoping that she was doing all the things right. The meniscus was opened slightly and meticulously, Claudine waited for the required 1ml to trickle out. It was then closed and the flask was given a quick swirl. The contents remained pretty much the same colour. And so, she repeated the actions: 1ml, swril; 1ml, swirl… until the colour started to change until it became the shade of green as Noble’s. Yes, indeed they were the same colour, Claudine decided as she compared hers and the professor’s, and it had taken her about 8ml from the meniscus. Now that she had actually completed the task, she had a better understanding of the entire activity. |
Sorry about the length! Lucas's eyes widened and his face flushed at Noble's response. Potions wasn't really his subject, even despite the links to science, but the idea that his answer was getting such a positive response was unheard of. It gave him a boost of confidence, yes, but it also made him feel like he was in the spotlight again. And then there was that internal screaming. A good internal screaming. An odd smile spread across his face as he tried to pay attention to whatever it was that Noble was talking about. Something about magical indicators? One that was harder to remember than the other two but he tried to make a note of it, anyways, with a note next to it that highlighted the part about toxins. When he was done, the Gryffindor got up from his seat and went to retrieve the ingredients: the berries - which he was NOT touching with his hands, no thank you - and some water. He would...... get the indicator later. Two hands, remember? And since one of the items he was holding was poisonous, he was trying to be even more careful. Returning to his seat, he tipped the berries into the mortar and added a bit of the water in as well. Did it matter how much? Was there a ratio they had to follow? He...... hoped not. Maybe it didn't matter as long as it was liquid? Looking up, he tried to look at what Jillian was doing, and then what some of the others were doing. Maybe this was fine? Oh no. Oh no oh no. Breathe, Dakest, breathe. Picking up the pestle, he started slowly mashing up the berries and water mix. But....... the consistency? Uh. It looked a lot like trampled baneberries than baneberries that had water in them. He added a bit more water to the mix and continued mashing up the, uh, mixture. Maybe this was the best way to do it to get the right consistency. Or maybe that was what he was telling himself. Yeah. Lucas didn't know how long had gone by but eventually, he had a mixture of berries and water that seemed liquid-y enough. He didn't know if it was right or not but he was going with it. Using a clean pipette, he squeezed up some of the liquid - how much? he didn't know - and deposited it into an empty vial. One he could place on his desk and not get mixed up with any of the others. Now he needed the indicator, right? Getting up from his seat, he moved to the front of the room to fill two clean pipettes up: one with the indicator and one with the antidote. Noble had said that they only needed three drops of the indicator so he didn't need too much in here, right? But no bubbles, either. And only 50ml of the antidote, which was a lot more than the indicator. He couldn't help but wonder if that made the baneberries very strong or...... not very strong. Could he ask? Or was that stupid? ........ Deciding against it, Lucas turned around and walked back to his seat. Okay, three drops of the indicator, right? Picking up the vial, he added one, two, three drops into the mixture and gave it a small swirl. He didn't know how long for - maybe until the colour changed? - but he kept swirling until the colour started turning into a bright pink shade. He placed the pipette with the indicator down and picked up the one with the antidote. The silvery solution was added to the vial, slower than normal because he didn't want to drop any. It seemed like this needed to be accurate and he didn't know what he would do if he had no idea how much was in the mixture. What if he had to do it again? What then?! And there was the fact that Noble would know, which...... yeah. Not a good idea. Luckily, he didn't need to worry about that because the solution was starting to change colour until it eventually landed on the lime green that Noble was talking about. Smiling, he placed the vial down and wasted no time in collecting up some of the other pieces of equipment: a conical flask, a burette and a stand. All from the side bench. And altogether, they were....... a lot. They made him feel smaller, for some reason. Reaching his desk, Lucas spent a long time setting up the equipment. The tap was at the bottom, which he was assuming was the blue part. It helped that the measurements were on there because he relied on them more. The 0 had to be at the top, which was...... confusing to what he was used to but he wasn't going to complain. It was probably like that for a very good reason. Clamping the tube to the stand took longer than he would’ve liked, probably because he was trying to make sure it wasn’t too tight but was tight enough so that the glass wouldn’t fall. It was enough to make his heart start racing again from nervousness but he tried his best to ignore it. He had an experiment to concentrate on and the last thing he wanted was for it to fall apart just because he was anxious. When he was, uh, satisfied - or as satisfied as he could be - Lucas moved onto the next step. The tap was turned to the horizontal position before he liiiiiiiifted the stand and placed it on his chair. He was tall, yeah, but not tall enough to fill the liquid in properly and accurately. And he was sure his anxiety wasn’t going to allow it. He gently poured the antidote into the burette to the....... uh, 30 mark? Yeah, he was going to play it safe. 30 seemed like a good number, right? He jotted that number down before taking his flask and moving to the front again. This time, for the toxin, the bottle of which had a skull on it? Uh?? As if the idea of a toxin itself wasn’t scary enough. He bit his lip as he started measuring out 50ml of the substance into his flask. Enough to see a colour change that was going to happen, it seemed. Walking back to his seat, the Gryffindor first placed the vial on his desk and then started liiiiiiiifting the stand until it was on the desk again. Merlin, this was a workout, wasn’t it? Physical activity really didn’t go down well with him unless he had to and this seemed like a had to situation. He placed the vial under the tap and added three drops of the indicator into the toxin. Maybe it really was a good thing he’d gotten more than he needed to. He gave the flask a quick swirl until- Pink. It was bright pink. Now came the, uh, slightly confusing part. Or the part that needed the MOST concentration. Lucas bent down slightly and slowly turned the tap. His heart was thumping wildly but his eyes were fixed on the stand and the measurement in front of him. When one millimetre was added, he closed the tap and gave the flask a swirl. The result? Nothing. So he added in another millimetre, closed the tap and swirled the flask. Again, nothing. This...... was taking long already. He didn’t know how long he was standing there but his legs were growing tired from being bent like this. And he had to pause to rub his eyes and blink several times. Eventually, the swirling led to the bright pink solution turning lime green, instead. Almost in a flash, at that. Huh. And, of course, he had questions that he was going to keep to himself. |
He’d seen that dejected look on Claudine’s face, yes he had. But soon enough the first year seemed to be back on track with things, and adding the antidote to neutralise the sample of toxin in her conical flask. It was good for her to learn the independence, and would stand her in good stead in years to come. Not that it meant students shouldn’t ask questions, whether it be for guidance or to further their understanding. Noble continued to watch the others in the room, eyes falling first on Lucas. He hoped that today would give the boy some confidence in his potions. Mastering the art of potioneering was far more than just brewing; there was many facets, and some were more focused on tools and understanding. Perhaps that might appeal to the Gryffindor more as he progressed through his OWL studies. He then spied Carsyn looking a little a little worried at the colour change in her conical flask. “Worried that you overdid it with the antidote?” Noble asked. “That’s why we did a rough titre first. Now you know the rough vicinity of how much antidote to add when you repeat the experiment. If you go get another sample of toxin and add the indicator…you can then add the amount of antidote up from the rough titre before the colour changed. Then you can go drop by drop for the next 10ml, swirling the flask after every drop, to get an accurate measurement. It might seem more wasteful to do it twice, but it actually saves a lot of time.” And gosh, was that the time? Noble clapped his hands together. “That’s it for today, folks. Please make sure you’ve written down how much antidote was required to neutralise the toxin in your rough titre, and then carefully put your burette set up over on the side bench. We’ll pick this up in tomorrow’s lesson, first by getting an accurate titre, and then looking at how to calculate the concentration of toxin. The latter being particularly important for healing applications.” ooc: That's a wrap for this lesson. Thank you all for coming, I appreciate you all very much! :glomp: |
catching up before leaving He wasn't specifically thinking of diabetes, though Gunnar supposed that would go along with his line of thinking. Health reasons. Nutritional reasons. But it sounded as if this indicator test was not accurate for that type of thing, according to Noble. So what was the point of it at all then?? Whatever. He didn't dwell on it much as they were ready to move on. This next, magical test actually seemed useful in detecting if a potion was actually poisonous. And Gunnar set about the task of mashing up baneberries before dropping in some of their liquid into a vial as well as the indicator. After observing the color change, he added the antidote to change it back, then looked up to the front of the class to hear the next set of instructions. More equipment, right. Gunnar retrieved the few items from the side bench, then tried to focus on the directions as they were... a lot. He should have been writing this down, maybe, but hopefully the steps were also in the textbook. And hopefully he had been paying enough attention to figure it out himself. Once Noble was done with the demonstration, the Slytherin prefect set about working on his own titration. He set up all of his equipment carefully, soon adding the antidote, toxin, and indicator, checking each against his textbook as he swirled the solution to check the color change. But before he could do much else, it seemed as though time was up. Huh. That went faster than he expected. He jotted down a few more things in his notes related to today's work before cleaning up and gathering his things to head out of class. |
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