The modernization of a universities General Chemistry laboratory program can be a daunting and yet necessary task. This is especially true when you have 2000+ students taking General Chemistry every year. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville decided it was time to modernize their General Chemistry Lab Program for them to remain competitive. They knew that Electronic Data Collection Technology needed part of this process, and needed to be integrated into the labs. I am happy to say The University of Tennessee, Knoxville decided MeasureNet's Electronic Data Collection System was the technology selected in the redesign of their General Chemistry Laboratory Program.
“The laboratory makeover not only benefits the first-year students, but will help improve their preparation and success as they go on to take upper-level chemistry courses, “
Al Hazari, Director of Undergraduate Laboratories.
The folks here at MeasureNet have been hard at work integrating new probes into our system and creating new experiments. In this blog entry we'll be introducing the following new experiments and probes:
- Thermometric Titrations
- Conductivity Probe & Experiment Options
- Colorimetric Titration Hardware
Thermometric Titrations
The newest software integrates the drop counter and temperature probe and now has the capability to conduct experiments with Temperature vs Drops. This allows users to conduct Thermometric Titrations.
Conductivity Probe & Experiment Options
MeasureNet now offers a 4 range high resolution conductivity probe. MeasureNet provides users the ability to conduct experiments with Conductivity vs Time and use the drop counter for Conductivity vs Volume for Conductometric Titrations.
Colorimetric Titration Hardware
MeasureNet systems now have the ability to conduct colorimetric, Fluorometric, turbidometric and chemiluminescent titration experiments. When ordering colorimeters, customers can specify if they would like them customized for photometric titrations. The kit includes a colorimeter, a base stand, a pump with power supply, and custom-made flow cell that pair with the MeasureNet colorimeter and drop counter.
The folks here at MeasureNet have been hard at work integrating new probes into our system and creating new experiments. In this blog entry we'll be introducing the following new experiments and probes:
- Dual Probe Experiments (Pressure, Temperature & Voltgage)
- Thermocouple Temperature Probe
- Melting point Experiment
Dual Probe Experiments
MeasureNet now has the ability to collect data from 2 of the same probe if using the voltage, pressure, or temperature probes. New experiment options have been added to each probe's menu to allow dual probe collection. In order to use the dual probe option, customers will need the MeasureNet dual probe adaptor (pictured below).
Thermocouple Temperature Probe
MeasureNet also offers a thermocouple type J temperature probe now for applications that fall outside the range of our standard temperature probe. The new thermocouple probe has a temperature range from -180C to +475C.
Mel-Temp Switch & Experiment
Along with the thermocouple probe, MeasureNet now offers a solution that will make Melt Temp experiments easier. During a Mel-Temp experiment, you can use the Melt Temp Switch to keep track of a small range of temperatures when your compound nears melting temperature. You can then use print code 400 to print an overall temperature graph along with a graph that focuses on the range where the sample started to melt.
Make sure to keep a lookout for the next set of probes and experiments. We still have more to show.
Development of MeasureNet’s optical drop counter began in 2000. Our goal was not only to automate, simplify and shorten the time for pH titration experiments, but also to improve the accuracy of students’ measurements. During its development, various innovative features were added to the design, as seen in Figure 1. MeasureNet’s Multi-Functional Drop Counter holds both a pH probe and a temperature probe, reducing the hardware needed to set up pH titration experiments, and the geometry was optimized to allow the use of small beakers and samples.
Before the days of optical drop counters, simple wire electrical conductivity devices were the only automated and economical solutions for pH titrations in the teaching laboratory. A drop from the buret would make contact with two bare wires positioned closely together, creating a conductive current path. An electronic circuit would then convert this current into a pulse that was counted. A student could then calculate volume based on the number of drops and the average drop size, determined in a separate experiment. The MeasureNet system automatically determines the average drop size in each titration.
The most common method of performing pH titrations is the manual method. The drawbacks to this method:
Time consuming, giving students time to perform few titrations in a lab period.
-
Larger reagent volumes required, making titrations more expensive in terms of reagent usage and disposal.
-
Requires repetition for students to master endpoint detection with reasonable precision.
The 22nd BCCE at Penn State University marks the 10th anniversary of MeasureNet Technology’s introduction of the Optical Drop Counter to the chemical education community. During this decade, the MeasureNet drop counter has become a star in chemistry labs around the country and the world, performing a variety of functions even its designers had never imagined. MeasureNet’s drop counter allows students to leap past the typical pH titration experiment and engage in other interesting and educational titration methods like thermometric, potentiometric, amperometric and colorimetric titrations.
MeasureNet Technology's introduction of the industry’s first Multi-Functional Optical Drop Counter technology in 2002 at the 17th BCCE at Western Washington University obviously caught the attention of the conference attendees and venders. The MeasureNet drop counter has emerged as the industry standard, copied by all its competitors, such as Vernier Software & Technology, Pasco Scientific and MicroLab Inc. MeasureNet is both flattered by this attention and inspired to do more to bring innovative technology into the teaching laboratory.
The MCAN® Concept
The MeasureNet Multifunctional Chemical Analysis Network (MCAN® ) is an innovative analytical instrumentation eliminating a multitude of the obstacles that are associated with the PC-based lab systems. With the consolidation of student data acquisition workstations into a solitary network for each group of students, expensive hardware upgrades, computer viruses and the footprint of large equipment is eliminated.
The student workstations we provide interface with numerous kinds of probes as well as other apparatus that are utilized in chemistry laboratories. This allows for a broad range of general chemistry, physical chemistry and biochemistry lab experiments.
MeasureNet can be useful in a freshman chemistry lab or in advanced chemistry labs. Whether used in the freshman chemistry lab, biochemistry, STEM, or environmental chemistry laboratories, MeasureNet is an essential tool.
With MeasureNet, the student takes the measurements at their workstation and the results of those measurements can be stored and then monitored on a single central computer. This allows the instructor to follow student progress and data files. There is no need to contend with the multiple headaches that are associated with managing student lab data because MeasureNet can do it all for you.
Solutions in the Chemistry Lab with MeasureNet
- Less bench space due to energy efficient workstations with smaller foot prints.
- Securely Protected online data storage for students.
- Viruses and computer re-imaging are things of the past with MeasureNet.
- The collection of data electronically allows for more time being spent on the actual experiments.
- Eliminates the need to upgrade large numbers of computers every few years.
- The best quality, research grade chemistry probware is utilized to collect high-resolution data.
General Chemistry Lab Experiments Performed with MeasureNet
MeasureNet was designed to offer instructors considerable academic flexibility with its ability to support a wide range of experiments.
MeasureNet has the ability to support experiments for individual or collaborative student projects in a freshman chemistry lab or in an advanced lab.
The adoption of electronic data acquisition does not require the disposal of experiments that have been proven to build the students’ skills or enhance their understanding of imperative concepts. The longstanding experiments can very easily be integrated into curricula combined with the experiments appropriate for MeasureNet. Other experiments requiring conversion can be modified with the assistance of our curriculum specialists.
Title examples for Guided inquiry, Self-Directed, POGIL, Verification-style and STEM experiments utilizing MeasureNet are as follows:
- Specific Heat of a Metal
- Hot & Cold Packs- Dystan Medical Supply Company
- A Colligative Property of Solutions-Freezing Point
- Quality control at the GlassEX Company-Self-Directed
- Buffer & pH Solutions
- Proteins & Amino Acids
- Chemical Kinetics
- Gas Laws
- Voltaic Cells
- Substances Specific Heat
- Analysis of Metals Emissions
- Heat of Vaporization & Vapor Pressure
- Determining Chromium (VI) Concentrations using Absorption Spectroscopy
- Colligative Properties
- Determining the Cause of a Fish Kill Located in the Clark Fork of the Columbia River
- Identification of a Weak Unknown Acid
- Analysis of the Phosphorus in Cola
- Identification of an Unknown Metal-Self Directed
- Determining the Ka Value of a Weak Acid
- Determining the concentration of Acetic Acid in Vinegar
- Determining the Molecular Weight, with the use of the Ideal Gas Law, of a Volatile liquid
- Hess’ Law-Enthalpy of Reaction
- Analysis of the Phosphorus in Fertilizer
- Determining the Heat of Neutralization for Various Strong Bases & Acid
- Reaction Stoichiometry & Moles
- Determining a Reaction Equilibrium Constant with the Use of Absorption Spectroscopy
- Analysis of Emission of Aequeous Solutions from Group IA & IIA Metal Salts