Stony Brook University

Department of Chemistry
CHE 154
Molecular Sciences Laboratory I
Fall 2015
Course Description: Designed to familiarize students with chemical and physical properties of
substances, techniques of quantitative chemistry, and aspects of scientific methodology. Four
hours of lab per week. CHE 154 many not be taken for credit in addition to CHE 134. This
course has an associated fee. Please see www.stonybrook.edu/coursefees for more information.

Co-requisites: CHE 152

Credits: 2
Times: Monday: L 1115: 1:30 5:30 pm,
Tuesday: L 1721: 9:00 am 1:00 pm

Learning Objectives:
1. Demonstrate how to properly conduct a scientific experiment.
2. Demonstrate a proficiency with some of the basic experimental techniques of chemistry.
3. Demonstrate the ability to make measurements precisely, to record and analyze data with
error analysis.
4. Demonstrate the ability to interpret the results of an experiment by relating those results
to the theoretical concepts acquired in the chemistry lecture course.
5. Demonstrate the ability to communicate experimental results through oral presentations
and written lab reports.

Text and Materials: The majority of the lab experiments will be from a custom lab manual:
Guided Inquiry Experiments for General Chemistry (ISBN#9781119033479) available in the
Bookstore. The remaining lab experiments will be posted on Blackboard. Other required
materials, available in the Bookstore or the Seawolves Market in the SAC, are safety goggles
which meet legal requirements for splash protection, a padlock for your drawer, a towel, and
graph paper. Some students may also wish to wear protective gloves during some laboratory
operations; household dishwashing gloves are serviceable for this purpose. For some exercises,
you will be asked to bring in samples from home for study. You are urged to exercise your
creativity in bringing in interesting and appropriate samples.
1

Staff: Professors Jarrod French (Life Sciences 474) and Susan Oatis (Chemistry 535) are in
charge of CHE 154 during Fall 2015. In addition to the faculty, there will be Graduate Teaching
Assistants for each section, who will also hold office hours and help with grading. You are
expected to treat all staff members respectfully. Office hours will be posted on Blackboard under
Faculty Information early in the semester. If you need to meet at another time, please contact the
professors to schedule an appointment.

TAs: Xiaofei Liang, Brendan Lichtenthal, Waldemar Nieweglowski, Megan Scofield and
Chengbo Zhan

Student Responsibilities:
You have the responsibility:
of being prepared for the lab by performing all of the assigned reading in advance. Extra time
in the lab may not be possible, so you must arrive for lab knowing all of the steps that need
to be performed.
of doing assignments in a timely manner and attending labs.
of asking questions when something is not clear to you.
of working cooperatively with your classmates so that all may learn.
of knowing and complying with course and safety policies, including any announcements
made in class or on the course website.

Philosophy and Goals: Chemistry is the science of matter and its transformations. It is
sometimes called the central science, since it relates directly to all the other sciences and to
technology. We approach teaching this course on the presumption that students want to satisfy
their curiosity about the material world around them, as well as to earn good grades to build a
strong transcript that will support your future career goals.
No student should settle for passively absorbing an arbitrary syllabus; what you have learned will
not be retained unless you relate it to your everyday world. Much of our lab time will therefore
be spent on applying chemical principles to learn about substances from the real world and
methods of investigating such substances. The lab time will also be much more enjoyable if you
approach it as a challenge rather than as a burden.
Problem solving is the essence of learning and doing science in general and in chemistry in
particular. Some of the exercises in this laboratory course will help you to develop general
laboratory skills. These experiments will be presented with specific instructions. Following
these instructions and securing credible results should build your confidence in the reliability of
your work. Other laboratory exercises will be more open-ended and will require you, working
with one or two classmates, to devise and carry out your own procedures for answering
questions. These exercises will require written laboratory reports upon completion.

Class Meetings: Attendance is essential. A sign-in sheet, provided by your TA, will be
available at the beginning of every lab period. Necessary lab materials will not be available at
times outside the normal meeting times, and so there is no practical way to make up missing
laboratory work. Since make-up labs are not available, the lowest lab grade will be dropped.

Grades: The final grade for this course will be based upon laboratory results (precision and
accuracy), your interpretation of your results, written lab reports and oral presentations.
Most of the laboratory experiments include a pre-lab assignment. This may be a reading
assignment, watching a demonstration video or an internet search. At the beginning of lab, only
within the first ten minutes of lab, you will take a pre-lab quiz. (No cell phones will be allowed
during this time) No makeups will be given for not showing up on time to lab.

Course Info: A good deal of general information about the course staff, assignments, syllabus,
and policies is available on Blackboard. It is accessed via
http://blackboard.sunysb.edu/webapps/login . If you used Blackboard during a previous semester,
your login information (Username and Password) has not changed. If you have never used Stony
Brook's Blackboard system, your initial password is your SOLAR ID# and your username is the
same as your Stony Brook username, which is generally your first initial and the first 7 letters of
your last name.
For help or more information see:
http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/helpdesk/docs/blackboard/bbstudent.php. For problems logging in,
go to the helpdesk in the Main Library SINC Site or the Union SINC Site, or call: 631-632-9602
or e-mail: helpme@ic.sunysb.edu.

Disability Support Service (DSS) Statement: If you have a physical, psychological,

medical, or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability
Support Services (631) 632-6748 or http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/dss/. They will
determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and
documentation is confidential.
Students who require assistance during emergency evacuation are encouraged to discuss their
needs with their professors and Disability Support Services. For procedures and information go
to the following website: http://www.stonybrook.edu/ehs/fire/disabilities/asp.

Academic Integrity Statement: Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly
and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as
your own is always wrong. Faculty are required to report any suspected instance of academic
dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. For more comprehensive information on academic
integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary
website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/

Critical Incident Management: Stony Brook University expects students to respect the
rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of
Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the
safety of the learning environment, and/or inhibits students' ability to learn.

State University of New York at Stony Brook

Department of Chemistry
CHE 154
Molecular Science Laboratory I
Fall 2015
Meeting times: Labs: Monday 1:30 5:30 pm, Tuesday 9:00 am 1:00 pm, 2nd floor Chemistry
Date
Aug. 24
Aug. 31
Sept. 14
Sept. 21
Sept. 28
Oct. 5
Oct. 12
Oct. 19
Oct. 26
Oct. 30
Nov. 6
Nov. 13
Nov. 20
Nov. 27
Dec. 7

Exercise
Intro. Lecture, safety video, check in
Food Dyes Chromatography
Food Dyes Spectrophotometry
Food Dye Project
Equilibrium Factors
Acids/ Bases
Buffer Project
Kinetics
Powerpoint presentations
Thermochemistry
Electrochem 1
Electrochem 2
IR
Aspirin/Check out
Powerpoint presentations

Module(s)
SUSB001, 002, SUPL 001
SUSB009
SUSB037, SUPL-004, 005
RCK 001
Kerner: Expt 8 1
Handout
Handout
Kerner: Expt 12-1
Kerner: Expt 62
Kerner: Expt 111
Kerner: Expt 112
Handout
SUSB028
Handout

70 points
70 points
130 points, report
70 points
80 points, poster
130 points, report
80 points, poster
100 points
70 points
70 points
80 points, poster
70 points
120 points, report
100 points

For each lab, 5 points for wearing safety goggles at all times, 5 points for entering all data directly into your notebook, 10 for pre-lab
quiz. Reports and presentations are 100 points each. Lab data sheets (for labs with no reports or presentations) are 50 points each.
Prelabs for projects are 10 points each. Poster evaluations will be 10 points each.