SMHS PHYSICS (MCCOY) Formal Laboratory Report Format

Lab Reports  Typewritten reports documenting your experimental results.  Be sure to clearly label each section!  Use complete sentences.  Double space your report.  Title Page  Objective  Introduction  Procedure  Data  Results and Calculations  Discussion  Conclusion  Questions

Title Page  This will identify the experiment, you, the course, your class, your instructor, and the date(s) the experiment was performed. Very important so I can keep track of what you are handing in! Exploring Gases: The Determination of the Ideal Gas Constant, Molar Volume and Percent Potassium Chlorate in a Mixture Jane Smith Lab Partner: (if appropriate) Chemistry 120 Section 5399 Instructor: D. Vance September 3, 2007 completed September 17, 2007 turned in

Objective  Why are you doing this experiment? Objective: To experimentally find the ideal gas law constant, R, calculate the percent error in the experimental ideal gas law constant, the molar volume, its percent error, and the percentage…

Introduction  This section tells a little bit about the theory of the experiment and how it will be done.  Be sure to label your reactions (i.e. rxn 1…) and your formulas/equations ( i.e. eq 1…) so that it is easier to refer to them in the text.  Introduction:  In this experiment experimental values for the ideal gas law constant, R, and the molar volume of a gas, V m, will be found. Oxygen gas will be formed by the decomposition of potassium chlorate: MnO 2 2 KClO 3 (s)  3 O 2 (g) + 2 KCl (s) rxn 1 heat The oxygen gas will be…

Procedure  Reference the procedure used and note any deviations from the published procedure.  Safety and Waste treatment should be noted here too. Procedure  Write a detailed description of how you completed the experiment.

Data  Insert all data from the experiment. Do not analyze or manipulate the data – this section is merely to publish exactly what you found without coming to any conclusions.

Results and Calculations  Tabulate data (you may copy and paste the spreadsheet) and any calculated values.  Be sure to show sample calculations. (These may be hand written.)  For non-numerical labs, summarize the data generated. Weight of empty test tube assemblyxxx.xx g Weight of test tube assembly and KClO 3 /O 2 xx.xx g Weight of test tube assembly and residueg Weight of O 2 liberatedg Volume of H 2 O displacedL Etc... Sample Calculation xxx.xxg-xx.xxg=xx.xxg Etc… Results and Calculations Table 1: Decomposition of KClO 3 Data

Discussion  This is where you get to explain your results and talk about any errors that may have occurred. Discussion:  The value of the ideal gas law constant was found be to 61.2 L torr mol -1 K -1, that is a percent error of 1.9%. This value is very close to the actual value of 62.4 L torr mol -1 K -1. One possible source of error could be that the volume of water in the florence flask and the beaker was not equalized before the…

Conclusion  This is where you give the final result. This is essentially the punch line-- Conclusion  The ideal gas law constant was found to be 61.2 L torr mol -1 K -1 with a percent error of 1.9%, the molar volume was found to be 25.3 L mol -1 with a percent error of 12.8%, and the percent…

Questions  Answer any questions posed in the lab here.