BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY (CHEM 360L)

Fall 2011

Experiments performed in this laboratory course are intended to complement the material presented in Biophysical Chemistry I, emphasizing equilibrium thermodynamics and kinetics.

The course grade will be a composite of report grades (80%) and laboratory technique. Attendance at all sessions is required. Laboratory reports for each experiment will be turned in the week after the experiment is completed. A penalty of one letter grade per week (or part thereof) will be assessed on late reports. No lab reports will be accepted after December 12.

The report must include an Introduction (a brief statement of experimental goals, in your own words), Experimental section (describing the methods used), Results section (data and calculations), and Discussion section (conclusions based on the results obtained).

One of the goals of this course is to introduce the student to the laboratory use of spreadsheet software. The departmental computers have a number of these (Excel is an example), as do many of the university PC's. If you are unfamiliar with these, seek help from the lab instructor or the course supervisor (Dr. Baumann). This syllabus and all lab handouts may be found on Dr. Baumann's home page (http://academic.scranton.edu/faculty/cab302).

Academic honesty:

The first time that a student is caught plagiarizing or using fabricated data in a report, he or she will receive a grade of zero points for that assignment. For further consequences of violating academic ethics please refer to the University of Scranton Academic Code of Honesty: http://matrix.scranton.edu/student_handbook/policy_academic_code_honesty.html .

Date of Experiment	EXPERIMENT	Report Due
August 29, September 1	Check in
September 8, 12	Molecular Weight Determination	September 15, 19
September 15, 19	Heat of Neutralization	September 22, 26
September 22, 26	Liquid‑Vapor Equilibrium	September 29, October 3
September 29, October 3	Freezing Point Diagram	October 6, 10
October 6, 10	Freezing Point Depression	October 20
October 20, 24	Buffer Solutions	October 27, 31
October 27, 31	Conductance of Solutions	November 3, 7
November 3, 7	Inversion of Sucrose	November 10, 14
November 10, 14	Hydrolysis of Ethyl Acetate	November 17, 21
November 17, 21	Viscosity of a High Polymer Solution	November 28

Format for Laboratory Reports

The laboratory report for an experiment in this course must minimally contain the following:

1. Introduction:

A brief statement of the purpose of the experiment and the theory behind the experimental procedure.

2. Experimental:

A description of the experimental procedure, referenced whenever possible to the textbook or accompanying materials. Deviations from the reference procedures should be noted in this section.

3. Results:

Data should be presented in tabular and/or graphical form in this section. The use of spreadsheet software (such as Excel) will make this section much easier to complete. Explanations of calculations, including sample calculations, should be included, as should statistical computations and sample spectra.

4. Discussion:

A brief analysis of the results of the experiment, sources of error, and suggestions for improvement of the procedure. Comparison of experimentally obtained quantities with literature values should be made whenever possible.

5. References:

A list of all sources used in the laboratory report.

6. Appendix:

Carbon copies of notebook pages, computer output, and spectra should be included in this section.