THE LABORATORY NOTEBOOK (May 2004)
Each student is required to keep an individual laboratory notebook. The notebook must be an approved type with permanent binding and carbonless duplicate pages. All writing in the lab notebook should be in either black or blue permanent ink; please be color consistent through out the notebook. No pencils are allowed! Mistakes must be single-lined out; do not erase, scratch out, nor use white out.
All pages are numbered in the upper righthand corner. Original pages must not be torn out or added to the notebook for any reason. If one wishes to delete a page, simply place an X across it. Duplicate carbonless "COPY" pages must be removed and stapled in the upper lefthand corner at the completion of each experiment; these sets must be turned in for grading at the completion of each experiment.
There are additional items regarding the lab notebook which, if done correctly, will enhance the notebook and improve lab grades. These items are described below.
1. Cover of the notebook. One's name and the course name should be written legibly on the outside front cover of the notebook using a permanent marker.
2. Table of Contents. The inside front cover is the Table of Contents. The student’s name, instructor’s name, course number, and meeting time (in place of section number) should be entered at the top of this page. The initial notebook number each semester is 1; if additional notebooks are needed, the numbering should be increased consecutively (2, 3, etc). Individual experiment entries should be made in the columns provided, each of which is labeled at the top: column one--date, column two--experiment title, column three--beginning page number for lab notebook entry.
3. Individual experimental entries. Each experimental entry should include the following items (if pertinent); for examples, see lab text, pages A-3 to A-6.
(i) Experiment number, title, and date; student name, lab
partner name, hood number, course number, lab meeting time
(ii) Purpose
(iii) Chemical Equation and Mechanism, or Chemical Structure(s) of studied
compounds if no reaction is performed
(iv) Outline of Procedure
(v) Diagram of Apparatus
(vi) Table of Data for all measured and required data
(vii) Observations
(viii) Discussion of Results
(ix) Conclusions
Each entry title (i - ix above) should be underlined.
Do not use personal pronouns (i.e. I, me, we, our, etc.) in the laboratory notebook.
The Purpose of the experiment need only be a sentence or two that briefly describes the experiment to be performed (including reactant, reagents, reaction conditions, and product) and the purity and identity procedures that are to be utilized.
The Chemical Structure(s) section is required in labs where no chemical changes occur (e.g. simple distillation), a balanced Chemical Equations section is required for all reactions, and a Chemical Mechanisms section is required for those reactions in which the mechanism is known.
The Outline of Procedure should allow one to perform the experiment without the use of the lab text; be brief, yet concise. This must be in outline form! Most experiments in the lab text are already provided in outline form; these should be copied verbatim into your lab notebook. After having prepared for the lab, this outline should be a substitute for the lab experiment book.
A Diagram of Apparatus is required only when a new apparatus is utilized during an experiment. These will be necessary, for example, in the simple distillation/fractional distillation lab experiments, but is not required in the other labs performed later in the year when distillation is performed. Diagrams should be drawn as legibly as possible (a straight-edge may prove useful) and all parts must labeled.
The Table of Data should include space for all data that is determined during the experiment (e.g. mass, volume, mp, bp, 0) or required for calculations (e.g. molar mass, molarity) or comparison (e.g. theoretical mp, bp, or 0, typical class yield) data. This allows easy review of the work performed and calculations determined. The table(s) provided in the lab text should be hand-written in the lab notebook before the experiment begins (no photocopies allowed!). Data must be entered into the Table of Data as the experiment is performed.
All of the material written up to this point must be completed before coming to lab. This will ensure one's understanding of the lab material and preparation for lab quizzes.
The Observations section of each experiment must be written during the lab experiment as a record of the observations that one makes during the course of an experiment. Be objective and honest in recording observations. This section must be filled in as the experiment proceeds; do not wait until after lab to try to remember what happened! Scratch data must be included in this section; this includes measurements made during lab (e.g. mass and volume determinations).
The Discussion of Results section must be written after the experiment is completed. This is a discussion of the data and should include items such as the percent yield (experimental vs typical) and comparison of purity data (theoretical and actual mp, bp, etc.) with discussion of what these data imply regarding success of the experiment including product yield and purity; spectroscopic and chromatographic data should be included in the discussion. Do not use the discussion section to restate the procedure with data (this is a common mistake), rather use this section to discuss the data. Speculation is appropriate in this section.
The Conclusion must summarize the goal of the experiment and the results as they pertain to these goals.
Sample Labels. All samples must be properly labeled before being submitted for grading. A properly labeled sample should contain (at minimum) the following information:
submitter’s name(s)
hood #
sample name
experiment number
date & class (beginning) time
# g (experimental)
% recovery/yield (experimental and typical class value)
mp, bp, µbp, and/or refractive index (experimental and theoretical)
spectrospopic data (as available)
GLC (expt rf in min, % purity, and GLC corrected %
recovery/yield)
GCMS (M+. (expt and theo) and base peak (expt))
IR (expt freq(s) in 1/cm with identified functional group(s))
NMR for all peaks listed in order from lowest to
highest chemical shift
PMR chemical shift in ppm (#H, signal
splitting, J in Hz)
CMR chemical shift in ppm (signal splitting
from GATEDEC, J in Hz, D90 direction, D135 direction)
This information must be written legibly.