CHEM 4022 Physical Chemistry Laboratory, Fall, 1999

Dr. Perona

General Instructions

Objectives of the Course

Four of the most obvious objectives of a physical chemistry laboratory course are:

(1) to allow students the chance to apply in practical laboratory experiments concepts previously presented (often in a rather abstract way) in the physical chemistry lecture course.

(2) to present new concepts in physical chemistry for which there is insufficient time in the lecture course.

(3) to familiarize students with instruments and techniques used to determine physical chemical quantities, and

(4) to give students confidence in their ability to measure, manipulate and evaluate quantitative physical chemical data.

Grading
Notebook 10%
Reports 90 %

Texts

Most of the experiments are taken from Physical Chemistry, by Sime. The rest of the experiments will be found in handouts furnished by the instructor, and in Experimental Physical Chemistry, by G. P. Matthews (On reserve in the Library) .

Computer Software

A molecular modeling computer program called Hyperchem will be used in some experiments. Instructions on its use will be provided as needed.

All data analysis and graphing must be performed using Mathcad.

The Experiments
1. Conductance of Electrolyte Solutions . Sime,  pp. 358-366
2.  Adsorption of Acetic Acid by a Solid.  Sime, pp. 528-532.  Include an estimate of the specific surface area of the adsorbent in your calculations.
3.  Spectrum of a Particle in a Box.  Sime, pp.687-693.  
4.  Vibration-Rotation Spectrum of a Diatomic Molecule, Sime, pp. 676-687.
5.   The Visible Spectrum of I2.  Sime, pp. 660-668.
6. Computerized Data Aquisition of a Second Order Reaction. Sime, pp. 628-635.  Click here for additional information
7. The Kinetics of the Reaction of Crystal Violet with NaOH.  The procedure will be provided by the instructor.
8. Do the experiment of your choice: either a, b or c, below.
a) Atomic Spectra, Matthews, pp. 193-205.
b) Flash Photolysis of 4-Anilino-4'-nitroazobenzene.  The procedure will be provided by the instructor.
c) A Study of an Oscillating Reaction.  The procedure will be provided by the instructor.

 

 

 

Laboratory Notebook

Each student is required to have a bound laboratory notebook, which will be periodically reviewed by me during the semester. The notebook must be turned in at the end of the semester.

Notebook Format

1) The pages will be numbered consecutively, and under no circumstances will pages be torn out.

2) Reserve the first few pages for a TABLE OF CONTENTS.

3) The first page of any experiment should contain the full title of the experiment, and your partner’s name. You can assign a number to each experiment as well.

4) All other pages in the notebook should contain in the upper right-hand corner, the experiment title or number, and the date on which the entries on that page were made.

5) All relevant information (data, comments, deviations from the procedure in the text), must be recorded directly in the notebook in ink.

6) Enter experimental data in TABLE form, and clearly indicate the units in which each quantity is expressed. Include the estimated possible error of each type of recorded measurement.

7) Further suggestions regarding the notebook can be found in Sime, pp. 68-70.

Reports

One report must be submitted for each of the eight experiments listed above. Most of your grade will be based on the reports

Due Dates

Reports will be due on the Friday of the week after the completion of the experiment. Reports submitted on time will be worth a maximum of 10, points. One extra point will be awarded reports submitted before the due date.

Format

Reports should be typed, well organized and concise. They should be submitted on 8.5x11" paper, well stapled together. Your name, the dates when the experiment was performed, the date of the report and the name of your partner should appear in the upper right-hand corner of the first page.

The report need not contain any repetition of the material in the text, but should contain all the information characterizing your individual experiment and the conclusions reached. A good discussion of report writing can be found in Chapter 8 of Sime. Your report should contain eight sections:

1. Title.

2. Introduction. State the purpose of the experiment, what you are measuring, and the techniques used.

3. Procedure. This should include a reference to the source from which the procedure was taken. It is not necessary to repeat the material in the text; however, any deviations from the procedure in the reference should be described.

4. Data. Present the experimental data in a clear manner. A photocopy of the relevant notebook pages will suffice.

    1. Sample Calculations This section should contain: One complete sample calculation of the physical quantity being sought. Use Mathcad for your calculations, and clearly define each symbol used.

6. Error Analysis - This section of your report should contain:

    1. The observed standard deviation of the final results and the 95% confidence limits, if appropriate. This number tells anyone reading the report how precise your results are, i.e.,how carefully you did the experiment and/or how reproducible your results are.
    2. Propagation of errors from raw data to experimental results. Use the estimated errors in the raw data to estimate the experimental error in your final results.

A complete error analysis, including parts a and b, above, will be required only for Experiments 4 and 7. In the remaining experiments, your error analysis will only be required to include part a). A good treatment of error analysis is given in Chapter 7 of Sime.

7. Conclusion Summarize your results, and if possible, compare them with literature values.

8. Bibliography. Include all references used.

Comments on Treatment of Experimental Data

You will be expected to show proper respect for significant figures in your reports.

Some useful suggestions on data presentation and graphing are found in Sime, pp. 160-165. Adherence to these will add clarity to your report.