Chemistry 1061 Laboratory Project

Chemistry 1061 Laboratory Project

There are four weeks devoted to the chemistry laboratory project in the lab, utilizing the following timeline:

Pre-Week 1	Select groups, select topic (reserve your topic today), assign duties, begin planning experiment, prepare list of necessary chemicals and supplies
Week 1	Continue planning experiment, gather and prepare chemicals and equipment, begin experiment, collect and interpret data
Week 2	Collect and interpret data, perform calculations, make conclusions, make any modifications or additions needed
Week 3	Collect and interpret data, perform calculations, make conclusions, begin written report and prepare presentation
Week 4	First 30 minutes set aside to finalize presentations. Groups give presentations for remainder of lab period.

Additionally, the laboratory in S220 will be available for open laboratory hours during the other scheduled laboratory periods on a space-available basis throughout the week. Check out these additional times.

Safety and Disposal
You are expected to work in a safe manner at all times while in the laboratory. Goggles should be worn for all experiments unless otherwise directed by your professor. You may access the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and Chemical Waste Disposal Codes for your chemicals here. Additional questions regarding safety and disposal may be directed to your professor or the laboratory manager.

Conducting a Real Experiment
In this project you will be conducting a real experiment--one for which the outcome is hypothesized, but for which the outcome is unknown--in much the same way that scientists conduct experiments. In general, this process includes:

Making a statement of hypothesis/hypotheses.
Designing the experiment.
- Which variables will be studied?
- Which controls will be used?
- Is a blank run needed?
- Are multiple trials necessary? May conclusions be drawn from a single trial?
- Develop procedure.
Gathering data.
Interpreting data.
Making conclusion(s).
Reporting result(s).

Guidelines
You will work in student-selected groups of 2-4 students. Individual projects may be approved by the instructor if there is a compelling reason to do so. Even though you will be working in groups, each person will be accountable for ALL of the data, reports, spreadsheets, etc., in the event that a group member is unable to finish the course. It is recommended that each person save a copy on their own H: drive and that every file used by the group is saved each week. You may also save your data onto a USB flash drive. You are greatly encouraged to swap email addresses and/or phone numbers to facilitate the timely completion of the report. Backup copies of all word processing and spreadsheet files are highly recommended. (Emailing copies of documents to yourself and/or your partners is an effective way of accomplishing this.)

All written reports must be written with Microsoft Word. All spreadsheets must utilize Microsoft Excel. If presentation software is used (not required), it must be done with Microsoft Powerpoint. You may also consider developing a website for presentation using Microsoft FrontPage or other HTML/web publishing software (freeware available) or on one of the readily available social networks on the web.

Once you have formed your groups, select a topic from the list below. This is NOT a library research project, but rather a laboratory research project -- one that will require you to collect and analyze data. You will be expected to use the computer as a data collection tool (using Logger Pro) and/or a data analysis tool (using Excel). After selected a topic, you should try to develop a procedure. You will need to develop a list of equipment and chemicals that you will need. You will be required to prepare all solutions for your analyses. For example, if you determine that you will need 250 mL of 0.10 M Na₂SO₃, you will need to prepare it yourself using the solid and deionized water. Once you have prepared your list of equipment and chemicals, give it to the professor or laboratory manager so they may be obtained for you to use. You will be assigned a space to store any chemicals that you need to prepare. Equipment or chemicals that must be shared with other groups must be kept accessible for all groups and will need to be stored in an area designated by the instructor or laboratory manager.

Selection of Project Topic
The project topic is your choice, as long as it conforms to the guidelines set forth on this web page. You will need to present the topic for approval to your instructor. The goal is to answer a question to a problem posed by the group, not just to make a bunch of measurements. You may select a topic from a list provided by the professor, or select a topic of your own. Reserve your topic today.

Available Equipment
Here is a list of equipment available for your project on the Coon Rapids Campus.

Presentation
Each group will make their presentation during their assigned laboratory period during the week of November 30^th. In your presentation, you should include:

your research topic or question
an introduction to your experiment
a brief summary of your procedure (your formal written report will be more detailed)
include significant results
discussion of your findings
uncertainties in measurements (including possible sources of errors and/or suggestions for improvement...also, remember significant figures)
conclusion(s) based on your research
citations of sources used to complete your project (consider your resources carefully...experiments carried out by other freshman chemistry students are generally not considered a reliable source).

Your presentation must include visual aids of some sort. You may include paperboard charts, or ones that have been prepared with Excel or PowerPoint or on the Web (see Guidelines above). You may display spreadsheets or graphs on the instructor's computer (use large fonts) or on the document camera. You may also wish to consider preparing handouts to distribute to the students in the class. Digital photos may be inserted into a PowerPoint presentation or into any web pages that you prepare. Videos may be saved to an ordinary VHS videotape to be played on a VCR, burned onto a CD or DVD, or saved to a USB flash drive.

Here are the guidelines by which you will be evaluated. (Get the PDF version.)

Written Report
In addition to the presentation, you will be required to submit a Formal Laboratory Report (See Laboratory Reports). Note that the Formal Laboratory Report involves all of the components of the reports you have prepared to date. Only one report will be collected from your group. Once again, you are encouraged to swap email addresses and/or phone numbers to facilitate the sharing of information. If a group member disappears, the rest of the members will be accountable for all the work done to date. Use this checklist to ensure that all report components have been included as a part of your written report.

Evaluation
The entire project will be worth 40 points and the evaluation will be broken down as follows:

The presentation will account for 20 points and it will be evaluated by both the instructor and the students in the class. The instructor and student grades will be weighted 50/50. The written report will account for 20 points and will be evaluated by the instructor.

The group must prepare a pie chart that weights each individual's overall contribution to the project. The project score will then be adjusted to reflect each person's contribution. Interpretation: If you do less work than your peers in the group, you will get a lower grade. If you do half of the work of your peers, your grade will be significantly lower than the rest of the group.

Go here to submit your evaluation. (Handout to accompany the evaluation.)

Revised 04/22/11.
Š2000-2009, Anoka-Ramsey Community College Chemistry Department