LBS 172L Principles of General Chemistry II Reactivity Laboratory Manual Spring 2005 Written by Dr Steven Spees Dr Holly Bevsek Edited by Dr Ryan Sweeder I INTRODUCTION Seeing is believing this simple clich is the reason why all good introductory chemistry courses have a laboratory component There is nothing no lecture no photo no simulation no homework problem that conveys the idea of acid reacts with carbonates as effectively as actually watching hydrochloric acid react with sodium carbonate Here in Lyman Briggs we consider the laboratory to be an essential part of your education in chemistry equal in status and well connected to the lecture Our hope is that you will find the laboratory interesting as well as useful for increasing your understanding of chemistry Helping you understand chemical principles is a very important purpose of the lab however an equally important function of this course is to give you experience with a variety of techniques These include safe lab practices keeping a laboratory notebook proper handling of chemicals performing dilutions and using spectroscopy the interaction of light with matter analytically It is expected that you are familiar and comfortable with all the concepts presented in LBS 171L Subsequent laboratory courses will assume you are proficient with all you encountered both last semester and this semester so it is important for you to learn these now A final purpose of LBS 172L is to help develop your communication skills which ranges all the way from how you work with a partner partners should share work equitably neither partner should have the burden of all the lab or writing work to writing clear concise descriptions of your work This last point is very important when one considers that the ability to write well greatly improves one s chances of getting a scholarship getting into a professional school and getting a job 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Overall through LBS 172L you will Demonstrate proficiency with some more advanced laboratory techniques such as preparing dilutions running titrations using spectrophotometry to analyze a solution s concentration and changes in concentration over time Develop safe proper laboratory working habits such as organization cleanliness and use of a laboratory notebook Record and present observations and other data in a scientifically acceptable fashion Present data analysis and discuss your results in a scientifically acceptable fashion Develop the ability to form hypotheses regarding chemical phenomena Design simple experiments to test these hypotheses Utilize chemical principles to analyze and evaluate these hypotheses Of course we as instructors have goals as well Our goal is to provide a safe collaborative supportive environment in which you and the rest of your class can achieve the above goals and get the most out of your Briggs chemistry experience We will also try to provide you some opportunities to ask and explore your own questions about the world around you Finally we think chemistry and the chemistry laboratory in particular is fun Who 2 doesn t like to see colored flames or solutions that change colors unexpectedly Although we can t promise that every minute of your laboratory experience will be greatly exciting we don t know anyone who enjoys washing glassware we do hope you will find LBS 172L enjoyable and useful II HOW THE LAB WORKS The laboratory periods are two hours and fifty minutes long This time should be sufficient time to collect data and record all observations necessary to perform the lab assignment Usually there will be time for you to perform any calculations or redo a part of the lab If you finish early you are strongly encouraged to start your calculations in the laboratory while the experiment is fresh in your mind and your learning assistant is nearby though clearly many people opt to flee the lab Each lab section will be supervised by one or two undergraduate learning assistants LA who will be responsible for assisting and evaluating the students in their sections Most of the LA s are junior or senior Briggs students with outstanding academic and personal qualifications their competence and enthusiasm for teaching makes them an invaluable learning resource for the Lyman Briggs learning community Each LA will have one office hour which will be held either in the laboratory or in W 40 The LA office hours and room numbers will be posted on the course web page http www msu edu course lbs 172l no later than the second week of class Feel free to seek help from any LA the graduate assistants Lei Feng fenglei msu edu Yiqian Lian ylian msu edu or Dr Sweeder Sweeder msu edu If you cannot meet with your LA during their regularly scheduled office hour contact them to make an appointment Remember though that your LA is a student like yourself and is also very busy please respect their time Role of the LA It is important that you realize the role of the LA They are not instructors in quite the manner that you may expect Their job is to do exactly what their title describes which is to assist your learning You are the one who is ultimately responsible for your own education You are expected to come into lab having read the instructions for the day and be prepared to work on the lab If you have questions about what you are supposed to do in lab you should seek out your LA the graduate TAs or your professor prior to your lab time Your LA will help you with answering questions about techniques and hopefully be able to provide you with tips and food for thought during the lab If you come in to the lab without having any idea about what to do in the lab the LA may ask you to leave the lab until you have read the instructions and have a sense of what to do One of the LAs tasks is to provide a safe working environment for the students and having someone who doesn t know what is going on is potentially one of the most dangerous things in lab Safety The chemistry lab contains many things which by themselves are not harmful but through carelessness or inattention can become very dangerous YOUR PRESENCE IN THE LABORATORY IMPLIES THAT YOU UNDERSTAND AND WILL FOLLOW THESE PRECAUTIONS 3 1 2 3 4 5 Come to lab appropriately dressed Clearly you will not want to wear your best clothes Shorts skirts and sandals are absolutely forbidden in the laboratory you may store a pair of sweats or running pants in your drawer to change into Long hair must be tied back Contact lenses are not to be worn in the laboratory