Laboratory Manual for General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, 1st edition

This laboratory manual engages students in the process by which chemists investigate the world—the process of inquiry. Written to accompany General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, Second Edition by Frost & Deal, it can also accompany the lab portion of any one-semester GOB chemistry course. The majority of the experiments include a link to the health sciences, and illustrate concepts from more than one chapter of the text, utilizing basics from the areas of general, organic, or biological chemistry to develop concepts in one or more of the other areas. Using this integrated approach, students develop the skills to help them understand chemistry and to see its applications in their everyday lives.

• Safety is emphasized throughout.
• The first experiment helps students understand all safety precautions, especially those relevant to their laboratory. Students should complete this experiment before beginning any of the others.
• Students are encouraged to read the day’s experiment and take note of any safety precautions prior to each experiment.

Consistent experiment format:

• Learning Goals begin each lab to guide students into the concepts of the experiment.
• For some of the labs, the learning goals are re-framed and included in the end-of-lab questions.
• Instructors can use the learning goals as a guide in assessing students’ learning.
• The Before You Begin section of each lab guides students’ pre-lab reading and highlights the concepts they need to know before coming to the lab. For those students using the second edition of the text, the readings are tied directly to the sections of the text; otherwise, a corresponding list of concepts needed is included by the author prior to the lab.
• The Introduction section highlights the concepts that students will use and/or learn in the experiment. After reading this section, students should understand the context of the day’s experiment and have an idea of the concepts they will be investigating.
• Each Experiment section provides step-by-step instructions that are tied directly to the Report Sheet. Students will be guided on how to complete the appropriate sections of the report sheet as they move through the experimental procedure.
•  The Pre-Lab Questions are intended to check students’ understanding of the concepts relevant to the day’s experiment and to check their reading of the material included in the Before You Begin and Introduction sections of each lab.
• Students should complete the pre-lab questions prior to coming to the lab.
• Students can remove the pre-lab questions from the manual and hand them in prior to the lab without compromising the information they will need to complete the lab.
• Questions are designed to check students’ learning and to tie their day’s work to the initial question of the lab. After completing the experiment and its associated analysis of information, students should be able to give a plausible answer to the inquiry question that frames the lab.