Analytical Chemistry Lecture / Course Notes

Learn what spectroscopy and spectra are, how spectroscopy works, and what it is used for. This article includes a list of several different spectroscopies, with brief descriptions of their characteristics.

Analyze the dyes used in your favorite candies with paper chromatography using a coffee filter, colored candies, and a salt solution.

Did you know that Avogadro's number isn't a mathematically derived unit. The number of particles in a mole of a material is determined experimentally. This easy method uses electrochemistry to make the determination.

Cleaning laboratory glassware isn't as simple as washing the dishes. Here's how to wash your glassware so that you won't ruin your chemical solution, laboratory experiment, or the glass.

Recrystallization is a laboratory technique used to purify a sample based on the different solubilites of its components. Learn how to perform a recrystallization and get tips on how to avoid common problems and improve your product yield.

The meniscus is the curve seen at the top of a liquid in response to its container. When you read a scale on the side of a container with a meniscus, such as a graduated cylinder or volumetric flask, it's important that the measurement accounts for the meniscus. Here's how to read a meniscus.

A calorimeter is a device used to measure the quantity of heat flow in a chemical reaction. Learn about two of the most common types of calorimeters, the coffee cup calorimeter and the bomb calorimeter, and find out how to use them to calculate heat flow and enthalpy change.

The Mohs test is one way to determine the hardness of a rock or mineral. You can use the Mohs hardness to help identify an unknown specimen. Here's how you can do the test yourself.

The borax, microcosmic salt, or sodium carbonate bead test may be used to help identify unknown metals. Learn how to perform and interpret the results of this handy analytical test.

The flame test is a quick low-tech method of identifying an element by the color of light it yields in a flame. Learn how to perform this test and to interpret the results.

Learn how to make your own pH indicator test strips using red cabbage. This is a fun, safe, and easy chemistry project that you can do at home.

Grasp the basic chemical concepts of titration, a technique used to determine the molarity of an acid or a base.

Titration is a technique used in analytical chemistry to determine the concentration of an unknown acid or base. For all acids, the shape of the graph plotting pH against volume of base titrated fits the same general shapes.

Use this redox-based iodometric titration to determine the amount of Vitamin C or ascorbic acid in juice and other samples.

Qualitative analysis may be used to detect, identify and separate anions and cations in a sample. This is an introduction to the concepts and procedures used in qualitative analysis.

Learn about the complex ions and precipitation reaction which can be used to identify ions in qualitative analysis.

This chemistry video explains what a flame test is and then describes three ways to perform a flame test to identify the components of an unknown sample.