The laboratory experiment, which acts as a capstone, integrated lecture-laboratory exercise involving solution preparation, pH buffers, [E[subscript]H] (reduction potential) buffers, organic reaction mechanisms, reaction kinetics, and instrumental analysis is presented. The students completing the lecture and laboratory exercises could gain a…

A pair of fine tweezers and a steady hand may well be enough to pick up a grain of sand, but what would you use to hold something hundreds of times smaller still, the size of only one micron? The answer is to use a device that is not mechanical in nature but that relies instead on the tiny forces that light exerts on small particles: "optical…

An experimental work on controller tuning for chemical engineering undergraduate students is proposed using a small heat exchange unit. Based upon process reaction curves in open-loop configuration, system gain and time constant are determined for first order model with time delay with excellent accuracy. Afterwards students calculate PID…

This lab experiment illustrates the use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) in the measurement of polymer properties. A total of seven exercises are described. These are dry exercises: students interpret previously recorded scans. They do not perform the experiments. DSC was used to determine the…

An experiment for the undergraduate quantitative analysis laboratory involving applications of visible spectrophotometry is described. Salicylate, a component found in several medications, as well as the active by-product of aspirin decomposition, is quantified. The addition of excess iron(III) to a solution of salicylate generates a deeply…

Today's general chemistry students are introduced to many of the principles and concepts of thermodynamics. In first-year general chemistry undergraduate courses, thermodynamic properties such as heat capacity are frequently discussed. Classical calorimetric methods of analysis and thermal equilibrium experiments are used to determine heat…

This article describes the rapid, green synthesis of a biaryl compound (4-phenylphenol) via a Pd(0)-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction in water. Mild reaction conditions and operational simplicity makes this experiment especially amenable to both mid- and upper-level undergraduates. The methodology exposes students to purely aqueous…

This laboratory project is one component of a semester-long advanced biochemistry laboratory course that uses several complementary techniques to study tRNA[superscript Phe] conformational changes induced by ligand binding. In this article we describe a set of experiments in which the thermal unfolding of tRNA[superscript Phe] is studied with…

Within the framework of a laboratory-focused, guided-inquiry pedagogy, students discover the Nernst equation, the spontaneity of galvanic cells, concentration cells, and the use of electrochemical data to calculate equilibrium constants. The laboratory experiment we describe here is a continuation of curriculum reform and pedagogical innovation at…

Protein folding is an exploding area of research in biophysics and physical chemistry. Here, we describe the integration of several techniques, including absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements, to probe important topics in protein folding. Cytochrome c is used as a model…

It is shown how the same physically appealing method can be applied to find analytic solutions for two difficult and apparently unrelated problems in optics and electrostatics. They are: (i) the diffraction of a plane wave at a perfectly conducting thin half-plane and (ii) the electrostatic field associated with a parallel array of stripes held at…

Remote and virtual laboratory classes are an increasingly prevalent alternative to traditional hands-on laboratory experiences. One of the key issues with these modes of access is the provision of adequate audiovisual (AV) feedback to the user, which can be a complicated and resource-intensive challenge. This paper reports on a comparison of two…

Expression proteomics has become, in recent years, a key genome-wide expression approach in fundamental and applied life sciences. This postgenomic technology aims the quantitative analysis of all the proteins or protein forms (the so-called proteome) of a given organism in a given environmental and genetic context. It is a challenge to provide…

The quantization of electronic energy levels in atoms is foundational to a mechanistic explanation of the periodicity of elemental properties and behavior. This paper presents a hands-on, guided inquiry approach to teaching this concept as part of a broader treatment of quantum mechanics, and as a foundation for an understanding of chemical…

A laboratory experiment designed as part of an upper-level undergraduate analytical chemistry course is described. Students investigate two popular soft drinks (Red Bull Energy Drink and sugar-free Red Bull Energy Drink) by NMR spectroscopy. With assistance of modern NMR prediction software they identify and quantify major components in each…