Lab report due tomorrow and my data makes no sense. Pray for me.

[Telusa]

Organic chemistry lab. Experiment on enzyme kinetics. Followed the procedure perfectly. Got my results. Started writing the report. And realized... my data is impossible. Literally impossible. Violates basic laws of chemistry impossible.

I checked my calculations. Checked them again. Had my roommate check. Same result. Impossible data.

Now it's 10 PM. Lab report due 9 AM. Do I fudge the numbers (no, obviously no). Do I write a report explaining that my data is impossible and hope my professor is understanding? Do I just admit I have no idea what happened?

This is my life now. Staring at impossible numbers at midnight, wondering if I'm cut out for med school.

Anyone else had experiments fail spectacularly? How do you write a lab report when the science didn't science?

 

[Walter]

"Violates basic laws of chemistry impossible" is sending me Like girl you didn't just get bad data, you broke CHEMISTRY. Respect.
But seriously, this happens. Write the report explaining your procedure, your results, and your troubleshooting attempts. If you can identify where it went wrong, great. If not, be honest about that too. "The data did not align with expected outcomes, suggesting uncontrolled variables or procedural error." That's science-speak for "I have no idea what happened but I'm being honest about it." You'll be fine.