Investigating the optical properties of various chemical compounds using UV-vis spectrophotometers is an essential part of education in chemistry. However, commercial spectrophotometers are usually treated as "magic black boxes", where the dominant majority of optical elements are hidden "under the hood". This often limits…

Marble, formed by the metamorphism of limestone, is commonly used in the construction industry and sculpting. The mineral in marble is either calcite [CaCO[subscript 3]] or dolomite [CaMg(CO[subscript 3])[subscript 2]] or sometimes both. The pure white Carrara marble from Italy was made a household name by Michelangelo, the famous sculptor of the…

The ability of students to perform quantitative analysis is a fundamental aspect of analytical chemistry courses and laboratories. In this laboratory experiment, students quantitatively analyze both liquid and solid samples through the use of internal standard calibration and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. Using a problem-based approach to selecting their…