CHEM-309L Fall 2014 1

Course Syllabus
Chemistry 309L A/B Physical Chemistry Lab I
Fall 2014

Instructor: Dr. Kyle Wagner Office: Pfahler 313B

Office Tel: 610-409-3353
E-mail: kwagner@ursinus.edu (Best way to communicate)

Office Hours: M, W, F 10:00-11:00 AM; T 11:00-12:00 AM; or by appointment

Labs:
Section A W 1:30-4:20 PM Lab: Pfahler 302 Pre-Lab: Pfahler 207
Section B F 1:30-4:20 PM Lab: Pfahler 302 Pre-Lab: Pfahler 208

Required Text: Experiments in Physical Chemistry; Garland, Nibler, Shoemaker, 8e,
ISBN: 978-0-07-282842-9

Other Required Materials:
Approved safety googles
A bound notebook
Scientific Calculator
Data analysis software (I recommend Igor Pro 6)
o Download a trial version at http://wavemetrics.com/support/demos.htm
o A window should pop up requesting an activation key the first time the program is run. If
not, go to help license. Enter the following activation information:
Serial Number: 52727
Activation Key: WAFR-ZSMR-YTTC-LECM-XL

Useful Resource:
The ACS Style Guide; 3e, Coghill, Garson, American Chemical Society, 2006.

Learning Objectives and Assessment:
1. Reinforce principles discussed in Physical Chemistry lecture in an experimental setting.
2. Gain hands-on experience in advanced laboratory techniques and problem solving.
3. Improve skills in data analysis and the assessment of experimental uncertainty and error propagation.
4. Improve students ability to prepare professional level scientific documents.

These skills will be assessed through student lab reports, lab notebooks, and a final examination.

Course Grade:
The course grade will be determined from four types of assessments: i.) six standard lab reports, ii.) two
full-scale lab reports, iii.) accurate recordkeeping in a notebook, and iv.) a final exam. The course grade
will be calculated by the following:
6 Standard Lab Reports (8% ea.) 48%
2 Full Lab Reports (12% ea.) 24%
Lab Notebooks (2% ea.) 16%
Final Exam 12%


CHEM-309L Fall 2014 2
Final letter grades, are determined based on the following scale:
A+ X 97 % B 83 % X > 87 % C- 70 % X > 73 %
A 93 % X > 97 % B- 80 % X > 83 % D+ 67 % X > 70 %
A- 90 % X > 93 % C+ 77 % X > 80 % D 63 % X > 67
B+ 87 % X > 90 % C 73 % X > 77 % D- 60 % X > 63 %
F X < 60 %
Attendance:
Lab attendance is mandatory. It is expected that students arrive to lab on time and prepared.
Arriving late to lab is an inconvenience to your partner, and you may also miss important
announcements. Students who arrive more than 5 minutes late to lab will automatically receive a 3%
point deduction off of their report. If you must miss a lab due to a documented reason (such as extreme
illness or other emergency), notify me and your lab partner as soon as you know that you will missthe
lab. Permission to make up a lab is at the discretion of the instructor. Students will be permitted to make
up one lab during the semester (on Oct. 15/17 or Dec. 3/5). You must make up the lab with your lab
partner. More than one missed experiment, will result in a zero for that lab.

Lab Reports:
Detailed formats for each type of lab report will be posted to Blackboard, but a brief description
is given below. Every report should include a grading cover sheet (posted on Blackboard).
Lab partners are expected to work together in class to collect data and do sample calculations,
but all final calculations, production of tables and figures, and writing of report text must be
completed individually. Students reusing text or figures (even from lab partners) will be
considered to be plagiarizing.
Lab Reports are due at 1:30 PM on the day of your lab section. Reports must be submitted
both in printed format (in class or by mailbox) and electronically by email. The time of email
submission is accepted as your submission time if the report is late. Failure to submit reports on time
will result in a 10% penalty per day that the report is late. Extensions will not be granted since
reports can be submitted via email. Since students have a week to prepare a lab report, illness is not an
excuse to request an extension unless long term illness or hospitalization occurs.
A copy of your lab notebooks pages should be included in the submission of your lab
report. Notebook pages should never be removed from the lab notebook.

Standard Reports: Standard reports will consist of a brief introduction (approximately 2 paragraphs)
describing the experiment, a results and discussion section, and a conclusion section that briefly
summarizes the results. Information about what to include in the results and discussion will be posted on
Blackboard for each lab. Standard reports are due at the beginning of the next lab period.

Full Reports: All students will write a full lab report for experiment II and experiment VI. Full reports
will contain an abstract, full introduction, experimental procedure, results and discussion, conclusions,
and references. Details about what to include in the report will be posted on Blackboard. One week after
completing experiment II or VI, bring a peer reviewed draft of your report to lab and I will provide
additional comments in lab. The final version of the full lab report is due 2 weeks after completion
of experiment II or VI.

If a lab report is due on a day when the College is closed, the report is due the following week.
All lab reports should properly cite any references and should have a references section.
All lab reports should contain sample calculations (on notebook pages) and should include
calculation of error propagation. Removal of any data should have statistical reasoning (e.g.
Q-test).

CHEM-309L Fall 2014 3
Lab Notebooks:
Lab notebooks are expected to be a mini version of your submitted report. NEVER TEAR
PAGES OUT OF YOUR LAB NOTEBOOK. Your lab notebook should include a table of contents at
the beginning of your notebook. All pages within the notebook should be numbered (number manually
if needed). The first page of every experiment should have a title, date, list lab partner(s), and reference
the source of the experiment. Upon arriving to lab, your notebook should contain an experiment
objective, list of valuable concepts and equations to be used, experimental procedure (you should be
able to complete the entire experiment only using the information in your lab notebook), safety concerns
and cleanup procedure. Before beginning experiments, every student must get their pre-lab notebook
pages approved and signed by the instructor. If you come to lab unprepared, you will need to make up
the lab with your partner during one of the above make up dates. Coming to lab unprepared more than
once during the semester will result in a score of a zero for all following labs.
During/after lab, your notebook should include all observations and data (if dataset is small
enough to be hand written), and all pertinent sample calculations. Tables and plots made on a computer
should be taped into the lab notebook. Attach a copy of all notebook pages as an appendix to all of
your lab reports for grading.

Final Exam:
The date and time of the final exam will be determined by the registrar. The final will consist of
several short-answer questions based on the experiments completed during the semester.

Laboratory Procedures and Guidelines:
Students must wear approved goggles while in the laboratory.
Wear appropriate lab attire (i.e. long pants, closed-toe shoes, no exposed midriff)
o Weigh fashion trends with safety keep in mind that you want to minimize exposed
areas of skin for chemical contact
Be aware of all closest eye wash stations, fire blankets, chemical showers, first-aid kits, and spill
kits
Be aware that it is hazardous to wear contact lenses in lab.
Dispose of all chemicals responsibly and as instructed.
All chemical containers, including beakers, flasks, etc. must be labeled with the containers
contents, date and students name.
Notify your instructor of all spills, equipment breakage and injuries immediately.
Students are expected to think ahead when performing an experiment. Be sure to warm-up
instruments, collect and clean glassware, etc. ahead of time to save time during the lab period.
It is your responsibility to save and maintain all electronic data files.
It is the students responsibility to clean the work areas and equipment after each use.

List of Experiments:
Experiment I: Heat Capacity Ratio of Gases Determine the C
v
and C
p
using the speed of
sound procedure: pg. 114
Experiment II: Heats of Combustion Determine H and E of the combustion of
Naphthalene by bomb calorimetry: pg. 152
Experiment III: Intrinsic Viscosity Calculate the molar mass of polyvinyl alcohol using a
viscometer: pg. 318
Experiment IV: Kinetics of Benzenediazonium Determine the activation energy of the
decomposition reaction of Benzendiazonium: pg. 283
Experiment V: Energetics of Respiration Measure the heat of reaction for aerobic and
anaerobic respiration using bomb calorimetry: Posted on Blackboard
Experiment VI: Iodine Reaction Rates Determine the reaction order by the initial rate method
CHEM-309L Fall 2014 4
for the conversion of iodate to iodide: pg. 254
Experiment VII: Oxygen Binding to Hemoglobin Calculate the cooperativity of oxygen
binding to hemoglobin: Posted on Blackboard
Experiment VIII: Glucose Biosensor Determine the concentration of a glucose sample using
a gold nanoparticle based biosensor: Posted on Blackboard

Lab Schedule:
Group A B C D E
Aug 27/29 Course Introduction, Safety, & Treatment of Bad Data
Sep. 3/5 Introduction to Igor, Report Format, & Error Propagation
Sep. 10/12 OFF I II III IV
Sep. 17/19 I II III IV OFF
Sep. 24/26 II III IV OFF I
Oct. 1/3 III IV OFF I II
Oct 8/10 IV OFF I II III
Oct. 15/17 No Experiments
Oct. 22/24 OFF V VI VII VIII
Oct. 29/31 V VI VII VIII OFF
Nov. 5/7 VI VII VIII OFF V
Nov. 12/14 VII VIII OFF V VI
Nov. 19/21 VIII OFF V VI VII
Nov. 26/28 No Lab - Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 3/5 No Labs Accepted after Dec. 8th
CHEM-309L Fall 2014 5

Academic Integrity:
Ursinus College is a small community, which functions on a social contract among students,
faculty, administration, and alumni. In order for the spirit of community to endure and thrive, this
agreement, based upon shared values and responsibilities and a sense of mutual respect, trust, and
cooperation, must be preserved. Students have an obligation to act ethically concerning academic matters
and the faculty has a responsibility to require academic honesty from students and to be vigilant in order to
discourage dishonesty.
Lying, cheating, stealing, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty violate this spirit of
mutual respect and collaboration and corrode the atmosphere of openness and free inquiry upon which the
educational process is based. Such activities are demeaning and potentially damaging to those who
undertake them. Moreover, academic dishonesty is damaging to the student body as a whole, in that it
cheapens the achievements of the honest majority of students and subverts the integrity and reputation of the
institution with which they will be identified for the rest of their lives.

Copying materials off of the internet without appropriate citation is considered plagiarism. Even
though it is expected that you work with your partner in lab, reports are considered to be an independent
activity. You may work with your partner or instructor to complete calculations and create figures, but the
final product is expected to be of each students creation. Copying a partners (or another students) material
is considered plagiarism. Any form of plagiarism in this course is a reportable offense to the College
and will lead to academic penalties.

Student Accommodations:
Ursinus College is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities.
Students with disabilities should contact Anne Aikens (aaikens@ursinus.edu) as soon as possible to
discuss academic accommodations and/or services. Anne Aikens is located in the Center for Academic
Support, lower level of Myrin Library.

STPQ:
During the last several weeks of the semester you will have the opportunity to fill out the STPQ, also known
as course evaluation. The evaluations are read by the Department Chair, Dean of the College, and myself.
Comments and suggestions on the survey are considered in future presentations of this course. Thank you in
advance for your participation in the STPQ.

IMPORTANT DATES:
Last day to drop/add is Sept. 5. Last day to withdraw from the class with a W is Oct. 24. If a student
drops a course, they must follow all College guidelines. Withdrawal from lecture also requires withdrawal
from the lab.