In a one-semester instrumental analysis laboratory, students designed, built, calibrated, and applied two different types of common chemical instruments. The students were initially tasked with building a simplified differential thermal analyzer (DTA) using anmachined aluminum block as the heating cell, a thermocouple for temperature measurement, and student-built thermocouple amplifier circuits. Temperature measurement and control was performed through student-designed LabVIEW software using National Instruments data acquisition and control hardware for ADC. The DTA required approximately 6 weeks for three students in design, construction, calibration, and testing and produced data comparable to commercially available thermal analyzers.   Upon completion of the DTA, students were tasked with the design and construction of a double-beam visible absorbance spectrophotometer. This spectrophotometer utilized a halogen bulb as its light source and two internally amplified photodiodes for detection. A monochromator was designed using basic optics and a diffraction grating, whose output was split into the reference and sample cuvet holders. A 3D printer was used to construct cell and optical holders, with parts designed by the students in modeling software. LabVIEW was used for data collection software; programmed by the students. Throughout this process, the students developed hands-on experience and skills in software design, instrument design, optics, monochromator design, and instrumental test and calibration beyond the typical �black-box� approach towards instrumentation often used in Undergraduate courses.

Project-based learning in instrumental analysis � student built chemical instrumentation

248th National Meeting (2014)

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