9451976 Jacobs past two decades, applications of tunable pulsed lasers and molecular beams have revolutionized the field of Physical Chemistry. Yet both of these major technological advances are far from commonplace in most undergraduate laboratories. This project introduces a Nd:YAG-pumped dye laser system and molecular beam apparatus to the undergraduate Chemistry curriculum in a series of experiments which interrogate the fast kinetics of chemical intermediates in solution, the high-resolution nonlinear spectroscopy of molecules and clusters in supersonic expansions, and the dynamics of photodissociation in the gas phase. Students will initially use the equipment to carry out structured laboratory experiments; however, they will later have the opportunity to utilize the apparatus in executing their own research proposals. Throughout the year-long Physical Chemistry Laboratory course, students will be challenged to learn exactly how instruments make measurements, learn basic electronics, computer interfacing, and data acquisition programming. This way, their scientific exploration within the lab is no longer limited by their technical expertise, but instead, they can creatively implement experiments as their imagination guides them. Emphasis in the lab is placed on the scientific process by which students formulate and implement their own ideas.
