The Department of Chemistry will acquire a computer-controlled ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectrophotometer for use in the undergraduate laboratory. Five new and modified laboratory experiments in physical chemistry will take advantage of the new computer-assisted spectrophotometer. The approach is to allow students to acquire kinetic and spectroscopic data in digital format and to subsequently analyze these data using a scientific spreadsheet, such as RS/1. In this way, the arbitrary experimental constraints often imposed on the design of kinetic experiments can be relaxed, allowing the more general forms of rate laws to be evaluated from the data directly. Both second order and enzyme kinetics will be encountered; rate constants will be obtained using numerical methods of analysis. Information enhancement of absorption spectra will be demonstrated using the second derivative technique that will be applied in real time, or through subsequent data processing. This method will be applied to obtain information about excited states of molecular systems and complex mixtures. Students will also be taught how to use a powerful scientific spreadsheet, in the numerical and statistical analysis of data. The generation of professional graphics and the use of statistical information will be emphasized.
