Laboratory Procedures:

Organization and preparation are essential ingredients for a successful laboratory experience. Read these rules carefully and familiarize yourself with them. Don't through away valuable points by ignoring or forgetting this information.

All students must have watched the safety video and signed the lab safety rules sheet before performing any laboratory experiments

Safety glasses must be worn at all times – labs cannot be performed without them

The laboratory work constitutes a substantial portion of the overall grade.  The following are directions for preparing for the laboratory experiments.  It is essential that you read these rules carefully and understand what is expected of you.

It is important to be punctual in order to perform the experiments. 

Late arrival (more than 15 minutes) will result in forfeit of the grade for that lab.


Written out before lab

  1. Purpose - always required
  2. Procedure - always required
  3. Prelab questions - if required  

Done during lab

  1. Data and Calculations

Done after lab

  1. Post lab questions

Purpose - what's the point?
All experiments have a purpose or objective; experiments are not just carried out in a random or haphazard way. Summarize in one - three sentences what the objective(s) is(are).

Procedure
The procedure should be a summary in your own words in the form of a sequence of simple statements that describe completely how the experiment will be performed. You should be able to use your procedure to do the experiment even if you did not have the lab manual with you. Your written procedure should not say "follow the lab manual

Calculations

Most of the time, the data recorded in an experiment are then used to determine some property of the substance or process - a density, concentration and so on. Remember the following when doing calculations:

  • Record the data with the correct number of significant figures*
  • Record results of calculations with the correct number of significant figures
  • Always show the complete working, it allows the work to be checked and errors identified
  • Always include units
  • *Need a refresher on significant figures?

Complete lab reports must be handed in the week following the experiment for grading.  Late submissions will result in a 40 % deduction.  All labs count towards the final grade.

Safety glasses must be worn at all times

Clean-up of the lab station is required after completion of the experiment

Data must be signed off by the instructor prior to leaving