Winchcombe meteorite features in Chemistry seminar on isotopes

Upon answering a question about a meteorite being a heterogeneous mixture, we then went on to discuss how a meteorite that had fallen in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire in 2022 proved via isotopes (the next seminar topic) the origin of water on earth was the asteroid belt near Jupiter. How, I hear you ask? Simply by comparing the ratio of hydrogen isotopes present in the water, researchers found it they were similar to the composition of water on Earth. As it is considered that most water came to Earth via meteorites, this backs up this theory, it also adds to the theory of how the origins of life started within the oceans of our planet. The origins of life via chemistry, biology and astronomy all in one lesson!

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In the same lesson, we went on to discuss the clouds of “gas” we see rising from a kettle aren’t steam, but condensed water droplets, forming an aerosol. As steam is a colourless gas, we might be able to see some steam in the first few millimetres above the spout, but otherwise what we see is just the same as the condensate when we breathe out on a freezing cold day. All in a lesson on the states of matter in chemistry.

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Science is wonderful and chemistry lessons should be engaging, with interesting anecdotes to help tell the story. It shouldn’t always be books and formula, these are necessary, but without engagement in the subject material, we quickly lose interest and our students.