CHEM1212 LAB SYLLABUS

1. Purpose: Practice in the application of basic chemical principles is an important part of the
course, and is carefully integrated with the lecture material. The laboratory is the place where
the abstract lecture topics come to life before your eyes! You should study and understand
each experiment before coming to the laboratory. See your lab instructor or the staff in Chem
Central before your lab if you have any questions. Feel free to consult reference materials in
Snell Library. If you prepare for lab, you will find your experience more informative and
enjoyable.

2. Check-list: The following is a check-list of the things you will need for the FIRST lab
meeting.

A. EYE PROTECTION - Government regulations require that all persons

present in laboratories must wear some sort of eye protection, whether or not the person is
him/herself working on an experiment. If you do not wear shatterproof prescription glasses,
you must purchase protective eye-wear at the University Bookstore before coming to the lab.

FAILURE TO WEAR APPROPRIATE EYE PROTECTION AT

ALL TIMES IN THE LABORATORY IS GROUNDS FOR
DISMISSAL FROM THIS COURSE.
Contact lenses may be worn in the laboratory. They are not recommended. However, you
must still wear some form of eye protection.

C. Laboratory Research Notebook - Get a copy at the Bookstore before your first lab
meeting. We recommend buying the 50 sheet NU Custom one from Pearson Education. This
notebook is the same one that is needed for Organic Chemistry (which all students
enrolled in CHEM1211 and CHEM1214 usually need to take.) This lab notebook should
have enough pages to be used in both General and Organic Chemistry. Don't throw it away at
the end of CHEM1211.

Before coming to the laboratory each week, you should include the following
information in your notebook:

i) Day of Week and Date

ii) The Experiment Title

During the lab, you should include all data and observations in your lab notebook. (You can
copy the information from your lab notebook onto the lab report sheet in the General
Chemistry Lab Separates at a later time.)
Turn in the carbon copy to your TA. Keep the original in your notebook for later reference
when completing your lab report.
 D. The General Chemistry Lab Manual (Kendall-Hunt) Get a copy at the NU
Bookstore before the second lab meeting. You will be performing the Boiling Point
Determination Experiment during the second lab meeting. Answer the preliminary
questions for this experiment before coming to lab, and each week, answer the Preliminary
Questions for the appropriate experiment. Prelab questions should be turned in to your lab
instructor before starting your experiment for the day.

3. Grading of Experiments: The basis is 100 points per experiment (90 points for your lab
report and 10 points for the preliminary questions). You will lose points if you have not
answered the Preliminary Questions before coming to the lab. Answers to the preliminary
questions will be accepted only on the day you perform the experiment. If you miss a
laboratory period, make arrangements with Professor Witten in the Chemistry stockroom to
schedule a make-up time. Missed labs will count as ZERO. If you know that you are going to
miss a lab in advance, make arrangements to do that week's lab in another lab section. Make-
ups are allowed only by making arrangements with Professor Witten (Room 234 HT or 204
HT). Chemical responsibility and safety will count for at least 10% of your lab grade.
Pre-Lab Questions 10 points
Report Sheet/Post Lab Questions, Write Up 50 points
Attendance 40 points

Your lab grade is worth between 15 and 20% of your course grade. You can lose points from
your lab grade for safety violations (some of which are: not wearing eye protection and
eating or drinking in the lab).

4. CHEMICAL RESPONSIBILITY

It is important for every student to have a basic understanding of the dangers and hazards
associated with thoughtless disposal of chemicals. We no longer live in an age of a "throw
away society". It is our duty to protect the environment by disposing of toxic and hazardous
chemicals properly. You will be clearly advised in each experiment, the dangers of each
chemical to be used during that day's experiment and the proper method for disposal. Some
chemicals may be perfectly safe to dispose of down the drain, while others will be placed in a
waste disposal bottle. Make sure you follow these instructions. If you are not sure of what
to do with your waste chemicals, check with your lab instructor and be sure they go
into the proper bottle, appropriately labelled. The hoods will often contain bottles for
several experiments. It is also possible, that your experiment may require more than one
waste bottle. Again, read the label and dispose of your chemical waste into the proper bottle.
Pre and Post-lab questions are likely to ask about chemical responsibility.

Two chemicals which need specific mention are mercury and acetone. The general
chemistry labs should have no mercury present. If you happen to have a mercury
thermometer, bring it to the stockroom to be replaced by an alcohol filled thermometer. A
mercury thermometer has a silver liquid in the bulb, an alcohol thermometer is filled with a
red colored liquid. No acetone or mercury should be poured into the drains in this
building. The small amount of acetone to be used in this course should be placed in its
appropriate waste container. The state of Massachusetts monitors the level of these chemicals
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 leaving the building and can determine if students are not complying with proper waste
procedures. If you are going to be taking organic chemistry in the future this warning
will be even more important in this course.

5. Lab Notebooks All data and observations should be entered into your lab notebook. The
data should be transferred to your report sheet pages to be included in your lab report. The
carbon copy from your Lab Notebook should be turned into your TA at the end of each lab
meeting. The original copy should remain in your Lab Notebook.

6. Lab Reports are due the week following the period in which the experiment was performed.
Late reports will be subject to a 10% late penalty. All calculations should also be included in
your report (they should be neat and legible). Lab reports for experiments that involve
unknowns may be graded on how close your experimental value is to the actual value and on
how reproducible your results are. Before disassembling your apparatus for the week, check
with your instructor to make sure you have carried out the required work and that you have
collected the data needed to prepare your lab report. If there is a problem with your data,
your instructor should inform you to perform additional measurements in order to ensure a
good grade. You will lose points on your lab reports if you do not follow the directions in the
experimental procedures. For example, the experimental procedure for the Boiling Point
Determination experiment tells you to perform two experimental determinations of your
boiling point and they should be within a certain temperature range of each other. If your
values are not within the specified range you will lose some credit. The format of the lab
report is as follows:

A. Introduction - This should be brief (one or two sentences) and should include the
objective of the week's experiment.

B. Chemical Responsibility - This section should include dangers and hazards

associated with that weeks lab and the proper disposal of all chemicals from that
weeks experiment.

C. Report sheet - with all pertinent information included.

D. Sample Calculations - These can be put on the Report Sheet or on separate piece of
paper, but it must be written neatly.

E. Discussion of Results A short discussion of results (about half a page). If any of

your results do not seem to make sense, include a brief discussion of the possible
errors.

F. Answers to post lab questions.

G. Conclusions - This should be brief (one or two sentences) and it should summarize
conclusions you have made about the experiment.

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 NOTE: Preliminary questions should be answered before coming to the lab. Failure to do so
will result in ten points lost from your lab grade for that experiment. Points also may be lost
from your lab grade for incorrect answers to the preliminary questions. If you are not sure if
your preliminary questions are correct check with the staff in Chem Central before coming to
lab. There is no penalty for getting the correct answers from them. You should not lose any
points on preliminary questions.

7. Your lab instructor will give a brief pre-lab talk each week. You will not be allowed to
start that day's experiment until the pre-lab talk is finished.

8. Chemicals: All chemicals should be handled with caution. If you get any chemical on yourself,
wash the affected area with plenty of soap and water. Disposable gloves are available in each
lab room.
Report all chemical spills to your lab instructor and the personnel in the stockroom.
Chemicals should be kept where they are found. You should take only what you need and
close and tightly cap the container. Clean-up any material spilled at once (check with your
instructor for proper clean-up instructions). Do not remove any chemicals from the
laboratory.

9. Clean up: You are responsible for cleaning up your work area after each lab. You should
wash your hands with soap and water after finishing your experiment each week. Hand soap
is available in the lab.

10. Clothing: You should wear clothes that cover the maximum amount of the body. Shorts
and sandals are not allowed to be worn in the lab.

11. Glassware: Clean all glassware before leaving the lab for the day.

12. Disposal: Dispose of all chemicals as outlined in the procedure section of each lab. GIVE A
HOOT, DON'T POLLUTE.
Dispose of chemicals into the proper waste bottle. There may be more than one waste bottle
for some experiments. Do not pour any chemicals down the drain unless instructed to do so
by your TA or listed in the procedure section of your lab.

13 Lab Cancellation Policy: In the event your lab section is canceled due to weather conditions,
you will perform the missed experiment the following week, and will continue with the
schedule in order as listed on the last page of this handout.

14. Attendance: Your lab notebook page will be used as proof of attendance.
Data Sheets: Each week the carbon copy of your lab notebook should be turned into your
TA. It should include data, any unknown code number (if applicable) and observations from
your experiments. Additionally the stockroom may take attendance. Turning in a lab report
for an experiment(s) not performed is not acceptable. If you are not physically present in lab
you will be given a zero for that experiment. If you miss a lab, and make it up in a different
section, make sure to get a lab make-up form from the stockroom and make sure somebody
from the stockroom signs or initials it.

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15. All experiment's should be performed individually unless otherwise noted.

16. Accidents: Report any accident to your lab instructor and to the stockroom.

17. MAKE-UPS: Make-ups are permitted only by making arrangements with Prof. Witten
(e.witten@neu.edu) or Jeff Peterson (je.peterson@neu.edu). You must also fill out a lab
make-up slip. Have the TA or stockroom personnel sign it and turn it in with your lab report
to your TA. This way your lab instructor will know that your report should not be considered
late or a report which was turned in but the experiment was not actually performed.

18. LAB SCHEDULE: Labs begin Monday September 11, 2017 and will follow the
schedule below and on the next page.

19. No lab reports will be accepted after Monday November 27, 2017.

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 CHEM1212 General Chemistry 1 Lab Fall 2017
Experiment MON TUE WED THUR FRI
Safety Lecture Sept 11 Sept 12 Sept 13 Sept 14 Sept 15
Check In
Boiling Point Determination Sept 18 Sept 19 Sept 20 Sept 21 Sept 22

Recrystallization Sept 25 Sept 26 Sept 27 Sept 28 Sept 29

Density (Part 1)
Melting Point Oct 2 Oct 3 Oct 4 Oct 5 Oct 6
Density (Part 2)
Atomic Emission Oct 16 Oct 10 Oct 11 Oct 12 Oct 13
Determination of an Empirical Formula Oct 16 Oct 17 Oct 18 Oct 19 Oct 20

Conservation of Mass Oct 23 Oct 24 Oct 25 Oct 26 Oct 27

Conservation of Mass (Finish) Oct 30 Oct 31 Nov 1 Nov 2 Nov 3

Electrolytes
Qualitative Inorganic Analysis Nov 16 Nov 7 Nov 8 Nov 9 Nov 10
Specific Heat
Heat of Reaction Nov 13 Nov 14 Nov 15 Nov 16 Nov 17