Department of Chemistry  

Syllabus | Lab Make-Up Form | Current Experiment | Grades | Messages

  PRINCIPLES OF CHEMISTRY LAB I

  SYLLABUS

CHEM 1211L    PRINCIPLES OF CHEMISTRY LAB I Fall 2007 (CRN: 8050)

Class hours:     W 2:00 pm - 4:50 pm, SCIENCE 205

Instructor:      Dr. Tzvetelin D. Iordanov

                        Office: Roney 314

                        Phone: 931-2333

                        E-mail:  tiordano@canes.gsw.edu

                        Web page: http://itc.gsw.edu/faculty/tiordano/

Office Hours:  MWF 10:00 - 11:50 am or you can make an appointment for other times. It is your responsibility to seek out help when you need it.

Course:            This laboratory experience correlates with the concepts that were covered in the lecture.  The course will introduce you to common chemical laboratory technique. You will work on real examples of experimental procedures and chemical reactions.  You will learn the relationship between observations and theory.                                  

Objectives:    At the end of this laboratory course, a student should be able to: demonstrate conceptual understanding of chemistry; properly execute common laboratory practices, such as lab safety, waste management and record keeping; plan and execute simple chemical experiments; present experimental data accurately in written form.

 Chemistry Lab Requirements: 

The GSW Chemistry Lab Requirements will be enforced during laboratory periods. You must provide your own: scientific calculator, pen, pencil, GSW CHEM 1211 lab manual.  

Attendance:   Attendance is required. Due to safety requirements, if you are late for lab briefing you will not be allowed to do the lab. If you miss a lab, you may ask if there is space available to make up that lab at another lab section during the same week. You may attend any other lab section with my permission and the permission of that section's instructor (see the Make-Up form below). If you cannot make up the lab, a missed lab will count as a zero unless you absence is classified as University-excused (see Excused Absences). As this is the case I will drop your lowest lab report grade.

Excused Absences:

a) Involved in an official university activity. A written statement verifying participation must be provided.
b) Due to illness or accident. A physician's written statement must be provided.

c) Other University-excused absences if documentation is provided.

Valid emergencies must be brought to the instructor's attention within two days.

Student Disability Statement:

                Any student with a disability that requires accommodations must contact the Students Support Services before the class begins and should notify the instructor within the first two weeks of the semester. Failure to do so will result in grade penalty or medical withdraw. The disability must be documented by the University approved institutions.

Grading:           Each lab experiment has pre-lab questions, lab data and calculation sheet, and post-lab-questions. The best eleven out of twelve completed and submitted lab reports count towards your course grade.

The following grading scale will be used:

Pre-Lab Questions:                  approximately 20%

Lab Reports:                             approximately 70%

                        Written summary:                      approximately 10%

                              The instructor may lower these cutoffs, but the course will not be curved.

Pre-Lab Assignment:

                       You are expected to attend prepared to start each experiment. Laboratory instructions are available in your lab manual. A pre-lab assignment covering each experiment is due at the beginning of each lab period or you will not be allowed to do that experiment. All entries must be in ink and not pencil. Alternatively a computer based pre-lab assignment will be completed before the lab or as directed by the instructor. The assignment must be turned in electronically at leas one day before the next lab.

Lab data and calculations:

                        The lab data and calculations section must be completed during the lab. All entries must be in ink and not pencil.

Post-Laboratory Questions:

                        This section can be completed outside the lab. All entries must be in ink and not pencil.  

Lab Reports:   Each lab report should consist of:

1)       Cover page that contains a title, author name and/or list of lab partners with whom the data was collected.

2)      Data and calculations page(s)

3)      Post-lab questions

                        Remember that all entries must be in ink and not pencil. The report is due the week following the experiment. Lab reports that are late will not be accepted.

Written summary:

                        Additional short (1-2 pages) typewritten lab report of the already finished lab exercise will be required to be turned in electronically to Turnitin.com 24 hours before the next lab session. A hard copy will also be submitted and is due the day of the next scheduled lab period. Make sure you take notes of all your data and results you may need from your data sheets to write the report. The first assignment can be written in class with the help of the instructor. The remaining assignments will be written on your own. As such, I should not receive reports from two students that are significantly similar in structure or style.  The format of the reports should be as follows

   Title:             Provide a short title that describes the experiments, simply and precisely and with the proper tone.

   Purpose:        Summarize the overall purpose of the experiment with a description of how this purpose will be achieved (1-3 sentences).

   Procedure:     Outline the major procedures you followed. The procedure should be written in a NARRATIVE manner in the PAST TENSE and in the PASSIVE VOICE. The description of the procedure should be CORRECT and CONCISE. Any relative chemical structures or reactions should be presented as well as any mathematical techniques utilized in the experiment. (1-2 paragraphs).

   Conclusions:   Summarize your results using the relevant DATA and provide a CONCLUSION of your work (1 paragraph).                           

                        Remember that all entries must be in ink and not pencil. The report is due the week following the experiment. Lab reports that are late will not be accepted.

Integrity:        All dishonest academic behavior will be prosecuted. (See the GSW Bulletin.) Cheating on an assignment will result in a grade of zero or possibly an F for the course. The labs may involve group work, but plagiarism is not acceptable. All work that you turn in must be your own work. It’s possible that this course will involve the use of plagiarism-prevention technology. You may, for example, be required to submit written assignments on-line through a plagiarism-prevention service or to allow me to submit copies of your writing to such a service. The written assignments may then be retained by the service for the sole purpose of checking for plagiarized content in future student submissions.

Tentative Laboratory Schedule:

  LAB MAKE-UP FORM

  CURRENT EXPERIMENT  

Determining the Molar Concentration of a Sodium Hydroxide Solution

  GRADES

  IMPORTANT MESSAGES 

The ACS Exam (multiple-choice questions) will be held on  WEDNESDAY, 11. 28. 2007 at  2:00 pm in Science 208