Torgelow News

Junior Research Days at the University of Mainz

Schloss Torgelow: Boarding School & High School Torgelow News Junior Research Days at the University of Mainz

From May 25th to 27th, I, Benedict from the sixth grade, had the opportunity to participate in the very exciting Junior Researcher Days in Mainz, because I performed well in the first round of the International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO). In this text, I want to tell you about the schedule of that weekend and which was my favorite experiment.

On the first day, I met the other 19 junior researchers from all over Germany and explored the surroundings.
On Saturday we went to the cool lab at the University of Mainz. There we conducted great experiments on the topic of “colors,” for example, we chemically produced a blue wood tincture. We also experimented with substances that, when burned, produce different “flame colors.” On the afternoon of the second day, we visited the Gutenberg Museum and the Natural History Museum in Mainz. On the last day, we were in the lab and dyed our boring white T-shirts with the blue dye used for jeans (indigo). We tied off parts to leave them white (batik).

In the end, I think we did the best experiment. For this, we worked with dry ice. We dipped it in warm water and produced white steam. During this experiment, we also added some dish soap to the “dry ice solution,” so that not only steam but also bubbles emerged from the flasks. These days were a great change from the regular school routine.