Course Description
Analytical Chemistry Laboratory trains students in the application of quantitative chemical techniques to solve practical problems of analysis in a laboratory setting.
CHE 205 meets once per week, every week of the quarter, for four hours. During the first two meetings, students will complete training exercises that build skills in quantitative treatment of uncertainty, linear data modeling, and solution making. In weeks 3-10 of the quarter, students will perform experiments. Each student will complete each of the five experiments, according to rotating schedule set by the instructor. Some experiments are performed in small groups and some are completed individually. Some experiments take one class meeting to complete, while others require two meetings. Students will submit an analysis report for each experiment they complete, due at the beginning of class one week after the experiment is completed.
Learning outcomes
The competencies students should build during this course are listed here. Analysis report rubrics are designed to assess students’ mastery of these learning outcomes. Students who successfully complete this course will be trained to:
- Make quantitatively accurate solutions.
- Perform quantitatively accurate titrations to determine the chemical content of solutions.
- Keep clear, complete records of an experiment using a laboratory notebook.
- Determine and report quantitative uncertainty in an experimental result.
- Create clearly formatted data-workup spreadsheets.
- Model a data set using the linear least squares method.
- Create well formatted, easily readable figures to display quantitative information.
- Write a descriptive figure caption that completely and clearly explains the content of a figure.
- Create well organized data tables that clearly present the results of repeated measurements.
- Use Microsoft Office software to process data and report results.
Course schedule
| Meeting | Topics |
|---|---|
| 1 | Quantitative Uncertainty and Error Propagation (Harris 9th Ed., Ch. 3) Linear Data Modeling (Harris 9th Ed., Ch. 4-7) |
| 2 | Solution Making and Absorption Spectroscopy Tutorial Exercise |
| 3 | Experimental Cycle 1 |
| 4 | Experimental Cycle 1 |
| 5 | Experimental Cycle 2 |
| 6 | Experimental Cycle 2 |
| 7 | Experimental Cycle 3 |
| 8 | Experimental Cycle 3 |
| 9 | Experimental Cycle 4 |
| 10 | Experimental Cycle 4 |
Experiments
- Spectrophotometric Measurement of an Equilibrium Constant
- Iodimetric Titration of Vitamin C
- Fluorometric Determination of Quinine
- EDTA Titration of Ca2+ and Mg2+ in Chicago Tap Water
- Analysis of an Acid-Base Titration Curve: The Gran Plot