Lambert-Beer Law lesson plan

In this lab, students will use spectrophotometry to determine the concentration of ions in solution.

Subject matter/Grade level

This lab is designed for a high school chemistry class with access to a spectrophotometer.

Utah Core Curriculum

Stadard II, objective 1. Evaluate quantum energy changes in the atom in terms of the energy contained in light emissions.

Technologies


Students will use a spectrophotometer to measure absorbance at at specified wavelengths for several ions. They will measure solutions of Cu+ , Cr+, and Ni+ at various concentrations, and then determine the concentration of an unknown solution provided by the teacher. They will use excel to chart their results.

Teacher Crafted Example

The final product to be turned in for this assignment will be a lab report. The students will prepare lab report written according to formal lab report guidelines. This means that students must include an abstract, a background section, a procedure section, a results section, a conclusion, and an error analysis. They will include a description of the work done in the lab, the data they collected, the analysis of the data from Excel, and their final answer for the concentration of their unknown ion.

Assessment of the Final Product

Students will be graded on their lab report. They will get points for accuracy, and the lab report will be graded according to correctness. There will be a rubric assigning points to each section of the lab report, and describing what students recieve points for.

Ethical Considerations

The biggest area of concern for this lab is disadvatage for the students without computers at home or knowledge of Exel. To compensate for this, the students will have time in class to work on their calculations and analysis, and I will work with them in small groups to make sure that everyone knows what to do. This may create a management problem, so I will be aware of what is going on in the classroom and if certain groups seem to finish early, I will have a special project (i.e.-cleaning the lab) prepared if they create problems.