By Irene Eva Thomas (26A01B) and Tok Kai Xue (26A01B)

Tucked in the corners of the RI campus lies a small yet fervent group of students, who actively and willfully pursue the delights of chemistry. Raffles’ Alchemy Club spends hours each week during CCA sessions experimenting with kitchen chemistry – such as boba pearls and chocolate spaghetti, or attempting to synthesise pharmaceutical compounds. 

Yet chemistry’s beauty and wonder may be far from apparent to those who do not seek it out in their own time. Slogging through hours upon hours of chemistry lectures and reading a bazillion pages of notes might not be the most appealing venture for many students. Achiral molecules, bond polarities, enthalpy changes – all an avalanche of information that seems to wrangle the throats of A-Level chemistry takers!  (At least, that’s what we think – both the writers of this article, unfortunately, do not take chemistry. We can only imagine.) 

However, taking a step away from the rigour of academic learning reveals a beauty in Chemistry that might not be apparent to most. Alchemy Club’s Chemistry Week offered a rare pause, inviting students of all backgrounds to reconnect with the subject in its most simple form, as well as forms a bit more advanced than the H2 curriculum.