SCHP-445:    

Chemical Thermodynamics Lab

Fall  06-1

 

         

Instructors:

Mr. Thomas Allston

Dr. Andreas Langner  (coordinator)

Phone:

(585) 475-6034

(585) 475-6660

Email:

tdasch@rit.edu

axlsch@rit.edu

Room:

08-A116

08-A157

Handouts

Schedule of Assignments

Assessment

 

 

                                                
Course Objective: Physical chemistry is the branch of the chemical sciences focused on the questions, "How does the observed phenomena conform or run counter to established physical theories or laws?" and "What outcome do these theories and laws predict for a given chemical process?" Before these questions can be answered, the experimentalist needs to have confidence in her/his data and results. This is the central objective of the course. The interpretation of results, in the context of scientific theories, and the subsequent prediction of experimental outcomes, are the foci of later courses in the sequence.

 

 

 

 

 

During this course you will:

  • Learn to take reliable measurements and analyze the data using physical chemistry models
  • Get hands-on knowledge with the thermodynamic energy functions
  • Gain experience representing chemical/phase equilibria using mathematical relations and phase diagrams

 

 

Course Outline: The course is divided into three sections, with one experiment per section. Since we are restricted by the availability of both instruments and laboratory space, different experiments will be run simultaneously. Each experiment will be conducted by a group of 2-3 students. The group, as a whole, will be evaluated on the quality of the experimental results. Each member of the group will be evaluated individually on their written assignments and on their preparation for, and participation in the lab.

 

The following schedule will be followed during the course. The first day of an experiment is the "make mistakes" day. Here you work out the bugs of an experiment. There is a lot to do during this lab period, so come prepared with a game plan. You will not finish if you are not prepared. If you have questions about the lab, feel free to see me between lab periods. During the last day of an experiment, you should use your refined technique and experimental setup to collect the data for which you will receive a grade.

 

Schedule of Experiments:

 

Week 

Dates

Activity 

Assign. Due 

Assign. Return

1 

9/5, 9/8

Error Analysis

 

 

2 

9/12, 9/15

Binary Mixture

Error analysis 

E.A. answer key

3 

9/19, 9/22

Binary Mixture 

Solubility Analysis 

Error analysis 

4 

9/26, 9/29

Experiment #2 

Binary Mixture 

 

5 

10/3, 10/6

Experiment #2 

Refined Procedure 

Binary Mixture 

6 

10/10, 10/13

Experiment #2 

Preliminary Analysis

 

7 

10/17, 10/20

Experiment #3 

Report #2

 

8 

10/24, 10/27

Experiment #3 

 Refined Procedure

Report #2

9 

10/31, 11/3

Experiment #3 

Preliminary Analysis

 

10 

11/7, 11/10

Clean-up 

Report #3 - Notebooks 

Notebooks 

 

Handouts:

 

 

Experiment

Data

 

Error Analysis

Water Density

 

Mutual Solubility of a Binary Mixture

 

 

             

 

Energy Functions (choose 1)

Heat of Combustion of Fuels

 

 

Enthalpy of Hydration of Salts

 

 

Thermodynamics of an Electrochemical Reaction

 

 

 

 

Equilibrium Relationships (choose 1)

Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium of Hydrocarbon Mixtures

 

 

Partition Equilibrium of a Dye

 

 

Critical Micelle Concentration for SDS

 

 

Course Assessment:
 

There will be four main areas used to assess your progress in the course: 1) lab notebook, 2) teamwork & technique, 3) written lab assignments, and 4) the quality of your results. These are briefly described below.

 

Lab Notebook: (10%) The group should maintain a common notebook that contains the contribution of everyone in the group. Each member of the group should receive a copy of the relevant notebook pages after each experiment is completed to enable them to write up their reports. You must obtain a bound (non-spiral) notebook.  Notebooks will be checked at the completion of each experiment and given a grade at the end of the course. Although the notebook only accounts for 10% of your assessment, it is one of the most important tools for an experimental scientist. The notebook acts as the “paper in progress”. The lab notebook must contain a “real –time” procedure of what you are doing in lab, including dates, times and observations of what is occurring in lab. During the course of an experiment each member of the group will be performing different tasks. Keeping a common notebook will help integrate your activities into a single record.

 

Teamwork & Technique: (15%) Given the number of students in the class, you will need to work in groups of 2-3. I will be assessing, by way of observations and questions, how well you are contributing to the group. I enjoy teaching lab, because it gives me a chance to work with you on a one-on-one basis. From our discussions, I can get a good picture of your level of participation in the lab.

 

Written Lab Assignments: (45 %) Each student in the course will be responsible for completing his/her own lab assignments. Assignments will vary in complexity from answering some questions to a full lab report. You will be guided as you progress from the former to the latter. Assignments will be due on a weekly basis. A schedule of due dates is given in the table below. Assignments must be handed in on the due date. Late assignments will be docked a point per weekday that it is late. Each report is worth 15 points, therefore a report that is a week late can only receive 10/15 points.

We’re in the information age; reports should be generated with word processing software. I realize that this requirement creates the possibility that I will receive multiple copies of the same report. However, reports must be written individually. Neither I, nor the Institute will tolerate plagiarism.

 

Experimental Results: (30%) The quality of the results from the group will be assessed. Both the precision and accuracy of the results will be assessed. Analyze your data and scrutinize your results before you sit down to write your lab report. You may need to repeat an experiment if the results don’t make sense.

Often you will be doing disparate parts of an experiment to achieve the final solution for your group. Consequently, it will be difficult to trace back the roots of some experimental errors. A group grade is the only fair way to deal with this situation. However, if your results are off as a consequence of working up the data, this will be reflected in your Written Report assessment.

 

  

The Lab Report (15 points each)

 

            The written lab report should contain the elements that are itemized below. (2 of 15 points are given for presentation & grammar.)

 

Title Page:  - include the title, the author’s name, the name of your lab partners, the date the work was done, and the date the report was submitted.

 

Abstract:  - include an introductory statement, a concise statement of the work that was done, significant numerical results with confidence limits, and a comparison to results found in the literature. Think about the abstract as an advertisement for your work. It should stand on its own, yet entice the reader to look further. (2 of 15 points).

 

Introduction & Theory:  Set the stage for your work. State the goal of the experiment. What is already known about the problem? Whatever you do, DO NOT copy this directly from the handouts, nor simply reference the handouts. Include the theory that is important for the interpretation of the your results. Clearly, thoroughly, yet concisely presenting the important background material is key to writing a good introduction. (2 of 15 points).

 

Experimental: - include information on reagents and chemicals, model numbers for major analytical equipment. In a separate paragraph give your procedure such that you could reproduce the experiment from it six months from now. (2 of 15 points).

 

Data & Results:  This section should proceed in a logical progression from raw data, through calculations toward final numerical results. This section should start with a brief description of what is being presented. Raw data should be displayed in tabular or graphical form, whatever is more appropriate. (Pages and pages of spreadsheet printout is not the best way to present raw data.) Each table and figure should have a caption describing what it contains. All equations used to convert data to results should be explicitly presented in the order they are used. All symbols must be defined. Include a sample calculation for each equation in an Appendix along with the appropriate error analysis for the result. (3 of 15 points).

 

Discussion:  Give your own critical analysis of how the results address the goal of the experiment. Relate the results to the theory section. Compare your results to available experimental data found in the scientific literature. If your results differ, is the difference significant? Discuss any assumption that were made in the analysis of the experimental data, and what limitations these assumptions place on the interpretation of the results. Present limitations arising from the precision of your results. Suggest plausible sources of error and whether these error sources would tend to lead to consistently high or low values. (3 of 15 points).

 

List of References: Use the ACS Style Guide

 

Appendix:  Sample Calculations with Associated Error Analyses.  (1 of 15 points).