Question: What is your favourite experiment you done ever?

Jennifer Bates answered on 8 Nov 2016:

At school I really liked the reactivity of metals in water that our teacher showed us with lithium, sodium and potassium!

As an archaeologist scientist I get to try out lots of different things to find out how the past worked. I think the most fun we had was trying spear-throwing to see how easy it was, whether extra tools like an atlatl would help, and whether we could hit a target. Turns out, it is much harder than it looks! None of us hit the target (a stuffed-cuddly teddy). Made me really think about how difficult it might have been for Palaeolithic (Stone Age) hunters with moving targets, or how much practice I would need to get better at it.

Science experiment-wise: I loved working out what chemicals I needed to pour on soil to extract my microfossils. We had some really difficult samples and spent a lot of time trying different combinations of cleaning agents, and one (hydrogen peroxide on a carbonate rich soil) made a huge bubbly mess inside the fume-hood. Took ages to clear up but it was so cool to watch it happen.