[cbc-chem1210] More about Exp 1 report, graphs, sample calcs, etc.

robert zellmer zellmer.1 at osu.edu
Sat Jan 17 09:03:10 EST 2015


I always get a lot of questions about exp 1 and the report. I apologize 
to anyone
who's already completed or almost completed the report for exp 1. Here's 
what
you should be doing for the report sheet, sample calc., discussion, etc.

1) For the data on the report sheets:

     a)  line 1:    Water temp. (page 8)

                 If you took the temp for each piece of glassware and it
                 differed significantly you can use each temp or take an
                 average temp if they were all about the same.  There
                 were some labs in which the temp changed by a few degrees
                 degrees from the start of lab to the end of lab.  If 
you used
                 a single temp that would introduce error in the accepted
                 density of the water.  If you took only one temp just use
                 that for your calc.  You might think about how this could
                 affect your results.  You can see how much of a 10 degree C
                 difference makes in the density by calculating it using 
the eqn.
                 for 20 C and 30 C.

     b)  line 2:    Accepted (actual) density (page 8)

                 Use the eqn on page 8 preceding the data table to calc. the
                 accepted density at your temp.  This is an eqn for a 
straight line
                 relating density to temp.  This eqn. is for the density 
or H2O between
                 20 and 30 C.  What if your temp was slightly below 20 C 
or above
                 30 C?  What can you do?  You can go to the CRC Handbook 
of Chem
                 and Physics and look up the table for the density of 
water at diff. temps.
                 Can you still use the eqn on page 8.  Well, I did a few 
quick calc. based
                 on that eqn and the values in the CRC between 16 and 40 
C.  The errors
                 outside of the range of  20-30 C (given in the manual) 
were about the same
                 as the errors within the 20-30 C range.  So the gist of 
it is, just use the eqn
                 on page 8 even if your temp is a little below 20 or 
above 30 C.

                 Make sure you have the correct # of sig. fig.  This can 
be tricky with this eqn.
                 After lecture on Mon. or Tue. (depending when you have 
lecture) you should
                 understand how to handle sig. fig. if you don't already.

                 Show the calc. for this in the sample calc.

     c) Data table:

             Do the calculations and make sure your sig. fig. are correct.

             You only have to show a sample calc. for the measured 
density, error and
             % error for one line for one piece of glassware.  You don't 
need to do it for
             every single line for every piece of glassware.

             You fill out this sheet and turn it in with the report. 
This is your
             report page or sheet.  This is what I labeled "Data" in my 
report
             example on the class web page.   If you use Excel and make 
the data
             table up in Excel you can print it as the report sheet. You 
don't need to
             copy all the data over to the data sheet in the manual. 
However, you should
             still turn in the report sheet from the manual even though 
it's blank.  If for
             some reason you still wish to fill in the report sheet and 
turn it in that's fine but
             turn in your Excel sheets and let the TA know which one 
they should grade
             for the report.

             You always must make sure you have the correct sig. fig., 
even when using
             Excel.  It won't let you set sig. fig. but you can set 
decimal places to get the
             correct sig. figs.  I explain how to do this at the 
following link:

*Using Excel for Calculations and Graphs* 
<http://chemistry.osu.edu/%7Erzellmer/excel/excel.txt>

             You can find this link at the following link:

*Using MS Excel for Reports* 
<http://chemistry.osu.edu/%7Erzellmer/excel/excel.htm>

2) Graphs

         You should have 4 graphs, one for each piece of glassware. Make
         sure your graphs look correct, even if using Excel.  They 
should take up
         pretty much the entire page (0.1" margins) and the points 
should take up
         most of the space on the graph (very little empty space). Your axes
         should reflect the accuracy of the measuring device.  For 
example, for the
         buret since you should record the volume to 2 decimal places 
your x-axis
         (volume) should show 2 decimal places for the labels.

         You do NOT need a legend on any of these graphs since there's 
only one
         set of data per graph.  Your title should include the piece of 
glassware being
         used, but just have "Buret" (as shown in the example in the 
manual) is not
         an adequate title.

         If using Excel have it print the eqn and R^2. If doing it by 
hand you should
         figure out the slope and intercept and write those on the 
graph.  Both of
         those and the R^2 tell you something.  Make sure your slope and 
intercept
         printed on the graph have enough digits to show differences 
between the
         glassware and you report them to the correct # sig. fig. in 
your report
         (results/discussion and conclusion section).

             a) Sample calc.

                 If using Excel show a sample calc for the slope. Use 
pts from the line.
                 Don't use your data pts for this.  The pts on the 
best-fit line are better
                 than  your data pts.   Don't worry if you don't have 
grid lines.  We just
                 want a sample calculation.  The slope generated by your 
sample calc.
                 will not be used further.  In your results and 
discussion section use the
                 slope and intercept generated by Excel.

                 If hand-graphing show a sample calc for the slope and 
intercept.  You will
                 use these in your results and discussion section.

                 You only have to do this for one of the graphs (not all 
four).

3)  Answer the questions on page 10.  Questions 1-3 should really be 
addressed in the
      Discussion section.  Questions 4-5 can be answered in the 
Discussion section or
      on a separate sheet of paper.  There's no need for you to recopy 
the questions.

4) Results and Discussion (and graphs)

         If you look at my report example I tell you what should go 
here.  Use the
         questions on page 10 to help guide you.

         For this exp. you should discuss the results from the table.  
Which piece of
         glassware gave the smallest % error, which gave the largest?  
Were all the
         % errors for a single piece of glassware really close to each 
other or not so much?
         What does this imply about precision and accuracy?  Think about 
it based on sig. fig.
         Does the # of s.f. seem to effect your answers and what you 
think?  Do they make sense?

         Report the slope, intercept and R^2 from all 4 graphs (pieces 
of glassware).
         Think of the slope as being your average density for each piece 
of glassware.

         You should discuss the graphs.  What does the slope indicate (m 
= D*v + b)?
         What does  the R^2 indicate about your data?  Remember, this is 
the "correlation
         coeff" and the closer it is to "1" the better the fit (the 
closer your points are to the
         line).  How about the intercept?  What should it be?  What is 
your intercept?  What
         does your intercept mean if it's not the accepted intercept?  
Think about what
         would happen to your eqn if the balance had been 
miss-calibrated and was
         consistently reading a little too high?  Would that affect the 
slope or intercept or both?
         Would it affect the R^2? What if you weren't reading the volume 
correctly, i.e. you
         didn't look straight on but at an angle but you made the same 
mistake each time
         so your volume was incorrect by a certain specific amount due 
to this?  Again,
         would that effect the slope, intercept or R^2 or all of them.

         Discuss uncertainty (precision) and accuracy.  Again, I've said 
uncertainty
         rather than precision.  Precision is how close repeated 
measurements are
         to each other.  Most everyone used volumes around 5, 10, 15 and 
20 mL (20,
         25, 30, 35 for the beaker).  You weren't repeating anything.  
(You can look at
         how close the densities are.)  However, there is still some 
relationship to precision.
         The mass from a top loading balance can be reported out to 2 
decimal places
         (e.g. 10.26 g).  It has an inherent uncertainty of + or - 0.01 
g.  If you are
         really careful when taking repeated mass measurements your 
precision for
         your masses should be + or - 0.01 g (within the uncertainty of 
the instrument).
         You couldn't get more precise than that.  What on the graphs 
indicate your
         precision and accuracy?

         Discuss sources of error and how they might affect your 
results.  How about
         the temp. of the water?  Was it constant throughout the whole 
lab period?
         Did you measure it at different times to see if it stayed 
constant?  How much
         might this affect your results?  Does the sig. fig. (accuracy) 
of the balance
         cause any error?  How about each piece of glassware?  Did you 
make a
         mistake you know about which could have caused error?  If you 
have a bad
         data point on the graph you don't have to include it in your 
best-fit line (a little
         harder to do in Excel than by hand).  Discuss the fact you 
didn't include it.

         How did you perform the experiment for each piece of 
glassware?  For instance,
         for the buret, if you added ~ 5 mL each time to the weighing 
beaker instead of
         emptying and drying the weighing beaker before each volume 
added (put in 5 mL,
         weighed the beaker, emptied and dried it and then added 10 mL, 
etc.) makes a
         difference in terms of error and accuracy.  How would the 
different ways of doing
         this make a difference?  Were your graduated cylinders TD (to 
deliver) or TC
         (to contain)?  What's the difference and how does that affect 
your results?  Did you
         use the same grad. cyl. for all four measurements or switch 
between the two types?
         You should have seen the TD or TC at the top of the grad. cyl.

         Make sure you have at least 2 inherent sources of error. This 
is error which
         you have little control over due to the equipment being used or 
the way we
         had you do the exp.  This is not "I spilled some water outside 
the beaker".
         That's an "oops, I better do this over" moment. What errors 
might be introduced
         if you added the water a little at a time to get the totals?  
For instance, to get
         10 mL from the buret you could add 5 mL twice or start over and 
add 10 mL
         once.  Which would be better?  Which way did you do it? This 
may be something
         associated with the instrument (as in the # of s.f. you can get 
from the instrument)
         but only if it affects the accuracy (s.f.) in your final 
results.  For instance, if you used
         the analytical balance for all the masses (as was best to do) 
does it affect your s.f.
         for any or all of the measured densities?  How about the s.f. 
for the volumes?

4) Conclusion

         This is 5-6 sentences (depends on the exp) in which you come up 
with
         what you can conclude from this exp.  Essentially answer the 
purpose.
         Think of this as a summary of the exp. and the results in 
sentence form.


5) Summary of sample calc.  (as shown on grading rubric).

     a) calc for the accepted density of water (2nd line on report 
sheets, page 8).

     b) calc. for measured density for one piece of glassware for one 
mass-volume pair

     c) calc. for error for one piece of glassware for one mass-volume pair

     d) calc. for % error for one piece of glassware for one mass-volume 
pair

     e) sample calc for graphs (just using one of the four graphs):

         1) slope whether by hand or using Excel (use points from one of 
your lines)

         You only have to show a single sample for this for the graphs.  
You
         need to report slope and intercept for each of the 4 graphs. 
This is
         one reason to use Excel.   Excel will give better results than 
you can likely
         get by doing it by hand.

     Please indicate which piece of glassware and lines for the table 
you're using for the
     sample calc. and indicate which graph you are using for the slope calc.

I hope I haven't left anything out and I hope this helps.

Dr. Zellmer
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