Department of Chemistry                                    The City College of CUNY    

 

Syllabus for Chemistry 331, Spring 2008

 

Course Title: Chem 33100 Physical Chemistry Lab I      

 

Instructor:     Prof. Zhonghua Yu, Office MR-1114,

Tel: 650-8361.             Email: zyu@sci.ccny.cuny.edu

 

Course Description: Vapor pressures; phase diagram; combustion calorimetry; liquid viscosities; electrochemical determination of thermodynamic quantities, and other experiments based on topics covered in Chem. 33000.

 

Co-requisite: Chem 33000.                Prerequisite: Chem 24300.

 

Hours/Credits:          5 hours per week, 2 credits

 

Textbook:       No textbook is required. However, the following books are good references for this course.

 

1.     D.P. Shoemaker, C.W. Garland, and J.W. Nibler, Experiments in Physical Chemistry, 6th Ed. McGraw Hill. 1996.

2.     A.M. Halpern and G. C. McBane, Experimental Physical Chemistry, 3rd Ed. Freeman. 2006.

3.     H.W. Salzberg, J.I. Morrow, S.R. Cohen, and M.E. Green, Physical Chemistry Laboratory: Principles and Experiments. MacMillan. 1978.

 

Course objectives:

This course is intended to demonstrate the established principles of physical chemistry and provide experience with the kind of experimental measurements that can yield new results. The experiments in this course are developed to demonstrate principles including thermochemistry, phase equilibrium, electrochemistry, molecular spectroscopy, transport properties and chemical kinetics.

 

After completing this course, students should be able to:                               

  1. Understand the principle and performance of various temperature, pressure, voltage, and vacuum measurement instruments.
  2. Write laboratory reports, perform error propagation analysis, and properly report the final results.
  3. Apply thermodynamics to analyze the combustion reaction carried out at a constant volume for determining the standard enthalpy of the reaction.
  4. Describe the principles of the electrochemical cell, design an electro-chemical cell to experimentally measure the enthalpy and entropy change for a chemical reaction.
  5. Understand the principles and use of phase diagrams, and the experimental methods to collect data for constructing them.
  6. Understand principles and use of UV-Vis absorption spectrometer.
  7. Design experiments to determine the order of a reaction, its rate constant, and activation energy.
  8. Interpret molecular properties, such as absorption spectrum, from quantum chemistry.
  9. Work as part of a team in performing experiments.                                        
  10. Access and utilize chemical information technology for proper experimental design and interpretation.

 

Lecture:          Friday, 12:30-1:20pm, Room MR-417A

Lab:                Friday, 1:30-5:20pm, Room MR-1020

                       

Lab Assistant:           Ms. Cristina Veresmortean, MR-1019. Tel: 650-8384

 

Teaching Assistant:  Mr. Yu Zhao. Email: yzhao@ccny.cuny.edu

           

Office Hours: Thursday 2:30-4:00 pm or by appointments (Prof. Yu)

                         Monday 2:00-5:00 pm (Yu Zhao)

 

Experiments to be covered:

 

A: Error Analysis (1-week)

 

B: Thermochemistry

q      Oxygen Bomb Calorimetry (2-week)       

C: Phase Equilibrium

q      Vapor Pressure of a Pure Liquid (1-week)                      

q      Liquid-Vapor Phase Diagram of a Binary Mixture (2-week)

D: Electrochemistry

q      Temperature Dependence of EMF (1-week)

q      Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) of a Reversible System (2-week)

E: Transport Properties and Chemical Kinetics

q      Kinetics of H2O2 Decomposition (2-week)

q      Viscosity of Liquids (1-week)

F: Spectroscopy of Molecules

q      UV-Vis Absorption Spectra of Conjugated Dyes (1-week)

 

Lab & Report

      Before each lab you will probably need to spend 30 to 60 minutes preparing for each experiment. This entails reading the lab manual and handouts, and reviewing key background information so you have a good idea what you will be measuring.

      After you finish the experiments, your collected data will have to be checked by the TA before you leave. Lab reports are due one week after the scheduled lab day for the experiment. There is a 5-point penalty for each weekday that a report is late.

 

      Your lab report should include the following: 1) Title page; 2) Abstract; 3) Introduction, including summary of theory; 4) Experimental Procedure; 5) Data, Graphs, and Results with proper significant figures; 6) Discussion and Conclusion. Refer to the handout for more detail.

 

Grading

 

      Each lab report counts 100 points. The total score for 8 lab reports is 800 points. Your attendance and lab performance together count 200 points. Your final grade for this course is based on the total points as the following:

                        900-1000                     A

                        800-899                       B

                        < 800                           C

 

 

Academic integrity: The CCNY policy on academic integrity will be followed. Document is posted on the CCNY website (CUNY policy on academic integrity—link is at the bottom of the home page). Make sure you have read the details regarding plagiarism and cheating, in case you are not clear about the rules of the college. Cases where academic integrity is compromised will be prosecuted according to these rules.