Experimental Chemical Basics: CHEM 1105

This laboratory manual is designed to be paired with the General Chemistry component of a GOB course which annually enrolls about 1000 mostly pre-nursing and agricultural science students at Texas Tech University. Each experiment has six distinct components: Introduction, About the Experiment, Pre-laboratory Questions, Procedure, Data/Analysis, and Post-Laboratory Questions. General and specific safety considerations are collectively enumerated just prior to the procedure and re-emphasized within the procedure where they apply.The topics begin with elementary experiments focusing on laboratory techniques, and observation, measurement, and data analysis skills, transition to discovery experiments where substances are identified by their physical and chemical properties, and culminate with expository experiments addressing buffer systems and redox chemistry. The Introduction section of each experiment explicitly connects the laboratory experience to lecture course concepts, and this connection is strengthened in the pre-laboratory questions. Of course, measurements obtained by novice experimentalists can muddle these connections, and this issue is addressed in the post-laboratory questions.