Today our students were very lucky to have a visit from a real scientist!! Dr. Michelle Hennigan is a Chemist and is Technical Operations API Team Lead at AbbVie in County Sligo. She came to our school today and started off with a fun experiment in the Junior Room. The Junior Room experimented with cornstarch and its properties. When mixed with water, it looks like a liquid. When being poured and handled gently it acts like a liquid, but acts like a solid when a force is acting on it. We had such fun grabbing it and letting it ooze out of our hands. We also enjoyed hitting it and not getting stuck in it!
Michelle also spoke to us about being a scientist, what her job entails and how science is a part of our everyday lives. She reminded us that when we ask questions we are just like scientists, wondering, investigating, experimenting and reasoning.
Michelle then facilitated an experiment in the Senior Room. The experiment involved creating a coating for a tablet and then testing its durability. Michelle discussed the importance of coating tablets, the purpose of doing so and how it affects the release of important medicine into the human body through the digestive system. Designing the coating for a tablet involves science, technology, engineering and math to formulate the ingredients to make the coating, design it, test it and then produce it in bulk amounts.
Michelle then facilitated an experiment in the Senior Room. The experiment involved creating a coating for a tablet and then testing its durability. Michelle discussed the importance of coating tablets, the purpose of doing so and how it affects the release of important medicine into the human body through the digestive system. Designing the coating for a tablet involves science, technology, engineering and math to formulate the ingredients to make the coating, design it, test it and then produce it in bulk amounts.
Each group were given the same ingredients and objective of developing a pill coating that could withstand the churning actions and acidic environment of the stomach. Each team created wonderful coatings and experimented with how different ingredients affected the properties of their coating. They then coated their tablets (Murray mints). All teams tested their coating’s durability by dropping their tablets into a cup of 7up which was used to simulate stomach acid. We were all amazed with the results of each tablet and discussed the effects size, texture, taste and thickness of the coating have for patients taking the tablets as a source of medicine.
All at Cloonlyon thoroughly enjoyed having Michelle visit us today. We would like to thank her for a wonderful morning and hope to see her again soon for some more amazing experiments. Happy Science Week!
All at Cloonlyon thoroughly enjoyed having Michelle visit us today. We would like to thank her for a wonderful morning and hope to see her again soon for some more amazing experiments. Happy Science Week!
