Laboratory Studies of Aggregated Systems: An Instrumentation and Curriculum Development Project

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This award to Dr. James E. Strum, Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, is for enhancement of the physical chemistry laboratory course offered for students majoring in chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical engineering. The project involves both curriculum development and Instrumentation for Laboratory Improvement and is supported by the Chemistry Division. The physical chemistry laboratory curriculum would be modified to emphasize "aggregated systems", which are characterized by collective behavior of molecules or ions. Such systems range from complex ions to macroscopic crystals and include micelles, vesicles, colloids, particle suspensions, liquid crystals, and membranes. Studies of such systems have increased considerably in the past decade and inclusion of these experiments will update this course and, by extension, laboratories in physical chemistry at other universities. Five new experiments will be developed: X-ray diffraction by molecular crystals, phase transitions in liquid crystals, surface area determination, pulse photolysis, and helix-coil transition. The instrument acquisitions supported by this award are a differential scanning calorimeter, a surface area adsorption instrument, and a pulse photolysis apparatus.