An essential skill for chemists is analyzing evidence to determine the outcome of the reaction.  Too often our teaching lab experiments predict for the students what that evidence should look like, and the students can determine �did I get the right answer?�  In this experiment students react p-benzoquinone with cyclopentadiene.  The visible absorbance of the reaction at several wavelengths is observed using a Microlab�.  The students are then asked to determine what reactions are occurring.

Evaluating the evidence: Determining the course of a Diels-Alder reaction using visible spectroscopy

245th National Meeting (2013)

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