Laboratory for Principles of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry

 

Lab Coordinator:                   Dr. Jerome Shen                                               Office:                         SL 0333A

Office phone:              650-3555                                                         Home phone:

Office Hours:

 

 

Lab TA:                                                                                  Office:                                                            

 

 

Office phone:                                                              Home phone:                                                 

 

 

Office Hours:

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Course Description:  Chem 124A meets once per week for three hour laboratory sessions.  The experimental work in the lab tries to complement the lecture material presented in Chem 120a NU1.  The purpose of the lab is to show how the basic principles of chemistry can be experimentally verified as well as how they are applied to chemical analysis problems.  A knowledge of chemical laboratory techniques and procedures is extremely useful to a health care professional when dealing with clinical laboratory results

 

Text:  M. Matta, A. Wilbraham, and D. Staley,  Experiments for Introduction to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry,  D. C. Heath and Company, 1996.  Required; available in University Center Bookstore.

 

Safety Glasses:  Each student must purchase a pair of safety glasses at the University Center Bookstore.  This is the only acceptable type of safety glasses and they must be worn while you are in the lab. 

 

Attendance:  YOU ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND EACH SCHEDULED LAB SESSION. A lab can only be done during the period for which it is scheduled. Any absences from lab should be discussed with the lab coordinator.

 

Tutorial Assistance:  Help is available through the Tutoring Service in the Department of Chemistry and from your lab instructor.

GRADING

 

Pre-lab Preparation:  You are expected to read over all the laboratory materials for each session in advance.  You must be familiar with the procedure to be used if you expect to complete the work in the allotted time.  In addition, you must complete the Pre-laboratory Quiz questions and be prepared to show them to your lab instructor at the beginning of the lab period.  These will be counted as part of your laboratory grade.

 

Laboratory Reports:  Your laboratory grade will be based on your performance in the lab, including both the pre-lab quiz, the report results, the post-lab questions, and the in-lab quiz. Attention to detail in carrying out the procedure and in working out the results is highly important.  Your report should be reasonably neat and handed in at the end of the lab period.

 

Grading:  Each lab will be graded on the basis of 100 points. The point distribution will vary from week-to-week depending on the nature of the lab, but will fall within the following ranges:

 pre-lab quiz                                                                                         10 - 50 points

 lab performance, data collection and analysis                            10 - 50 points  

 post-lab questions                                                                                10 - 50 points

 in-class quiz (when applicable)                                                 10 - 30 points

                                                                                                            --------------

                                                                                    TOTAL                100 points

 

Your final grade will be determined on a straight percentage basis.  You must also check-out your lab kit the last week of the semester in order to receive a grade in the course.

Policy Statement:  Academic Misconduct by Students

Faculty members retain their traditional authority to take disciplinary action in the event of academic misconduct such as cheating, plagiarism, or classroom disruption.  In the event of academic misconduct, the instructor may request the Student Assessments and Standards Committee of The Department of Chemistry to impose on a student the sanction of a failing grade on an individual assignment or on a course as a whole.  The Chair of the department may recommend to the Dean of Students other sanctions such as dismissal from a major or from the University.

 

LABORATORY SCHEDULE

 

Week of                  Experiments

22 Aug                         Check in lab kit; Film, "Safety in the Lab"

                                    Safety discussion (pp. xi-xiii in Lab Manual)

                                    Expt 1, "Laboratory Techniques"

 

29 Aug                         Chemical Reactions and Balancing Equations

 

5 Sep                           CBL Lab,  "Boyle's Law" and "Pressure vs. Temperature"

 

12 Sep                         Expt 14, "Water" (Exp.. 14-1 will be demonstrated by the TA)

 

19 Sep                         Expt 18, "Acid, Bases and Salts"

Expt 19, "Salt Hydrolysis and Buffers"

 

26 Sep                         Expt 20, "Acid Base Titrations"

 

3 Oct                           Expt 22 Hydrocarbons: A Structural Study

Expt 23 The Physical and Chemical Properties of Hydrocarbons

 

10 Oct                         Expt 24  Halocarbons, Alcohols, and Ethers: A Structural Study

Expt 25 The Physical and Chemical Properties of Alcohols and Ethers

 

17 Oct                         Expt 27  The Physical and Chemical Properties of Aldehydes and Ketones

                                    Expt 28-1 thru 28-3  Carboxylic Acids, Esters, and Anhydrides

 

24 Oct                         Expt 28.4 and Expt 29.1  Esters, Amines and Amides(Revised Handout)

 

31 Oct                         Expt 31  The Physical and Chemical Properties of Carbohydrates

                                    Expt 32.1 thru 32.4  Triglycerides and Cholesterol

 

7 Nov                          Expt 33  Color Tests for Amino Acids and Proteins

                                    Expt 34  Protein Precipitation and Denaturation

 

14 Nov                                    Expt 35  Activation of a Zymogen

                                    Expt 36  Factors Affecting the Rates of Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions

 

21 Nov                                    Thanksgiving Holiday

 

28 Nov                                    The Components of DNA

                                    Handout:  Protein Synthesis--an Instructional Model

 

6 Dec                           Check-out*

 

 

*Your lab kit must be complete and all the glassware clean before it will be accepted by the stockroom personnel. You must check in your lab kit to receive a grade in the course.