Semester: Fall, 2009

Professor: Carl Salter
Collier 228     Phone:   625-7920         email: csalter at chem .moravian .edu

Catalog Description: An introduction to the use of the computer in chemical experimentation and research, including the production of research-quality manuscripts that include scientific tables, figures, and chemical drawings.  The use statistical programs and experimental design will be covered. Real-time data acquisition hardware and software will be used by the students to gather data for analysis in spreadsheets. Students will be introduced to on-line searches of the chemical literature using Chemical Abstracts and the Science Citation Index. Fall. One 100 minute period each week. One-half unit credit. 

Attendance:  Because this class meets only one afternoon per week, attendance is critical.  One unexcused absence results in failure.  An excused absence gives the student the right to make up the missed material sometime during the remainder of the week at a time determined by the instructor.   For planned absences that result from participation in a college event such as sports, the student is expected to notify the instructor the week before to schedule a time to  make-up the work. 
You should always bring a USB drive and your writing journal to class.
 
Evaluation:  Your grade will be determined solely by the writing assignments of the course.   

Four lab reports                                                              40%
Writing journal                                                                 20%
Clipboard assignment                                                         5%  
Outline and Reaction paper to Asimov essay                    15%
"Forensics" letter                                                                5%
Three  “Dear Aunt Gladys” letters                                    15%
There is no Final Exam for this half-unit course.

It is within the instructor’s purview to apply qualitative judgment in determining grades for an assignment or for the course.
Students who wish to request accommodations in this class for a disability should contact Mr. Joe Kempfer, Assistant Director of Learning Services for Disability Support, 1307 Main Street (extension 1510). Accommodations cannot be provided until authorization is received from the office of Learning Services.

Tentative Schedule:

Week 1        Aug  31
                    Overview of laptops and computer programs:
                    Introduction to MSWord, PCModel, ChemDraw.  Moving charts and structures to documents.
                    Introduction to Excel. Graphs, including Lightbulb data. 
                    Clipboard assignment and Excel Functions.    
                    Receive writing assignments from Asimov's The Relativity of Wrong and letters from Aunt Gladys.


Week 2        Sept 7  (Labor Day)
  
Week 3        Sept 14
                    Excel Function reports (oral).  Read 1st Aunt Gladys letter (oral).
                    LINEST and Least Squares. Meter stick and mass experiments, experiment with "Density of Pennies"
                                    (add these graphs and LINEST output to the Clipboard assignment.)                    
                    Lab report: Analyze density of sugar solutions using Excel.  data spreadsheet
                    (lab report template)                   
                    "Gaussian Distribution" and "Errors in Measurements and their effect on Data Sets"
                  
Week 4        Sept 21
                    Turn in Clipboard Assignment
                     Gaussian Distribution Activity.
                    Working Problems Backwards: Circles, Relative Humidity, Organic Synthesis    water vapor data      
                           DUE Friday Sept 25 Sugar experiment, Clipboard assignment

Week 5         Sept 28
                    Introduction to spectroscopy: Beer's Law. 
                    Lab experiment: Copper sulfate experiment using Ocean Optics spectrometers.
                     Directions for Copper sulfate experiment.
                    (lab report template)                              


Week 6         Oct 5
                      Complete Copper sulfate experiment, analyze and identify unknowns.                             

Week 7         Oct 12  (Fall break)      
                             DUE Friday Oct 16 Copper experiment, outline of your Toulmin analysis of The Relativity of Wrong                    


Week 8         Oct 19       
                      Introduction to Chemical Abstracts using SciFinder Scholar.                    
 
Week 9          Oct 26
                       Class Discussion of The Relativity of Wrong based on Toulmin analysis.  Logical Induction.
                       Descriptive Statistics using Excel. 
                      Statistics: The t test.  The F test.                                                                         


Week 10        Nov 2                
                     Lab experiment: M&M experiment
                      Directions for M&M experiment.
                      (lab report template)                                                       


Week 11        Nov 9
                      Lab report: pH titration experiment. 
                      "Forensics" test on unknown salt. (Write letter to defense lawyers explaining results.)                 
                      Directions for titration experiment
                      (titration spreadsheet)
                      (lab report template)   Be sure one graph contains all three titration curves!         

Week 12        Nov 16
                      Complete titrations                        


Week 13        Nov 23   (Thanksgiving)  
                             DUE Tuesday Nov 24 M&M lab report. 

Week 14        Nov 30
                      Spectroscopy and kinetics experiment.  Fe(III) and thiosulfate. (Turn in spreadsheet.) 
                             DUE Friday Dec 4 Final draft of The Relativity of Wrong, and writing journal. 


Week 15        Dec 7
                      Read out loud and turn in Aunt Gladys letters.  Submit remaining Lab reports.


Lab Reports: You will write four lab reports based on the lab experiments you do during the course. An extensive list of online advice about lab report format, style, and content is available on my web site, which you should consult as you write your report. For each experiment you will be provided with lab report “template” files that will help guide you through the process of inserting the right information and ideas into your report.   The template follows the guidelines on the lab report sytle page.  Your conclusion section should always present a Toulmin analysis of your conclusions, making clear what is your claim, your warrant, and your data (or grounds).  Your statements about data should clearly refer to tables, graphs, or observations made earlier in the lab report.
You will not write a lab report for the kinetics experiment; however, this experiment must appear in your writing journal, and you must use the laboratory notebook style suggested by Beall & Trimbur.  

The Writing Journal: A bound notebook of the type used for laboratories can be used to submit your writing assignments from the Beall & Trimbur textbook, A Short Guide to Reading and Writing about Chemistry.  The assignments from the textbook should be completed in the notebook--you may write them by hand, but I must be able to read them!
Divide your bound notebook in two main parts.  Use the first two-thirds for your writing journal; use the last third as a lab notebook.  Your notebook should contain information on all the formal experiments that we do in lab:  Copper sulfate, pH titration, M&Ms, titrations, and the kinetics experiment.  Your notebook should include spreadsheet analysis of the data pasted into the book.

Here are the Assignments from the Short Guide to Writing:

Chapter 2: Scientific Responsibility  Page 32, writing assignment 1

Forensics Report: You're the employee of a private analytical chemistry laboratory, and you've been assigned to analyze a chemical recovered from the scene of a mysterious fire at Dr. Langhus's house.  The DA believes that the markings on the bottle are significant, and he wants them explained!  Prepare a professional report to Langhus's defense attorneys based on your analysis of the sample.   Present the evidence both scientifically and also in a form that is suitable for the use of the attorneys.  Be sure to explain the partial label on the bottle.  Your statement of conclusions should be organized using a Toulmin analysis.

Spreadsheet Requirements For Data from Experiments:  Related lab work or assignments should be in a single excel file (a "book", as EXCEL calls it), each separate problem should be on its own sheet, and each sheet should be named using the chapter and problem number; for example, "5-13" indicates problem 13 from chapter 5.  If a problem has several parts, all parts should be on one sheet proceeding DOWN the sheet (not across); keep similar quantities in the same COLUMNS.
Data from each experiment should be in one file, and each separate trial should be on a separate, labeled sheet. For example, all titrations from one experiment should be in one book, and data from each individual titration should be on a separate sheet.  Spreadsheets for every experiment MUST have a summary sheet containing the date the experiment was performed and the identity of your lab partner(s). The summary must have concise tables presenting the key data from all the experimental trials, and the summary should have a brief written discussion of the meaning and importance of the data.  The summary page should not contain numbers that are not mentioned in the discussion.