Improving experiments through trial and error

CHED 428

Mayra Exposito, exposito@fiu.edu1, Barbara Sewerin, BabsiS@aol.com1, and Lincing J. Hernandez, nena1828@bellsouth.net2. (1) Department of Chemistry, Florida International University Biscayne Bay Campus, 3000 NE 151 Ave, AC II Room 340, North Miami, FL 33181, (2) Department of Chemistry, Florida International University Biscayne Bay Campus, 3000 NE 151 Ave, AC II Room 340, North Miami, FL 33181
When teaching determination of the molar volume of a gas assuming STP conditions in the lab, many problems are encountered using the traditional method which uses a gas buret filled of HCl and a piece of Mg Ribbon. Seeing the difficulties students encountered enlighten a team to try Improving the Experiment through Trial and Error. The first improvement made corrected the technical problem and at the same time revisited the concept of activity series of metals. The same setup was used but this time the Mg ribbon was wrapped in copper wire. It worked wonderfully, but the mathematical calculations were still limiting the number of trials that could be performed. The team continued working and this time devised a system, using computers. A whole new setup was created using new equipment, which kept the system completely closed and the Labworks II Interface System. Measured pressure, temperature, the computer graphed, and calculated the results