Laboratory Manual for Principles of General Chemistry, 10th Edition

Book Preface

Which came first in chemistry? Was it the experiments that led to well-documented principles or was it the principles that led to developing experiments? The answer is obvious … historically, observations of chemical phenomena were made from which explanations were developed. Experiments were undertaken from which explanations were made and written in textbooks. Serendipity in chemistry has played a major role in break through discoveries; an unexpected observation was made, analyzed, and interpreted and new science was born. Good scientists believe in their data. Therefore, the sequence for science development is that experiments write textbooks, textbooks don’t write experiments.

The Laboratory Manual for Principles of General Chemistry has focused on the laboratory experience through each of its nine previous editions. Realizing that all experimental conclusions are not the same, each conclusion is dependent upon identifying an appropriate experimental procedure, selecting the proper apparatus, employing the proper techniques while systematically analyzing and interpreting the data, and minimizing the inherent variables associated with the student scientist. As a result of “good” data, a scientific and analytical conclusion is made which may or may not “be right,” but consistent with the data. This approach has been prevalent throughout the previous nine editions of this manual.

The Front Cover. The front cover of the 10th edition was selected to illustrate how a student’s scientific knowledge steadily grows and matures when various experiences and observations associated with the scientific experience are encountered.

Growing a plant in a flower bed or glazed pottery requires time, patience, practice and experience. The weather, the soil, the moisture, the fertilizer all factor into the growth of a plant. Nutrients and environmental factors affect the development and the maturation process of the young, vulnerable test tube plant. Experimentation provides the avenue by which the plant matures with desirable characteristic and properties.

Students of general chemistry and the general chemistry laboratory in particular, grow through this same process. Chemicals are mixed in test tubes under varying conditions of temperature, pressure, and concentrations resulting in observations from which interpretations and hypotheses result. Further experimentation provides additional “cause & affect” observations leading to an even better understanding and appreciation of the experiment. The process continues. Consequently, the scientific maturation process of the student continues much like the challenges of the “plant.”

The general chemistry laboratory is a beginning for observing chemical phenomena from which chemical principles develop for a better understanding, not only for chemistry majors but also for all students who desire to have a career in a science-based discipline.

With this focus, reviewers have supported the challenges and format offered in previous editions—the experiments are interesting, informative, challenging, and have good pedagogy regarding laboratory techniques, safety, and experimental procedures. The reporting and analyzing of the data and the questions (pre- and post-lab) seek to focus on the intuitiveness of the experiment. In the 10th edition, an emphasis for handling data has been moved to the front of the manual and entitled Data Analysis; points of analysis are placed as margin notes as appropriate in the experiments.

While all comments of users and reviewers from the previous editions have been heavily weighed, the task of presenting the “perfect” manual, like chemistry and science in general, is impossible. The manual, in itself, is an ongoing experiment and will continue to be.