Students learn about experimental physical chemistry methods, perform experiments, and produce laboratory reports that accurately communicate their experimental findings. Course Structure Lecture sections held once a week describe theoretical and practical aspects of modern physical chemistry experimentation emphasizing spectroscopy, kinetics, and phase equilibria. Lectures also instruct students on the writing of clear, concise laboratory reports. The laboratory section meets twice weekly and provides time to perform the experiments along with hands-on instruction in experimental methods.
Students perform a total of five two-week laboratory experiments during the semester.
The first week of each experiment introduces new apparatus for making a basic physical measurement. In the second week, this newly learned technique is used to investigate the system as function of more complex variables. For instance, in the first week, we may investigate vapor pressure of a pure liquid as a function of temperature. The second week could then investigate vapor pressures over mixtures to understand their cooperative properties. At the end of the course, students develop their own final project.