Lab Report for Charles’ Law & Absolute Zero
INTRODUCTION: Remember, this section sets the background and scope of the experiment and report. It should not just be a restatement of all the material (either copied or paraphrased) from the manual (or any text). Hint: the lab instructor covers this material in his/her pre-lab lecture to you…review your notes & the video. If you quote any source be sure to reference it.
Clearly state the purpose, goal, objective (whatever you want to call it). Define any new terms or laws that are used. Discuss the method/technique used to obtain the goal. Do NOT explain the actual steps of the procedure, but a brief description of what was done should be made. If there is an important chemical equation or formula, be sure to present it and explain it. Mathematical equations should not be simply listed like items on a grocery list…the most important ones should be individually presented and explained within the introduction. Discussion of results do NOT go in the intro (they go in the conclusion/discussion).
PROCEDURE… in PARAGRAPH form (3rd person past tense !)… explain the actual procedure done
DATA…
– lab computer printout has temp & length data
– also a table of top & bottom plug positions is required
CALCULATIONS…
– show equation of best fit line
– show calculation of absolute zero
– show % error calculation for the absolute zero result (p. 7 in manual shows the equation for %error) “attached”
GRAPH…
– report quality ! follow directions & format instructions on handout… you can use the one that you created in the lab provided it follows all of the required criteria…
DISCUSSION…
– state result(s)
– compare to expected results and comment
– discuss sources of experimental error
