Chemistry 222 - Syllabus
Professor Ralph Allen
One goal of this course is to provide you with a background in some aspects of modern analytical chemistry, especially those techniques which are of great importance to the study of biological chemistry. Since biological chemistry and analytical chemistry both require careful laboratory techniques as well as a good understanding of solution equilibria these will be stressed in this course, especially in the laboratory experiments.
Lectures and Problem Assignments
This course may be different than what you have come to expect from a chemistry course. My goal is to guide your experience and thinking so that you might develop a practical understanding of chemical equilibria. As the instructor I do not plan to just present you with new knowledge. Much of the material that we will cover has already been given to you in previous course work. I would like to encourage you to think about the chemical reactions that go on in the world around you and see how much you can control these reactions by having some understanding of the equilibria involved. I hope that you will be able to use your knowledge of chemical reactions in your future studies and work. In this course I will give you the opportunity and assistance for learning, but it will be your responsibility to do the actual learning. Not only will you have the assistance of the teaching assistants and the instructor, but you may choose three other members of the class to assist you. In this way I hope that you will also learn and practice the important social skills of teamwork.
There will be three ways in which I can monitor your involvement in this learning experience. I of course expect participation in discussion and this requires some thinking on your part. To insure that you do this I will rely upon peer pressure. You will be divided into work/study groups of four. Throughout the semester I will assign the groups projects and discussion topics. It is up to the group members to get together and make sure that everyone participates and learns. You will be graded as a group based upon the group's written presentations, oral presentations in class (and oral exams for the group), and your averages on measurements of unknowns in the lab. There will be a grade for the group and this will represent 50% of your individual grade. Since your grade will depend on others on your team, there is every reason to make sure that everyone in the group is serious about participation. Choose your group carefully and find regular times that you meet together and work on assignments. In oral exams and in other ways, I'll be able to identify people who are not working or understanding the material. The grade of the entire group can be lowered as a result on one individual, so it is up to the group to be sure that every member participates and learns the material. If a group member does not cooperate, the other members should inform me. If that person proves unwilling to work, they will be forced to become a group of one. This should not be necessary and I hope everyone will learn how to participate on a team, as in the real world this will almost surely be a skill you will need.
There will also be grading based upon your individual growth. Twenty-five per cent of your grade will be based upon problem sets. The problems will be assigned and graded. Points lost by missing a problem, or turning it in late, can be made up by reworking the original problem plus a similar problem. All homework must be done independently and pledged (however, your work with the group will certainly help you understand the problems). The problems which you work as a group often involve a continuation of the thinking required for the individual problems. Hence when you join together as a group you should each come prepared by your individual efforts. The problems are not the type where you simply find a model (example) problem and plug in different numbers. They require thinking and if you have problems, the assistants and I can provide guidance but we will not do the problem for you!
Finally, you will receive 25% of your grade based upon your individual performance on most of the laboratory experiments. You will also receive a lab grade as part of your group. For the most part your lab grade will be based upon your care and ability to make accurate and precise measurements. This will require preparation prior to the lab period (i.e. read and understand the instructions), and careful work during the lab period. Trying to cook book these labs will surely lead to a poor performance. While some of you may already have developed careful lab techniques one purpose of this course will be to improve everyone's lab techniques and skills. You are encouraged to repeat any experiments in which you obtain poor results (in some cases you will be required to repeat them). There is enough flexibility in the lab schedule that you may be able to repeat experiments without coming in during other lab periods (in fact you will need to obtain my permission to attend lab sessions other than your own).
The following list of experiments gives you the order that you will be working on each, but often you will be working on more than one at a time. For the experiments you need only submit your results, but your data and calculations should be recorded carefully and clearly in your lab notebook (not on scraps of paper or on the back of handouts). Often people have found that their results were not in error but their calculations were. As a group you will compare your results for the chloride determination, make statistical tests, and present a group average to be graded.
Laboratory Experiments