General Chemistry I laboratory
Undergraduate · Chemistry
Syllabus focus
Topics typically covered
Standard syllabus
Lab orientation and chemical hygiene
- OSHA lab standard awareness and course safety contract
- PPE, SDS, and waste streams for gen-chem reagents
- Notebook standards: purpose, data, analysis, conclusion
- Significant figures from common teaching-lab instruments
- Academic integrity in shared data and reports
Measurement, calibration, and glassware
- Analytical balance technique and weighing by difference
- Volumetric flask, pipette, and buret practice
- Density determinations for solids and liquids
- Calibration checks and instrument limitations
- Graphing with units, uncertainty, and trendlines
Stoichiometry and reaction stoichiometry labs
- Synthesis with limiting-reactant determination
- Percent yield and sources of product loss
- Precipitation and gravimetric factors (intro)
- Titration stoichiometry for simple acid–base pairs
- Connecting mole maps to measured masses
Thermochemistry and calorimetry
- Coffee-cup calorimetry for solution and reaction heats
- Heat capacity and energy unit conversions in lab context
- Hess’s-law verification with linked experiments (as scheduled)
- Error analysis for heat loss to surroundings
- Relating q_lab to ΔH under constant-pressure assumptions
Atomic structure and spectroscopy (intro)
- Flame tests and line spectra observations
- Emission vs absorption language from lab evidence
- Beer’s law calibration with a colored solution
- Unknown concentration from a standard curve
- Discuss quantum ideas only as supported by observations
Bonding, geometry, and polarity labs
- Model kits / VSEPR geometry from formulas
- Solubility and miscibility as polarity evidence
- Chromatography of inks or dyes (IMF connections)
- Molecular polarity predictions vs solubility outcomes
- Formal lab write-up: claim–evidence–reasoning
STEM / applied
Applied measurement projects
- Water density vs temperature mini-project
- Commercial product assay (e.g. acid content) with titration
- Quality-control mindset: replicates and control samples
- Spreadsheet analysis of class data sets
- Oral or poster summary of one quantitative lab
Study units
Each unit includes a study guide, worksheets, review, practice test, and answer key. One unit is free; subscribe for the full class.
- Lab orientation and chemical hygiene
OSHA lab standard awareness and course safety contract
Coming soon - Measurement, calibration, and glassware
Analytical balance technique and weighing by difference
Coming soon - Stoichiometry and reaction stoichiometry labs
Synthesis with limiting-reactant determination
Coming soon - Thermochemistry and calorimetry
Coffee-cup calorimetry for solution and reaction heats
Coming soon - Atomic structure and spectroscopy (intro)
Flame tests and line spectra observations
Coming soon - Bonding, geometry, and polarity labs
Model kits / VSEPR geometry from formulas
Coming soon
Notes
Companion lab to General Chemistry I lecture. Skills emphasize measurement quality and stoichiometry; Gen Chem II lab continues with equilibrium, kinetics, and electrochemistry.