The College Board AP* Chemistry Course Description booklet (Acorn book) describes 22 recommended laboratory experiments. Data shows that student scores on the AP Chemistry Exam improves with increased time spent doing these experiments.
| AP Lab and Objectives |
Experiment |
Lab 1: Determination of the formula of a compound
- Determine the water of hydration in a copper chloride hydrate sample.
- Conduct a reaction between a solution of copper chloride and solid aluminum.
- Use the results of the reaction to determine the mass and moles of Cu and Cl in the reaction.
- Calculate the empirical formula of the copper chloride compound.
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Experiment 1: The Determination of a Chemical Formula
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Lab 2: Determination of the percentage of water in a hydrate
- Carefully heat a measured sample of a hygroscopic ionic compound.
- Determine the water of hydration of the compound.
- Complete the chemical formula of the compound.
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Experiment 2: The Determination of the Percent Water in a Compound
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Lab 3: Determination of Molar Mass by Vapor Density
- Evaporate a liquid substance and measure its physical properties as it evaporates.
- Determine the molar mass of an unknown liquid.
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Experiment 3: Determination of Molar Mass by Vapor Density
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Lab 4: Determination of molar mass by freezing-point depression
- Determine the freezing temperature of the pure solvent, lauric acid.
- Determine the freezing temperature of a mixture of lauric acid and benzoic acid.
- Calculate the freezing point depression of the mixture.
- Calculate the molecular weight of benzoic acid.
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Experiment 4: Using Freezing-Point Depression to Find Molecular Weight
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Lab 5: Determination of molar mass of a gas
- Measure the gas production of a chemical reaction by a pressure change.
- Determine the molar volume of the gas produced in the reaction.
- Calculate the molar volume of a gas at STP.
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Experiment 5: The Molar Volume of a Gas
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Lab 6: Standardization of a solution using a primary standard
- Prepare an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide to a target molar concentration.
- Determine the concentration of your NaOH solution by titrating it with a solution of potassium hydrogen phthalate, abbreviated KHP, of precise molar concentration.
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Experiment 6: Standardizing a Solution of Sodium Hydroxide
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Lab 7: Determination of concentration by acid-base titration, including a weak acid or weak base
- Accurately conduct acid-base titrations.
- Determine the equivalence point of a strong acid – strong base titration.
- Determine the equivalence point of a weak acid – strong base titration.
- Calculate the molar concentrations of two acid solutions.
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Experiment 7: Acid-Base Titration
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Lab 8: Determination of concentration by oxidation-reduction titration
- Conduct the potentiometric titration of the reaction between ferrous ammonium sulfate hexahydrate and ammonium cerium (IV) nitrate.
- Measure the potential change of the reaction.
- Determine the molar concentration of iron (II) ions in a sample of ferrous ammonium sulfate hexahydrate.
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Experiment 8: An Oxidation-Reduction Titration: The Reaction of Fe2+ and Ce4+
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Lab 9: Determination of mass and mole relationship in a chemical reaction
- Measure the enthalpy change of a series of reactions.
- Determine the stoichiometry of an oxidation-reduction reaction in which the reactants are known but the products are unknown.
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Experiment 9: Determining the Mole Ratios in a Chemical Reaction
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Lab 10: Determination of the equilibrium constant for a chemical reaction
- Prepare and test standard solutions of FeSCN2+ in equilibrium.
- Test solutions of SCN− of unknown molar concentration.
- Determine the molar concentrations of the ions present in an equilibrium system.
- Determine the value of the equilibrium constant, Keq.
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Experiment 10: The Determination of an Equilibrium Constant
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Lab 11: Determination of appropriate indicators for various acid-base titrations; pH determination
- Conduct strong acid-strong base titrations using solutions of hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, and three different indicator solutions.
- Select the proper indicator to use with a titration involving a weak acid or a weak base, based on your observations and measurements.
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Experiment 11: Investigating Indicators
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Lab 12: Determination of the rate of a reaction and its order
- Conduct the catalyzed decomposition of hydrogen peroxide under various conditions.
- Calculate the rate constant for the reaction.
- Determine the rate law for the reaction.
- Calculate the activation energy for the reaction.
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Experiment 12: The Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide
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Lab 13: Determination of enthalpy change associated with a reaction
- Use Hess’s Law to determine the enthalpy change of the reaction between aqueous ammonia and aqueous hydrochloric acid.
- Compare your calculated enthalpy change with the experimental results.
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Experiment 13: Determining the Enthalpy of a Chemical Reaction
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Lab 14: Separation and qualitative analysis of cations and anions
- Prepare and analyze a solution that contains ten selected cations.
- Analyze an unknown solution that contains a selection of cations.
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Experiment 14A: Separation and Qualitative Analysis of Cations
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Lab 14: Separation and qualitative analysis of cations and anions
- Prepare and analyze a solution that contains six selected anions.
- Analyze an unknown solution that contains a selection of anions.
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Experiment 14B: Separation and Qualitative Analysis of Anions
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Lab 15: Synthesis of a coordination compound and its chemical analysis
- Synthesize a sample of potassium aluminum sulfate dodecahydrate (alum).
- Observe and record the process of synthesizing a compound.
- Calculate the percent yield of your synthesis.
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Experiment 15A: The Synthesis of Alum
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Lab 15: Synthesis of a coordination compound and its chemical analysis
- Determine the melting temperature of a sample of alum.
- Determine the water of hydration of a sample of alum.
- Determine the percent sulfate of a sample of alum.
- Verify the chemical formula of a sample of alum.
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Experiment 15B: The Analysis of Alum
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Lab 16: Analytical gravimetric determination
- Measure the conductivity of the reaction between sulfuric acid and barium hydroxide.
- Use conductivity values as a means of determining the equivalence point of the reaction.
- Measure the mass of a product of the reaction as a means of determining the equivalence point of the reaction gravimetrically.
- Calculate the molar concentration of a barium hydroxide solution.
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Experiment 16: Conductimetric Titration and Gravimetric Determination of a Precipitate
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Lab 17: Colorimetric or spectrophotometric analysis
- Prepare and test the absorbance of five standard copper (II) sulfate solutions.
- Calculate a standard curve from the test results of the standard solutions.
- Test the absorbance of a copper (II) sulfate solution of unknown molar concentration.
- Calculate the molar concentration of the unknown CuSO4 solution.
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Experiment 17: Determining the Concentration of a Solution: Beer’s Law
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Lab 18: Separation by chromatography
- Conduct an liquid chromatographic separation.
- Conduct a step gradient chromatographic separation.
- Complete the necessary measurements and calculations to evaluate the components of a mixture that have been separated by liquid chromatography.
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Experiment 18: Liquid Chromatography
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Lab 19: Preparation and properties of buffer solutions
- Evaluate a standard buffer solution.
- Prepare and test an acid buffer solution.
- Determine the buffer capacity of the standard buffer and the prepared buffer.
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Experiment 19: Buffers
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Lab 20: Determination of electrochemical series
- Prepare a Cu-Pb voltaic cell and measure its potential.
- Test two voltaic cells that use unknown metal electrodes to identify the metals.
- Prepare copper and lead concentration cells, observe, and measure their respective cell potentials.
- Use the Nernst equation to calculate the Ksp of PbI2.
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Experiment 20: Electrochemistry: Voltaic Cells
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Lab 21: Measurements using electrochemical cells and electroplating
- Prepare and operate an electrochemical cell to plate copper onto a brass surface.
- Measure the amount of copper that was deposited in the electroplating process.
- Calculate the amount of energy used to complete the electroplating process.
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Experiment 21: Electroplating
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Lab 22: Synthesis, purification, and analysis of an organic compound
- Synthesize a sample of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin).
- Calculate the percent yield of your synthesis.
- Measure the melting temperature of your aspirin sample.
- Conduct a colorimetric analysis of your aspirin sample.
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Experiment 22: The Synthesis and Analysis of Aspirin
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