Chemistry Major's Lab @ GC

everything you need for this course is on the course blog: http://chemistrylab.wordpress.com

Goal: to become proficient in common synthetic laboratory techniques

Goal: keep an organized and accurate record of your work in the form of a laboratory notebook

Goal: to demonstrate proficiency in writing informative, concise and professional quality analytical reports

• a hard-copy of all reports must be turned in by deadline UNLESS you have a late-pass and have made arrangements with your professor
• every report must be accompanied by a minimum of two peer reviews
• hard-copies of the completed form AND the report with comments are required
• every report must be submitted electronically to http://turnitin.com for plagiarism analysis
• reports without an originality score will NOT be graded

• Go to http://turnitin.com.
• Your username is your bobcats email
• Password instructions were sent to you by email.
• If you didn't get a message, use the retrieve password link and a new one will be sent to your email

advice for preparing high-quality reports

http://chemistrylab.wordpress.com/info/reports/

Your evaluation for this course will be based, primarily, on your written reports. The ability to effectively communicate scientific information is a paramount goal of the chemistry program and you should make significant progress towards this goal in this course. The reports you submit will be based on the Laboratory Report Guidelines and will be evaluated according to the Laboratory Report Rubric. You should read through both of these documents carefully each time you prepare a report as they are frequently updated.

These are common abbreviations you will find on your graded report. So if you see funny abbreviations on your report DON'T ignore them. Use this feedback to improve your next report.

These are available on the course blog and may be updated over the course of the term.

• W – wordy, revise to make more succinct
• AWK – awkward phrasing, revise
• UPR – unclear pronoun reference
• GR – grammatical error
• SF – sentence fragment
• WT – wrong tense
• SS – sentence sprawl (or run-on sentence)
• SP – spelling error
• C or UNC – unclear meaning, revise to clarify
• CAS/NPL – casual writing style, not professional language
• NTL – not technical language, revise using appropriate scientific or chemical terms
• NN – not necessary
• RED – redundant
• ORG – problem with structure/organization of paper, develop a clear structure and make it explicit
• T – transition unclear, use clear language to articulate the transition between ideas
• UNS or UN – unsubstantiated or unsupported statement; revise to include supporting evidence, citations, facts or examples
• rxn – reaction
• NS – new sentence
• RRA – requires reader assumption
• NFE – needs further explanation
• WS – wrong section
• FE – factual error

FALL

make it, write it,

characterize it, write it,

analyze it, write it

...and write it again

resources

Safety in the Lab

Watch & Learn

The Basics

ALWAYS

protect yourself with a barrier (long pants, long sleeves, safety glasses, close-toed shoes)

using a balance

NEVER

eat or drink in the lab

ALWAYS

review MSDS for chemicals - have this handy in your notebook

volumetric techniques

NEVER

work alone in the lab

ALWAYS

lab skills

dispose of chemicals safely according to MSDS recommendations

Watch & Learn

Reaction Work-up

titration

safety

WATCH

this video to review important safety precautions in the lab

filtration

READ & SIGN

the safety guidelines and contract

extracting, washing & drying

http://chemistry.gcsu.edu/~metzker/RubricsGuidelines/SafetyGuidelines.pdf

FAILURE

to adhere to safety policies will result in immediate expulsion from the laboratory and a failing grade in the class

-this is serious stuff!

recrystallization

Lab Notebook

Goal: keep an organized and accurate record of your work in the form of a laboratory notebook

BEFORE YOU COME TO LAB

prepare your notebook ...

DURING LAB

record careful observations as they occur ....

• numbered & dated pages
• title of experiment
• source for procedure and important references
• purpose & introduction
• list of equipment & chemicals
• including proper disposal & safety precautions!
• outline of the procedure
• with plenty of room for recording data and observations

the lab notebook

AFTER LAB

• changes/modifications to procedure
• ALWAYS provide a rationale
• observations
• color changes, appearance of crystals, formation of an emulsion, boiling temperatures, test results, etc.
• data
• recorded masses
• all numbers WITH units and uncertainty
• simple calculations
• spectra - staple directly to notebook, make separate copies for reports
• comments
• anything of importance that you want to remember later - it's better to have too much information!!

review your data and make sense of it ...

• numerical AND written analysis of your data & observations
• concentration calculations
• %yield
• spectral assignment
• identifying reason for a color change
• etc
• interpretation of your data & observations
• explain how each observation and piece of data supports (or doesn’t support) your conclusion
• assess the effectiveness of the procedures and any changes you would make to improve it.
• explain MAJOR errors - errors that contributed significantly in a predictable way to your results.

READ

the Lab Notebook Guidelines and Lab Notebook Rubric

http://chemistrylab.wordpress.com/info/notebooks/

EVALUATION

Notebooks will be evaluated using the Lab Notebook Rubric

Review your notebook and give yourself a score

Lab Reports

Goal: to demonstrate proficiency in writing informative, concise and professional quality analytical reports

write a professional scientific report that adheres to the Lab Report Guidelines

Remember

READ

the Lab Report Guidelines and Lab Report Rubric

http://chemistrylab.wordpress.com/info/reports/

EVALUATION

Reports will be evaluated using the Lab Report Rubric

Review your report and give yourself a score

the reports

- including guidelines for specific reports

logging in to turnitin.com

Put this in your calendar!

experiments

Week 3

Perform titration of the feedstock you chose. You will need to use this data to calculate the %FFA in your oil and the amount of base that will be required for your biodiesel synthesis. A very important part of your discussion will be to explain the “rule of thumb” mL of 0.1% NaOH (aq) to solid NaOH calculation used to calculate the amount of based used in your reaction.

Review the titration technique video

Your first report on your titration is due at the beginning of Week 4

Weeks 4-5

Read the Biodiesel Titration Guidelines on the blog

Use the procedure you developed to prepare your biodiesel. This includes washing, drying and any other purification you plan to perform

Review the technique videos

Your report on synthesis is due at the beginning of Week 6. (Titration is part of synthesis, so make sure you include it)

Read the Biodiesel Synthesis Guidelines on the blog

Weeks 1 & 2

Research chemical literature on biofuels and develop a procedure for the synthesis and purification of biodiesel. Your procedure MUST include the following:

• Removal of water from oil
• Titration of oil to determine appropriate amount of base and alcohol to use
• Your NaOH solution will need to be prepared and standardized with KHP – devise a procedure to achieve this.
• This step should include an explanation of the necessary calculations
• Procedure for carrying out the transesterification reaction
• Procedure for separation of the biodiesel from the glycerol by-product
• Procedure for washing the biodiesel to remove excess water, alcohol, base, soap and glycerol

Learn important lab techniques by watching videos

Weeks 6-7

Using procedures you developed characterize your biodiesel. You can use any techniques you like but you must include both an NMR and IR spectral analysis of the fuel and the feedstock (for comparison).

Read the Biodiesel Synthesis Guidelines on the blog

Watch the spectroscopic technique videos

all resources available at http://chemistrylab.wordpress.com/experiments/biodiesel-project/

NMR Spectroscopy

Your report on characterization is due at the beginning of Week 8. (It might be a good idea to include a condensed version of the synthesis in your report)

IR Spectroscopy

Read the Biodiesel Characterization Guidelines on the blog

Weeks 8-?

Develop a procedure (and execute it!) to analyze some aspect of the biodiesel fuel or synthesis. This should ask a question and use experimentation to provide insight into the question

Your analysis report is your final report and is due before Thanksgiving break.

?

What question will you ask?

http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/101/motm.do?momID=17

aspirin

SPRING