Physical chemistry courses tend to teach thermodynamics with a focus on "classical" systems and methods that seem largely out of touch with modern chemical practice. This project develops physical chemistry laboratory experiments that teach the application of physical principles, particularly thermodynamic principles, in chemical problem solving. It also introduces students to research-grade instrumentation that they are likely to encounter in their career, whether in industrial or academic research. Additionally, it incorporates chemical materials that are most relevant to the diverse modern practices of physical chemistry, particularly biomolecules, liquid crystals, and polymers. The project is using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) to design three new experiments for the physical chemistry laboratory courses. The strategy is to use a standard method for solving multiple problems, thereby shifting the focus from complex experimental setups to the chemical systems of interest. The new experiments include learning the use of a DSC and applying it to simple enthalpy measurements, comparative DSC studies of the thermal behavior of different complex substances at and near phase transitions, ald applying DSC-derived phase diagrams to specific design problems in macromolecular and biomolecular mixtures.
