Questions and answers in Chem435

Here you can post your comments (anonymously if you wish) , questions and even get answers:

Previous semesters: SP 08,SP 07, SP 06, SP 05, SP 04, SP 03, SP 02, SP 01, SP 00
Spring 20010:

Q11 (4/27/10): For the 1,4-benzosemiquinone experiment, here is what I wrote down: nu = 9.75 GHz, Center field = 3474 G, Sweep width = 15 G, modulation amplitude = 0.3 (don't know the units), Receiver gain = 4 x 10^3 (don't know the units). I must be missing something here. Isn't the field strength supposed to be in Tesla?
A11 (4/27/10): 10000 G = 1 Tesla. Modulation amplitude (MA) is also in G, but it is not important as long as you do not overmodulate the signal, i.e. D<MA.

Q10 (4/26/10): How do we find the g value of Mn2+ by looking at the graph of the data?
A10 (4/26/10): g *
b*H =h*n. Thus, unless you have written down the frequency and the field, you won't be able to. >As we hve discussed, it should be close to g=2 .

Q9 (4/26/10): For the ESR lab when finding the linewidth, say the distance between min and max is 8G do i need to multiply that by 1.866 since "gamma is (3^(1/2))/2 = 0.866 times greater than the linewidth measured between maximum and minimum of the first derivative."
A9 (4/27/10): As it says after eq.(15) in the intro for the lab and shown in the picture next to it,
G = 0.866 D, where D is the distance between minimum and maximum.

Q8 (3/24/10): Dr. Smirnov, I was wondering what exactly you are looking for in the presentation? Are we presenting it with results we got from it or just about the experiment itself?
A8 (3/28/10): In your oral presentation you should decribe what the lab was about, your results and discussion of what these results mean. Treat it as if you were presenting a research project at a conference. You will have 20 minutes to do that. There are numerous suggestions online on how to make a good presentation. I give some links (maybe outdated) on the
resources page. The rule of thumb is - start with what you are about to telll (i.e. an outline) the tell about it (i.e. description of the experiment, results and discussion) and finish by summarizing what was achieved (i.e. conclusion).

Q7 (3/06/10): Hi,professor:
The printout from Cary 100 thermal application software shows us the Tm, delta H, and delta S already. So do we need to calculate the Tm, delta H, and delta S values?

A7 (3/06/10): There are two ways for obtaining
DH°, DS°, and DG°:
- from the plot of 1/Tm vs DNA concentration and
- from the temperature dependence of the equilibrium constant
The latter is provided by the software for each trace (i.e. each concentration) and, as you can see, varies in the experiments. You will need to compare your value obtained from 1/Tm vs ln[C] plot and (the average values) from the lnK vs 1/T plots (provided by the software)

Q6 (2/27/10): Is "delta gamma" the uncertainty in the table you want us to make?? We did the sound velocity for natural gas.Can you give me some advise for what and how to write about the natural gas?Do you want us to compare with something?(I calculated the gamma for natural gas)
A6 (2/27/10): Yes to the first question.
As for the second question, presume that it is a pure hydrocarbon, not a mixture, and identify what it is by narrowing down the possibilities and then identify the gamma. How does it compare with the theoretical values?

Q5 (2/06/10): For experiment 2 when using DH = DE + RTDngas to determine DH, what T do we use? final, initial or another one???
A5 (1/06/10): There should be minimal difference when using either (~2 K over 300K). May be the final T is more appropriate.

Q4 (1/27/10): I am interested to know about the last question, the one regardign the generation of a value for pi. In the Monte Carlo simulation, we are told that N= different large values. Then we are given 10 runs for each of these large numbers. When we calculate the mean, we are using N=10 for the 10 runs, but then we calculate the Confidence Interval with N=2000? I'm confused.
A4 (1/27/10): Analyze each set on itself and calculated the mean and the error. AFTER THAT, discuss how the error changes between the ten sets and correlate it with that N of Monte Carlo simulation. Is there any correlation? Does it increase or decrease with N? Extra: what dependence would you expect?

Q3 (1/25/10): I am doing the fitting for the question #1 of the first assignment, so what is initial intensity Io for the equation I = Ioexp(-t/t), is it also a parameter?
A3 (1/25/10): Yes.

Q2 (1/24/10): I am confused by the data in the kinetics.txt file. Are the values the measure of intensity I or of some change in the previous intensity? If they are a change in intensity, then what is the initial intensity? Many of the values are negative so I cannot calculate the ln of them. That's why I think I'm on the wrong track.
A2 (1/24/10): The file presents the intensity as a function of time. Yes, there are points with negative intensity as you would likely observe in the experiment. You should ignore them. The intensity evolves from 'zero', befor the laser excitation, then rizes upon excitation and gradually decays due to luminescence process. I hope it answers your question. I have copied your question and my answer on the Q&A page.

Q1 (1/24/10): For the propagation of error question, here's what I have so far. R = (pV) / nT Including uncertainties in the measurements of P, V, and T: R = (p ᠰ.1%)(V ౥) --> R = 8.40 ᠳqrt( 0.12 + 12 + 0.52)% --> R = 8.40 ౮12% ------------------------- R = 8.49 ᠰ.09 n (T ᠰ.5%) Including the systematic error in measuring T is where I have trouble. *** We don't know the number of T measurements that were made, but they were all too high by 1%. That means that R is doing to be too low. How do we include this in the final value of R? Thanks,
A1 (1/24/10): When you are not sure, always start with definitions. You need to calculate the derivatives (
dR/dV, dR/dP, dR/dT) and express the systematic error as dR = ((dR/dV)dV+ (dR/dP)dP+ (dR/dT)dT) and the random error as DR = {(dR/dV)2 DV2 + (dR/dP)2 DP2 + (dR/dT)2DT2}1/2


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Also, if you used these pages/did these experiment, especially if you were in my class, please grade the labs using the table below.
Please selfevaluate how much you have learned from doing the lab (5 -means a lot, 1-nothing new) and rank the labs overall (1 beeing the best and 10 - being the worst). Please make sure that you don't rank two labs at identical position. Your opinion will be greatly appreciated.

Survey of Students' opinions

Laboratory Experiment Overall rank of the experiment
From best (1) -------> to worst (10)
Learned:
nothing(1)-->a lot(5)
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5
1. Vapor Pressure
2. Heat of Combustion
3. Cp/Cv Ratio
4. Thermodynamics of DNA
5. Origins of Color
6. Luminescence Quenching
7. EPR
8. NMR
9. IR of gases
10. Molecular Modeling
Overall  
Recommend this class to others? 5 - enthusiastically yes
4 - it's OK.
3 - I don't know.
2 - why would they want to suffer?
1 - only if I don't like them

You are welcomed to add any comments in the message field above. Please suggest which labs you would replace or alter in any way.


Last updated on 04/27/10