JHS Regents Chemistry student, Annie Conroe, creates her “slime” mixture as part of a lab in class about amorphous solids.

JHS Regents Chemistry students recently had a little fun while also learning more about amorphous solids during a lab in Amy Siderits’ class. The students created “slime” as an example of an amorphous solid so that they could compare it to the more common crystalline solids.

Amorphous solids are one of the two general classes of solids, along with crystalline solids. “Amorphous” translates to “without a shape,” so these are solid materials that have no distinctive internal shape or structure. The class is studying the properties of the phases of matter, which include solids, liquids and gases. Students are learning how to distinguish between these phases based on the distinctive properties of each phase.

“The students enjoy making slime and it gives them a visual reference to the different properties of solids,” said Mrs. Siderits.

Regents Chemistry is a JHS elective science course, which fulfills the third science credit for graduation. College-bound students are encouraged to take Regents Chemistry, as it is the “traditional” third science that many colleges used to look for on student transcripts. JHS offer a variety of upper level electives in the Science

Department in order to create more opportunities for students with varied interests and career goals including: Environmental Science, AP Environmental Science, Physical Geology, Conceptual Physics, Regents Physics, AP Physics, Conceptual Chemistry, Regents Chemistry, AP Chemistry, AP Biology and Anatomy & Physiology.